Things to Come

Now that I have landed an awesome job, I have the luxury of upping my goals.

Start a career Establish myself in my new career
Move to a bigger apartment Buy a house
Go to Disney in late fall October
Visit Aunt Leigh in San Francisco in late spring/early summer May
Spend 5 days at the cabin in summer
Go to the State Fair
Go to the Aquatennial
Buy a nice, foldout couch
Buy a queen sized bed
Start paying off Student Loans
Show Amanda around town

Now, to make the bigger of those goals achievable and on a time frame (the trips are already on a time frame).

Establish myself in my new career

I got the job! I got the job!

Now, I need to have fantastic statistics and excellent quality reviews. I also want people to A) know who I am and B) want me around. I'd also like to get in on as many projects as possible. I want to be trained on anything I can get my hands on. And, I want everything to be done with a smile!

If I can do all of this, I might have a fighting chance at a future promotion. ;) Or maybe that's just ambition talking.

Buy a house

Right now, mortgages are cheaper than rent. We could double the square feet we live in, avoid noisy neighbors and the crazy ghost clanking noise I keep hearing at 3 am... and have a yard for Gizmo to run in!

I want a place on the bus line for work, at least 900 sq feet, and in a great neighborhood. The house also needs at least a hook up for a washer and dryer (bonus points for actually having the appliances). Jared and I both work full-time, so we don't want a fixer upper. All that for under $100,000, and we will have found the perfect place!

We'd most likely renew our rent here and save money for a down-payment. Hopefully, I can get a mortgage pre-approval set up within the next three months. It wouldn't make sense to move twice just to change locations. After we find a place, we can start working toward the new couch and bed.

Start paying off Student Loans

After I've established an emergency fund (most likely in March), I'm going to start throwing money into the house fund and at my student loans. I'm going to go at it with the snowball method... and aggressively. What I mean is that I'm going to hand over big chunks of my income toward one loan at a time. I'm thinking I'll be (student loan) debt free in two years.

So, as plans go (it's more of a guideline) that is going to be my 2012!