Hello March.

Holy cannoli, can you believe it – it’s March. 2013 is off to a very rapid start, let me tell you.

I am equally part excited and part terrified that it is March. Excited because it’s my birthday month (hooray!) and shocked because as of today, sequestration is going into effect and since I am technically working for the government, this will most likely have a direct monetary impact on me, too. Not what I was expecting as an early birthday present, to be quite honest. I don’t know what the actual consequences will be for me personally, but at this point, I am just really glad that most of BiSC is already paid off. One less worry.

I have a few things on my to-do list for this month.

Since I basically haven’t worked out since before Christmas (unless you want to call international travel – twice! – a workout, because it damn sure is quite physically exhausting), I set myself a deadline for March,1 to start and try to get back into a workout routine. So, I kicked it off this morning with my first workout at the gym and was quite pleased that I managed to do a 5k on the elliptical and I finished and didn’t die do as bad as I thought. I can definitely build on that from here. Right now, I am shooting for 2-3 workouts a week.

I’ve been working on a few changes to my little corner of the Internet here. I am hoping to implement them over the course of the month. It’s nothing world-shattering, so don’t be alarmed, but every now and then, I like to do a little house-keeping. Call it the blog-spring-cleaning, if you will.

I decided to get back into the habit of taking more daily pictures and will participate in the Photo A Day Challenge again in March. I’ll be posting my pictures on Instagram and through Twitter.

Related to the above mention sequestration, I decided to track our spending this month, I mean, really track our spending. I’ve been using Mint.com for quite some time and it’s a nifty little tool to keep track of where your money is going and has great tools to visualize your spending. I have a basic idea of how much we spend monthly, however, I never really set up a real budget. I mean, it seemed like we were naturally living within our means (mostly) and there was no need to actually try a fixed budget approach. Now, with the yet unknown, but impending cuts to my salary, I would like to get a better idea on what we spend and in what areas we’re most likely able to save most easily if we have to cut back on purchases.

Wish me luck!

 

  1. Luck!
    What a scary place to be, knowing changes are happening TODAY and not knowing how it will affect you. I am at my worst when in the limbo of not knowing; it is like JUST TELL ME SO I CAN DEAL ALREADY.
    And good for you for the elliptical! I really have no excuse and need to do something about my laziness. Oi.
    xoxo

  2. I’m focusing on working out more in March, too. Now that I’ve bought my car, I can work on other big goals, like getting back in shape.

    I’m also in the mood to do some blog-spring-cleaning! I’ve been so neglectful of my space for the past year. Time to give it some TLC. :)

  3. I like your goals! I’m trying not to make any hard-and-fast goals because I don’t have the energy and time to complete them (at least not to my perfectionist standards), but spending less money and tracking my spending is one thing I want to get control over.

  4. Oh yikes. That is really scary about your job. I hope that everything works out ok for you. It is really disappointing that our congress just pushed this to the brink and did nothing to come up with some resolutions before the deadline. :(

  5. Hope everything works out job wise for you!
    Love your goals – they’re pretty similar to mine.
    Have a wonderful weekend, San!
    xxx

  6. Ugh, I so badly need to get back into my exercise routine that I basically just quit completely… when?… last November? Maybe if I read about your work-out success on here, I’ll feel motivated again because so far: no motivation to be found, hehe.
    Can’t wait to find out what little changes we’ll get to see around here! :)
    And good luck with your job! I haven’t followed the sequester in detail but it’s messed up that, as usual, it affects innocent hard-working people. Hope it won’t hit you too hard!

  7. I’m so sorry that this ridiculous government failure might have a direct impact on your job. It’s so frustrating that this continues to happen month after month! I hope someone, somehow is able to come up with a solution that serves the people, not the politicians who are running the sh*t show.

  8. I’ve been meaning to sign up for mint.com for many of the same reasons you want to pay closer attention to it this month. Your post is a great reminder!

  9. hurray birthday month! and good luck with the spending tracking and picture taking, you can do it!

  10. I’m crossing my fingers for you and SO many people that this stupid sequestration does not last long, that they find SOME sort of resolution to it. Sometimes I think they did this on purpose…

    March is my mom’s birthday month too! It’s a great month when spring starts to show it’s lovely colors.

  11. Yay for our birthday month!! It’s crazy that’s already March.

    And as a federal employee, I’m stressing the budget mess as well. I keep hoping they’ll come up with something before furloughs start happening…

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