Last week was extremely busy for me. I worked everyday last week. I usually try to have one day off during the week. That did not happen last week. This coming week I should have at least one day off on Thursday. But since we are expecting snow/wintry mix tomorrow and Tuesday, I may have more days off than expected. My plan is to work first thing in the morning and hopefully be done with work at around noon. After that, I'm going to make a deposit at the bank and go home. The snow is supposed to start after noon. I do have one customer on Tuesday, but if it snows I'm going to try to push her to Thursday morning. Workwise it is supposed to be a slow week for me. So if it snows and I can't work much, it won't really hurt me.

Last week I found $3.00 on the floor at a restaurant. The person behind me thought it was mine. I just picked it up because I wasn't sure if it was mine but it could have been. When I got home I realized that it wasn't mine. So I decided to just include that $3.00 in my weekly personal savings deposit. I'll make that deposit later this week.

I have been cheating all weekend with food. I usually don't snack a lot but this weekend I just snacked. Plus I had a girls night out tonight. We went to the movies and then out to eat. I had pizza and kind of pigged out. Oh well, I'll get back on track tomorrow.

I really need to get back to studying for the real estate state exam. I've been distracted lately. Maybe if I get snowed in I'll be able to do some real studying.

DH and I reached a milestone last week. One of our savings accounts reached the $1,000 mark! So now we are going to view that account as haveing a "zero balance" and we're "starting over" as far as reaching $1,000. I figure each time I reach another $1,000, I'll view that account as having a "zero balance" and I have to reach $1,000 again even if the balance is $12,000 or $13,000. Baby steps!

Right now our retirement accounts are at close to $15,000. We are way behind in our retirement savings. So since DH works at a bank he is going to get one of the Financial Advisors at his job look at our retirement to see if we could make any changes this year. I used to have my series 6 and 63 licenses. So I do know a lot about investing. But they expired a few years ago. So I'm not too proud to ask for help. Plus it was only the 6 and 63.

Well I need to get ready for tomorrow. So I will close this blog entry. I need to some sleep!

In preparation for next year's finances, I think I want to open about 4 CDs and create a CD ladder. Each CD would be for one year at my local credit union. I would open one in April, July, October and January. This would serve as part of my emergency fund. I also have an emergency fund at ING Direct. One of my sub-accounts has been designated as an Emergency Fund.

My Bank of America checking account charges a fee if I don't keep a minimum amount in the account. As of now I don't have that amount in the account. So today I converted my MyAccess checking account into their new ebanking checking account. In order to avoid the monthly fee you have to make all transactions though the ATM. I can have no contact with a live teller. That is fine with me since this is not my primary checking account. So I went ahead and converted my personal checking account to the ebanking checking.

Right now I am researching mutual funds I am interested in opening in 2011. I already have my IRA at Vanguard. Now I am considering opening non-retirement accounts there. I am interested in the Star Fund and the Prime Money Market Fund. For my IRA I am invested in the 500 Index Fund. I looked at State Farm's mutual funds. They do charge fees. However, they allow you to open a fund for $250. I think I will probably stick with Vanguard though. I just need to save up the minimums which probably won't take long.