When we decided to move back to Wisconsin from Atlanta, I knew that there would be some financial hardship. We were jumping off the cliff of any financial planning we had during our time in Atlanta and had no solid plan for the future. There were setbacks and uncertainty in the years that followed. What I didn’t realize was how long and difficult the recovery would be or how much the challenge would teach me about personal finance.

In the three years since the move, I have developed and refined a household budget, set financial goals and with literal enjoyment, regularly review my progress. SB says this new-found love for personal finance comes from my passion for checking things off the list. I have long been a list maker. I love the satisfaction of a good check-off and have learned to make lists that contain steps to a larger goal, so little achievements can be checked along the way. I am terrible at remembering accomplishments once they have been checked off, but that is a topic for another post.

To aide me in my list making, I have a stack of pocket/reporter notebooks. These are spiral bound, 4 x 8 inch, lined, notebooks and contain lists and notes, to-dos and measurements. They are the foundation of my tool set. During the big move, when it became obvious we needed serious budget control, I started using Google Docs, as a shared repository for budget documents. Since the documents are accessible to both SB and I, we can both refer and edit, making the budget a living plan. The notebook and the spreadsheet have gotten me through the past few years.

Recently, I started reading a new financial blog, Mr. Money Moustache (Mr. MM) – Putting the cash in your ‘stash. This blog has reminded me that I need to start thinking longer term and bigger. It isn’t enough to have a monthly balanced budget, I need to think about the future, creating a reality where retirement is possible. If you have talked with me recently, there is a good chance you’ve heard me mention this blog. One of my friends, on hearing about Mr. MM, said, “Isn’t he just re-stating things you already know? Guys like that are just trying to make money off stating the obvious.” The sub-text being, “I’m smart enough that I don’t need to read a blog like that”.

While that may be true for my friend, I find the Mr. MM blog energizing. What he writes is not new to me, but is like a big dose of a frugality vitamin. I do want to retire some day. I do want to see every dollar helping me reach for financial independence. His blog has made me realize it is possible and worth striving towards a more independent future. In recent years I have scoffed at the mere mention of retirement, “Not in my lifetime.” Now I have hope that I can actually make it happen.

To help me make a check list for a richer future, I just started using Mint. The nice thing about Mint, so far, is that it tracks my retirement accounts and stock, in addition to the more day-to-day finances. This gives me a bigger picture of my finances than I’ve had before and will help me set some new, longer term goals. I’m excited about my financial plan for 2012 and hope to keep learning new tricks that will set me up for a great today and tomorrow.

2011 in numbers:
- 1,275 visitors to this blog. July 13th had the most visits, Lola Swims
- 329 photos uploaded to Flickr
- 42 tweets
- 33 blog entries posted
- 20 books read (3 non-fiction, 17 fiction)
- 14 yarn projects completed (4 crochet, 10 knit)
- 14 concerts attended
- 7 cities visited Las Vegas, Sparta, Orem (x2), Chicago (x2), Cable, Atlanta and Portland
- 1 wedding attended

2011 was the year of the house and yard. The year started with tearing out trees and shrubs and planting new gardens in the front and back. SB hand dug a 30 foot drainage ditch and installed a french drain system, to keep our basement dry year round. We also resided and painted the garage and organized the inside of the garage, including lining the inside with peg board. I sharpened my trim skills installing chair rail, door trim and baseboard in the dining room. SB became an expert plumber, installing a new outdoor faucet and under counter dishwasher. We also painted the stairwell and continued organizing and donating stuff.

What am I looking forward to in 2012?
- House: Installing crown molding and picture rail throughout, painting the bedrooms, re-doing our upstairs bathroom, finishing the kitchen, which includes building some custom cabinets and putting in a privacy fence in the back yard. Now that the garage is coming together, trim and cabinet making will be much easier.
- Music: The monthly concert goal will continue. It really motivated us to see some great live shows and we are are looking forward to even more this year.
- Travel: I think we need to travel more this year, or at least more vacation travel adventures. Destinations to be determined.

The self-betterment wishlist includes yoga, fiscal responsibility and more personal blog writing. More on these goals soon. Happy New Year!

Ta da! Introducing our Unique Panicle Hydrangea! (It is the little plant closest to the camera.) After trips to two arboretums and a city garden, plus many hours wandering local garden stores, we finally settled on a tree for the front yard. Tree may not be the right term, since it is more of a shrub, but it will grow as a single or double trunk and develop an umbrella of foliage, much like a tree.

As my search for the perfect tree continued, I realized that the space I had for the tree could only handle something about six to eight feet wide and tall, which is a very small tree. Second, the spot is full sun, all day, and true trees that enjoy full sun tend to want to get much larger than six feet, which totally makes sense with all that solar energy. Finally, this is our butterfly garden, so having a flowering something that attracts wings, is just added benefit.

Thanks to everyone for their tree advice, especially Rosemarie, who wandered both arboretums with me and her husband, Matt, who can spot a paniculata from 1000 yards.

As you can see from the photo above, the rest of the garden is coming together as well. SB spent the past week digging out grass and filling-in with new dirt, mulch and edging. My Mom donated the mature peonies and peegee hydrangea from her garden to anchor ours. I can’t wait until next summer, to see this garden develop. The photo below are the blooms from a mature unique panicle hydrangea, they start green, go to pink and then finally to white.

This year I set a goal that we go to a live music show at least once per month. A little over half-way through the year we are doing well. June was the only month we missed but we doubled-up in July, April, and March. We also had one repeat performance and one show SB did not attend. Overall I give us an average of slightly above one show per month. So far, I think this is one of the best ideas I’ve had in a while. It is hard to complain about live music and getting out of the house and experiencing life and all. Here’s where we’ve been and who we’ve seen thus far:

- July: The Old 97′s at Summer Fest and Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble at Sh*tty Barn
- June: None
- May: Romi Mayes at High Noon
- April: The Old 97′s at The Barrymore and Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm at Majestic
- March: Momix at Overture and Portland Cello Project at High Noon
- February: Tennis at High Noon
- January: Ben Folds at Overture

Last weekend we snuck in a little visit to the cabin in Cable. This year the water was higher than it has been in years and perfect for swimming. Lola was the first one in the water and I captured this little video of her chasing down the ducks. The end is my favorite part because the water is so clear you can see her little legs paddling.