Mighty Bargain Hunter

Link roundup: Revisiting my 2008 goals edition

June 30th, 2008 | by mbhunter |

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The year’s half over already. Thought I’d revisit what I said I’d do at the beginning of the year to see how things are going:

• I want a closer relationship with God. Eh, this one was convicting. I’ve listened to the Johnny Cash recording of the New Testament, but that’s about it. Nowhere close to reading the Bible on a regular basis.
• I want to track my finances better. I started out the year not too badly but fell into my old habits of not tracking things.
• I want to lose fifty pounds. Well, better late than never on this one. I’ve started up an exercise program and a weight loss blog and feel better with the activity. We’ll see how far I can get down this year, but it probably won’t be 50 pounds.
• I want to become a licensed auctioneer. I did call up the board to see if I could still take the exam, and they said yes. My fear was that I had waited too long. I still need to take the exam.
• I want to develop and expand the reach of this blog. Ah, something that’s actually on track! The average subscriber count for this blog was 2,655 over the last 30 days. Thank you for subscribing!
• I want my side businesses to cover my mortgage payment again.. June looks to be a decent month and I’m managing more than in January, so that’s progress.
• I want to develop the habit of getting things out of my head onto paper, and doing them promptly. The consistency hasn’t been there. But that’s the whole point of the goal: to do it consistently!

So, overall, I’ve been a slacker in keeping true to what I said I’d do. So, I must start where I am right now and try to finish off the year better than how I started it.

Here are some links of interest from the MBN and other blogs in my reader:

• All Financial Matters discusses customer service, attitude, and self-employment. Good customer service is a gem that unfortunately can be hard to come by.
• Consumerism Commentary passes on that the IRS has increases its standard mileage deduction. Just remember that this is a deduction, not a credit, so it’s not a dollar-for-dollar savings on your taxes!
• Five Cent Nickel explains how someone might have gotten their hands on your rebate check. I guess that giant gift card purchase might be a tad smaller for these folks.
• Free Money Finance says that his wife is a money-saving machine.
• Get Rich Slowly has some thoughts on retirement and financial independence. All of the experts’ opinions have left him undecided.
• No Credit Needed has lined up his financial priorities. Judging by the success he’s had in knocking out his debt he’s likely to follow through better than I did the first part of this year.
• Wise Bread posts a big list of ways to get more out of your healthcare dollar. These are good tips once you’ve deemed it necessary to spend on health care; getting in shape and preventing the expenses in the first place is another route to take.
• Gather Little By Little realized that sometimes it’s better to just pay someone to do something. We had a tree taken town recently and I totally agree.
• Mrs. Micah discusses whether blogging is passive income or not and brings up a lot of good points. I’ll agree that it’s initially a lot of work and continues to be work until you sell your blogs, but there are ways to get a nice return on your ongoing efforts after putting in the initial push.
• Frugal for Life has a good question: Do you own your stuff or does it own you?
• Digerati Life suggests that home improvement projects be done with a keen eye on the return on investment.
• Sun’s Financial Diary says that one cell phone carrier isn’t being so Draconian about its early termination fees anymore. Wow, how nice of them!
• Money Smart Life says stop whining and make some money! Amen.

And, to finish off with yet another list of bullets, here are the carnivals we participated in this week:

• My Investing Blog included my post on why some MyPoints gift cards are more expensive in this week’s Money Hacks Carnival.
• Broke Grad Student included my post on the frugality of the Wii in this week’s Festival of Frugality.
• Mrs. Micah included my article on why being fat costs you money in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Also included was my article on Albany’s confusing foreclosure legislation on Living After Foreclosure.

Have a great week!