February 2012 Goals:

• Practice and learn German every day. Moving to another country and not knowing how to speak the language is intimidating. And while I know that a lot of Germans do speak English, I want to learn the language. I think it will be hard for me, since I’m a freelancer and work alone. Nic will have co-workers to talk to and learn from.

• Work a maximum of 50 hours/week. My new schedule is going to take a lot of getting used to. I’ve gotten accustomed to working 70 hours/week, and I haven’t had a weekend free from work in at least 18 months. Even my holidays have been working holidays. I just couldn’t get ahead when I had a full-time job. Now, my evenings and weekends will, for the most part, be spent relaxing and exploring the city with Nic. Of course, I do have to be aware of the time difference between Germany and where my clients are in North America.

• Pitch myself for 3 projects. I’ve never really had to pitch myself before, so I’m going to have to start getting used to it if I want to grow out my business.

• Get my taxes organized for this year, and going into next year. I think this goal is self-explanatory! :)

Ongoing 2012 Goals:

• Post a new photo every day on my Tumblr account, My Life In Pixels.

• Only post my own photos on GMBMFB. I should actually start posting photos.

• Write one guest post for another blog or website.

Oh, and here’s a panoramic photo of Stuttgart that my boyfriend took the other day (with me in the lefthand corner). You can click on it to make it a bit bigger.

This was an insanely expensive month. I went over budget on a lot of things, mostly because I wasn’t thinking properly when I created January’s budget. And although I had my best-ever month for freelance income, it still shouldn’t excuse the overage of over $750. :|

OVER BUDGET:

• Maintenance/strata – I forgot to change the amount to reflect the small price increase for 2012.
• Internet/cable – I forgot to change the amount to reflect the small price increase for 2012.
• Car – I helped my boyfriend move all of his stuff over to my place for while we are gone. He also borrowed my car to help his roommate move.
• Travel – this includes my trip 7-night trip to Quebec, 2 nights in Paris, and 5 nights in Germany.
• Personal care – I stocked up on my face cream before we left, because I was running out and wasn’t sure if it was sold over here. Otherwise this expense probably would have occurred in March.
• Miscellaneous – Took my neighbour out for dinner to thank her for looking over my apartment while I’m gone, as well as about $200 worth of travel-related gear (backpack, towel, stuff sacks, etc.).

NET WORTH CHANGE: + $5,418 (8.24%)
As much as I’d like to congratulate myself on bringing in a ton of extra income this month ($5,873.52 – or $6,369 if you include the stuff that I sold), I do have to remind myself that I also over-spent this month by a lot. And my net worth is bound to go down a lot in February due to having to put down money for an apartment in Stuttgart. Plus, I’ll have to pay once I file my income tax for the year. So we’ll see what happens. :)

January 2012 Goals:

• Find one new steady freelancing client. CHECK! One of my goals for 2012 was to take on a third steady freelance job, and I’m happy to say that I have. Although the work is steady, I’ll be paid somewhat irregularly. My lips are sealed for now, but all will be revealed shortly. :)

• Pitch myself to a blog/newspaper/magazine. CHECK! I pitched myself to two newspapers. After some discussion, both eventually said no. Actually, one newspaper was looking at offering me a job, but it fell through. Both told me to contact them once I return from Germany. And I definitely will!

• Find an apartment in Germany. FAIL. We tried so hard to find a place before we left. But as of writing this post, we still don’t have anywhere to live. We are currently living in a hostel, and contacting as many people as possible to help us find somewhere to live.

• Contribute $1,600 towards my Emergency Fund. CHECK! *happy dance* My Emergency Fund is fully funded at $10,000 for the first time in my entire life. Now I feel a little more comfortable as I embark on my new freelancing venture.

• Tie up all loose ends related to moving. CHECK! Every time I thought of something I had to do, I whipped out my iPhone and added it to a list I was keeping in my Notes app. To the best of my knowledge, everything has been taken care of.

Ongoing 2012 Goals:

• Post a new photo every day on my Tumblr account, My Life In Pixels. CHECK! This project is a lot harder than I had first anticipated. So I’m going to try to make it harder by only posting photos I’ve taken with my iPhone 4S. :)
• Only post my own photos on GMBMFB. PASS. Well, I gave myself a pass because technically I didn’t post any stock photos. But I also didn’t really post any of my own photos either.
• Write one guest post for another blog or website. PASS. Although, I didn’t write a guest post for another website, I did do a blog interview. Which is kind of like the same thing, since I basically wrote the entire post. So I’m giving myself a pass.

Monday 23rd
$15.79 groceries
$40.80 deposit on hostel in Stuttgart (5 days)

Tuesday 24th
No Spend Day! 

Wednesday 25th
+ $528.97 freelance income
$5 shipping
$8.61 gas

Thursday 26th
+ $350 freelance income
$60 East is East Restaurant

Friday 27th
$10 taxi
$3.75 SkyTrain
$20 beers at airport

Saturday 28th – Paris
$12.13 (€9,25) Metro (airport to hostel)
$45.89 (€35) Au Royal Couscous Restaurant

Sunday 29th – Paris
+ $20.48 Amazon.ca book sale
$2.22 (€1,70) Metro
$26.20 (€20) ferris wheel
$13.63 (€10,40) Eiffel Tower (x2 tickets)
$12.45 (€9,50) Bonne Journee (snacks)
$2.22 (€1,70) Metro

WEEKLY EXPENSES: - $278.69
WEEKLY SIDE INCOME *: + $878.97 (+ $20.48)

TOTAL: + $620.76

So this is going to be my new format for my Weekly Spending Recaps. Approximate Canadian dollars and Euro price in brackets. Does that work and make it clear for everyone? I say “approximate” because it doesn’t take into account any foreign currency conversion fee, but it’s too hard to convert that and have this recap out in a timely manner. And I’m still getting paid in Canadian dollars, so this just kind of makes sense.

Anyway, sorry it’s been a while since my last post. It’s been go-go-go since we got to Europe. But now that Nic has started his job, I think things will settle down a bit. We still haven’t found a place to live yet, so that’s next on our list of things to do. :) I’ll recap our time in Paris, as well as some more details in another post, so stay tuned!

Today I leave for Paris! :)

Couldn’t sleep at all last night. I’m finally excited, and finally ready to believe that this is actually happening.

After my round-the-world-trip plans got canceled a few years ago, I was devastated. So I’ve been really conscious about not getting my hopes up about travel. Even though we booked our flights and accommodation, received our travel visas, and I quit my job, something inside of me told me just to back off and not get too wrapped up in planning something that might just fall through.

Anyway, I have posts scheduled here, and on Moneyville. But I might not be around to answer e-mails, comments, or tweet a whole lot for the next 4 or 5 days.

I will, however, continue to update my Tumblr account. So make sure to subscribe to that feed, follow me, or bookmark the link. That’s where most of my travel photos will be held. :)

Also, I’ve started wasting time on Pinterest. Not sure how great it is for my productivity, but it’s certainly fun! :)

Monday 16th
$17.37 Pearl Hot Pot
$44.91 gas

Tuesday 17th
+ $760 freelance/side income
$1 parking
$16.73 Canada Post

Wednesday 18th
+ $350 freelance/side income
$7.95 Fraser Park Restaurant

Thursday 19th
+ $750 freelance/side income
No Spend Day! 

Friday 20th
$135.62 The Keg

Saturday 21st
$4.71 convenience store

Sunday 22nd
No Spend Day! 

WEEKLY EXPENSES: - $228.29
WEEKLY SIDE INCOME *: + $1,860

TOTAL: + $1,631.71

I spent a ridiculous amount of money on going out to eat this week. But there were so many people to see before we leave in a few days. The $135.62 I spent at The Keg was because Nic and I wanted to take my neighbour out for dinner. She’ll be looking after my place while I’m gone, and didn’t want to take money for it. So a nice dinner was the least we could do. :)

Also I didn’t buy groceries, because I’m trying to eat through my freezer and pantry. Which means a lot of weird meals, but it’s saving me money because I’m eating what I’ve already purchased, and I’m not spending money to buy anything new.

* This is all income I bring in that is above and beyond my full-time job. Money is primarily made through my two blogs and my graphic design business.