Plus it always makes it more entertaining to try to beat your “high score” from last month.

Thanks!

I also do this with my hobby, my cars. I take massive amounts of pictures and celebrate each new part, no matter how small. On the days/weeks/months where I seem to make no progress, I look back and see just how far I’ve come already. That usually cheers me up and re-motivates me when I need it! (Works for money, too. If you’re saving or paying off debt and seem to have a setback, look at the progress you’ve made thus far and remind yourself that, even if one month isn’t great, you’re in a better position for coming as far as you have in the first place.)

I agree completely with making it fun, though–for my senior thesis, my suitemate and I made a giant chart (like a kid’s chore chart) that said: “How long did you work on Honors today?” where were wrote how long we worked on it each day. Then, if we met our goal for the end of the week, she started putting a sticker on the chart! It was absolutely ridiculous, but it worked (the social pressure helped too). Perhaps I need a “How much of your student loan have toy paid off today?” sticker now.

I’d like to recommand a goal tracking tool at http://www.GoalsOnTrack.com, a very nicely built web app designed for tracking goals and todo lists, and supports time tracking too. It’s clear, focused, easy to navigate, worth a try.

So, of course, when the credit card statements came in the mail I watched the declining balances, but I guess I would compare it to looking at the sun– I didn’t want to look at them for too long.

I briefly glanced at my progress during this time and then got rid of them and got my mind back on the matter at hand–working hard to get myself out of debt.

Just my two cents on the subject–a great article overall.

Have a great weekend!

Like last year: At the worst point, my net worth took a hit exceeding my yearly gross. Obviously, there is no way I can save over 100% of my paycheck…

Striving to increase the net worth every month only makes sense for people with low net worth or high debts. At some point, market fluctuation matter more. If you have, for example, 300K in a market, and you can easily gain/lose $3000 or more in a day. Depending on your salary, even 50% of your net after taxes may not cover it. The only way then to achieve this constant growth is trade, and this is risky.

I admit I started tracking my net worth a couple of years ago. But I do it mostly for fun… “Am I an accredited investor today?”. Kind of silly.

Seriously though, it doesn’t make much sense to me unless you are at a point in which your net worth depends largely on your saving rate/debt repayment. Once you are at a point when your net worth fluctuations are determined by the market, it’s all on paper. Does it matter if you have $X on paper today if by the time you sell it this value is less or more? The only two values that are matter is when you buy and when you sell, not those in-between. Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t track your investment – you should, but for the reason of re-balancing, selling/buying, etc. Not for the reason of “how much I am worth today on paper”. No to mention that some chunk of this money will belong to Uncle Sam.

Also, your marinade post was a lifesaver for me. Last weekend, I went to get a roast from the little freezer we keep meat in only to find that it had stopped working and all of the meat was thawed, but still refrigerator cold. I had just filled the freezer the last weekend, including a whole ribeye. (Great deal, btw. Local grocery has a sale every couple of months. One rib for $60 made 23 largish steaks. We get about two meals from every 2-3 steaks.)

After some discussion with my mom, I put the newest meat into our other freezer and decided I would cook and then freeze the older stuff. Having that list of various flavors right there was a godsend. I mixed up six batches of marinade (5 of yours, 1 of ours) and my husband grilled meat.

Before adding the meat to the marinades, I set aside half of the mixture and we put the meat into it after cooking. Most of meat was deer and it can get dry easily.

My husband was a grilling fool, and my father was kind enough to come get some pork and deer, which he smoked for us. We managed not to waste the food, which was my biggest concern.

Rgds, RB

I also track my utilities bills and usage and have notes like “very hot month,” “another crazy hot month,” “on vacation one week,” and “rate increase.”

For debts you could note extra payments and changes in interest rates and minimum payment percentage.

With weight, it’s not so easy, but you can still have notes like “3 work parties,” “sick,” and “too hot to run.”

After a while, these notes may even give you ideas on how to make improvements. Having “heat” for an excuse means maybe I should find more ways to exercise in the heat (weights at home, mall walking, swimming) and I think we’re going to get a window AC so we don’t have to use the central AC at night. I also made (slight) changes to my philosophy on eating at work parties.