My 2008 Financial Resolution and a Chance to Win an iPod!
By Pinyo • Nov 29th, 2007 • Category: Financial PlanningCash Money Life is running a contest Share Your 2008 Financial Resolution for a Chance to Win an iPod! that will end December 4th at 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Saving Time. I never own an iPod before, so I am going to give this a try.
My best friend and his wife recently bought me the An Inconvenient Truth DVD and book by Al Gore for my birthday. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I love the DVD. So, I am going to kill two birds with one stone and make this 2008 financial resolution about saving money and the environment.
Photo of 4GB iPod Nano via Amazon.com
Currently, there are 5 people living in our 2,100 sq. ft. house (not including the constant stream of welcomed visitors). Each month, I am paying on average about $350 in utilities; broken down as $175 for natural gas, $125 for electricity, and $50 for water.
My 2008 goal is…
To reduce our household utility expenses on average by 10%, or $35 dollar per month, by December 2008. I am planning to accomplish this by doing a better job of implementing ideas I presented in “Little things you can do to save money and our planet,” as well as raise awareness among my family members.
Setting a SMART goal
Let’s see if the goal above meets the SMART criteria:
- Specific - knowing exactly what I want - Yes, I want to reduce utility expenses on average by 10%.
- Measurable - ability to track progress - Yes, it will shows up on my monthly bill and I can track it in a spreadsheet.
- Actionable - knowing the steps needed to achieve the goal - Yes, there are many actionable ideas to help reduce utility expenses.
- Realistic - being in the realm of possibility - Yes, I don’t think 10% is out of reach.
- Timely - knowing when the goal will be achieved - Yes, by December 2008, my utility bills should total $315 or less.
Now let us all pray that I win the iPod. 
This article was featured in:
- The 1st Carnival of Financial Goals - 2008 Resolutions Edition hosted by Cash Money Life. For more information please visit the Carnival of Financial Goals.
All posts by Pinyo
Pinyo, great goal! I love finding ways to save money, energy, and the environment. It’s important, and I think more people should do it. You’ve got a very realistic goal, and I think you will reach it. Good luck!
Good plan, just hope that your utility companies don’t raise their rates.
I don’t know about where you live, but I saw rate increases on my water and electricity last year. Of course you can still consume less, you would just have to adjust for new rates.
Good luck!
Now that’s a nice way to set a financial goal by going green in energy. It would be nice to see how you are doing this in a monthly feature article.
@Patrick - I think it’s definitely possible, but it would require some hard work on my family part; especially with the baby coming next month.
@FinanceAndFat - Yeah, I can almost count on them raising the rates. That will make the challenge even tougher.
@Mark - Thanks. I will have to think about how to best provide updates. Aside from water, both my gas and electricity are on level payment plan. So my measurement are usually on a yearly basis when I find out what I owe the utilities, or if I get any credit back from them.
Pinyo, if I managed to save 12% on my gas & electric bill in a 1,800 sq. ft. apt. by the end of 2006, I believe you can do it too.
It was a challenge I set for my family and we all pitched in to make it happen. One thing I did which I didn’t blog about while I was documenting my conservation efforts here: http://lettersfromnyc.mu.nu/archives/135489.php
I was imposing fines on anyone (friends, family or guests) who were caught wasting energy. An example was a 25 cent/hr. fine for anyone leaving lights on in an empty room. That made guests, visitors and children aware of their behavior which quickly brought them on board with our family’s goals of conservation and energy reduction.
Good luck with your efforts and I hope that you too are successful!
@Journey - thank you. I will take a look because I can sure use it. It will be tough, because now I have 3 extra people living at home (baby and my parents-in-law). More lights stay on during the night for the baby, and the thermostat now set to 80 instead of 74 (also for the baby).