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About Me:

Patrick

Single male in Ohio born in 1963. I'm "the toyguy" because I work in the toy dept. of a large retail store.

2011 Goals:

- Pay myself back into my savings account the money that I used to pay off my mortgage.
- Put $3000 into a Traditional IRA again.
- Put $1000 into a Roth IRA.
- Add at least $2000 to my Antarctica fund.
- Add $400 to Emergency Fund (At end of 2010 I have $2526 in this fund)
- Put at least some money into my car fund. I have a car fund created at ING with about $25 in it but need to start saving for a future car purchase.
- Go to Scotland for a week in May for a ghost tour and stay a few days in New York city.
- Might have to have another expensive roof repair. Last year or so I had to have half the roof done and was very satisfied. But I think I have to have the rest of the roof done now.
- Take a short trip to New Orleans for Halloween.

2010 Goals:

X- Pay myself back for latest car repair (rear breaks)
X- Add $400 to my E-Fund
(Added $410)
X- Continue putting whatever money I can into IRA fund for 2010 and 2011.
X- Put $3000 into IRA for 2010
X- Have income taxes done before end of March
X- Continue paying at least $100 extra on Principal of my mortgage each month
X- Continue putting whatever extra I can afford into my Travel Fund
X- Have to call Tours of Terror to make arrangements for Ghost Tour in Scotland for next year.
X- Try to take a trip to west Virginia in Spring or early summer.
- Take a short trip to Phoenix Arizona if I can get very low cost tickets. (FAILED. Couldn't get cheap enough airfare)
X- Figure out exactly when I can pay off the rest of my mortgage. It might be this year or the end of next year.

"Lofty" 2010 Goals:

X- Pay off my house completely by November. This one is not so lofty cause I will be paying it off sometime regardless. November will be the absolute earliest though.
(Paid off end of October)
X- Start an Antarctica Fund and save at least $1000 in it. I want to go there someday but its very expensive and my Travel Fund alone will never be able to handle it. (Put in $1200)
- Put at least an extra $1000 into my 2010 IRA than stated above but put it into a Roth instead of a Traditional.
(Failed. Never got around to this one)

2009 Goals:
X- Pay myself back $344 for muffler repairs on my car from December of 08.
X- Add $400 to my E-Fund.
X- Continue saving for a total of $4000 for 2009 IRA.
X- Start saving for total of $3000 for 2010 IRA. (Saved $690)
X- Have my first ever yard sale when the weather starts getting nice this spring.
X- Try to take a real vacation around July or August possibly to Costa Rica.
X- Pay at least $100 extra per month to Mortgage principal. I plan to pay off my mortgage completely before the 20 year mark which is about 3 years from now.

2008 Goals:
- Continue using Quicken to keep my checking and other accounts in order.
- Save at least an additional $400 into my
E-Fund (DONE) which currently has $1,200 in it. My overall goal for E-Fund is $12,000.
- Slowly work on building up a car fund. (VERY SLOWLY)
- Save enough into Travel Fund to take a good vacation in October. (Saved enough money but cannot travel this year)
Save $4000 for 2009 IRA contribution.
- Continue my "Paper (clutter) Challenge"
- More to come as I think it over.

free starbucks and a few updates

April 2nd, 2008 at 02:55 am

I made out pretty good today. Someone hung an ad on my front door (which I usually rip up and through away)for a free
$5 Starbucks gift card for stopping in at their new bank branch. I had to go to Aldi's today and the bank is almost next door to it so I got my free giftcard. They didn't even ask me what my name was.

Sorry I don't post anything very often (probably no one notices) but I enjoy reading other people's blogs and occationally commenting more than writing my own. Financially I'm doing pretty well. I'm working on all of my goals although its a very slow process. I also had some medical expenses this month which has set me back a little bit. I don't know how anyone can afford to have an illness. I don't think I'm going to go back to a doctor unless I see blood squirting out from now on.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “free starbucks and a few updates”

davera Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 03:08 am 1207105739
1207105739

Keep us the good work and focus, Toy Guy.

BTW, I had an interesting conversation with a guy who works in the toy department of a large retail store here. He said that lots of families who come to the store to go grocery shopping will drop their kids off in the toy department to amuse themselves while their parents shop. It really surprised me that people would do that in this day and age, with all the concern about child safety. At the very least, I guess that can make for some challenges for the department staff. Do families actually use your department as free babysitting?
toyguy1963 Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 03:22 am 1207106549
1207106549

Thanks for the nice response davera. Ohhh yeah some people use the toy dept. just like your friend said as a source of free babysitting. Between the young ones left on their own, terrible teenagers, and always a handful of parents that decide to revert back to their childhood, I really deserve to get a "Babysitting Bonus". It looks like everyone involved with toys must go through the same thing.
luxlivingfrugalis Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 04:13 pm 1218471185
1218471185

Okay, if you're going to stand out you need to keep posting! What's up in your financial life these days?
toyguy1963 Says:
August 12th, 2008 at 12:33 am 1218501239
1218501239

Hi Lux. Well mostly things are going pretty swell financially. Just never make enough money is all. But otherwise I'm not in any kind of debt other than a mortgage. And I'm doing ok in the Savings arena.
I have my travel fund pretty well funded, my E-Fund where I want it to be for right now, and I'm saving up for next years IRA contribution. So pretty boring as far as blogging goes.
Thanks for the message Lux.
LuxLivingFrugalis Says:
August 14th, 2008 at 12:20 pm 1218716459
1218716459

You're welcome! Glad to see you back posting!

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The Toyguy's Blog

Chugging along at a snail's pace.

free starbucks and a few updates

5 Responses to “free starbucks and a few updates”

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