When I joined this site, I went through a divorce and had 60k worth of debts. I worked three jobs to expedite the debt payments and pretty much had major set-backs in life which I still feel some sort of resentments. I paid off my debts early of last year but it was not a victory dance for me but rather a bittersweet moment of moving on.

What does this have to do with Gruntina? I was given Runt as a nick name growing up. I was the baby of the family with a disability from being borne three months too early. But the name was not in insult but a joke since I did really well and was the only one who went to a university and so on. So basically I was everything opposite of a runt. When I left home I became Grunt, G for grown-up hence Grunt.

I called myself Gruntina (There is no resemblance of Tina in my real name as I only added that to Grunt to make the name more feminine). Gruntina was very fitting for someone who rolled up her sleeves to pay back every penny of the debts the hard way. This journey of paying off debts was completely filled with grunting!

Now that I am happily married to a gentleman and on stable grounds in life where I can slowly begin to dream again, Gruntina does not fit me anymore nor do I wish care to carry the negative stigma this name now has.

So farewell to Gruntina!
Going forward, you can find me under my new name Phenomenal Woman!

It is well known that it is not a good idea to invest in stock of the company you work for.

What if your company's stock is #1 in it's type of category globally? Would this make a difference when purchasing stocks?

My goals I want to achieve in 2009: It ranges from financial to non-financials and big goals to teeny ones.

1. Start the $20 challenge and be proactive on my savings and tracking.

2. Be a better friend and family. I do not write letters or give out birthdays cards. It’s pretty emotional for me since I alone moved far away from everyone and feel greatly overwhelmed with how many people I need to write to. So I have not written in years but I now realize that is hurting them more than I realize. This got to change.

3. Complete a minimum of 5 courses (with passing grades) for the BA or MBA degree goal. I have registered for 3 courses so far for the winter and spring semester.

4. Making sure the kitchen is clean every night before I go to bed and empty out the dishwasher every morning so dirty dishes goes straight to the dishwasher instead of the sink.

5. Take plenty of pictures with my new camera. I have had not a camera for the last few years and the only pictures I have of my husband and I is our wedding pictures.

6. TTCing now! I hope to conceive this year. I feel like I am missing someone in my life and hope for a baby.

I been on this site since August 2006, it's about time I join the $20 challenge.

My goal is actually huge and will take a matter of years to achieve. I figure the 20 dollars challenge will get me started on my goal with motivation and support and is a good way to track my savings.

I would like to save 50,000 dollars (yes I mean fifty thousand dollars!!!!)for home renovation. This one will take years but is what is needed to fix my house in order to sell it or make the living situation better. I have a house that is around 80-90 years old in the mountains and is in dire need of some foundation work, driveway/patio and some sort of indoor heating system (now using firewood burning fireplace as main source, the other fireplace has propane set up but cost around $500 a month to use so we are not going that route). I am living in the mountain which means having no access to the natural gas pipelines that are available for city dwellers.

How I will save?

I plan add to the savings of the left over of the spending allowance that has not been used for the month, any changes that I find, monetary gifts, rebates, and try to come up with earning money outside of my main income.

I will open an online savings account to put this savings in so I am not as easily tempted to dip in. I have a bad habit of dipping into my savings account for any immediate wants that comes my way and that got to change.

Right now I have 300 dollars from Christmas and need to open an online account.

Savings balance as of Jan 1, 2008:
$300