My Frugal Miser - Looking Back at my 2010 Goals

It's hard to believe this is it. 2010 will be over in a few hours. For me it was a remarkably transitional year. I was substantially "self-employed" for the year as nearly all my income either came from rental properties or mystery shopping. Even though I did not earn as much as I did in the corporate job I left in 2009, I still made some progress.

I had 5 big goals for 2010:

1. Lose 26 pounds. This one I failed miserably. In fact, I've gained a few pounds this year.
2. Increase my net worth by $25,000. I underestimated my ability here as my net worth increased by more than twice that. A big part of this was thanks to the investment performance of my two retirement accounts, but I also managed to pay off more than $25,000 worth of debt in 2010.
   
3. Stick to a budget in key areas including food, gas and entertainment. I didn't do too bad with my budget. My goal was to spend less than $5 per day on food and I actually spent $4.98 per day ($1,816.21). For gas, I wanted to spend less than $125 per month. I'm elated to report that I also met this goal by spending $1431.86 on gas in 2010 ($119.32 per month). For entertainment, I spent $1,793.35. I didn't set a specific goal, so I can't measure this one easily. In 2009 I won a lot of money on two separate gambling trips, so I actually *made* money instead of spending money on entertainment. But, in 2008 my total spending on entertainment was $6,548.66 (over $2,500 on alcohol alone!), so I think I did okay this year.
4. Lose the Bimmer. That was easy. I ended up selling the car in the last week of 2009.
5. Consider moving. Well, I considered it. It's on hold for now. I savor the thought of bicycling along the boardwalk in Tampa every morning, living a carefree life. However, this will wait. My focus now is on opening my restaurant and making it a huge success.

Update on Opening the Restaurant

We're making good progress on getting the restaurant open. It's a fairly large space with seating for over 200 in 3 separate dining areas. The last tenant skipped out on the landlord so there's quite a bit of cleaning to do. Before we can get our business license the Health Department has to give us the okay to open. Before they will let us open we have to have hot water. Before the gas can be turned on to heat the water and power the cooking equipment we have to get approval from the city inspector. There were a few small leaks in the gas line that have to be repaired first.

Every day we make quantifiable progress. Yesterday, for example, we approved our corporate logo and ordered our outdoor signage. Today we hope to have the gas lines repaired and to get the okay from the city to turn on the gas.

We are trying to open on January 17th.

A Week in the Life of a Mystery Shopper

December 19th - December 25th...

I am now a very part-time mystery shopper. There's so much to do to get the restaurant open. Last week I shopped two high-end hotels. I earned $100 in fees and $946 in reimbursements.

Both hotels were in Atlanta and were for the same company. I really enjoy these shops and hope to continue doing them once I can start taking days off from the restaurant.

This week I probably won't do any shopping... maybe a shop or two if there's a bonus. I'll be analyzing my total 2010 mystery shopping results this week and will report that soon.

I'm Buying Another Rental Property

As if I didn't have enough projects going on right now, add to that another condo I am purchasing. This was a strategic purchase: a current tenant of mine wants to split up with her boyfriend. The boyfriend is someone I have known for more than 10 years, and drama aside, I'd love to help him out and make a little money while doing it.

I'm buying a small condo for... drumroll, please... $11,000. That's not a typo. It's less than 800 square feet with one bedroom, one bathroom, a decent sized living room and small kitchen. It's also not in a very desirable area, but it's not in the ghetto, either. Would I live there? Maybe not - but then again, if I was single I might. My partner would leave me if I suggested we move there, if that gives you an idea of the area.

I don't have $11,000 sitting in a bank account so I will access funds some other way. My bank offers a Simplified Line of Credit at 11.74%, plus a 3% fee to access the funds. That's not cheap, but it's uncollateralized and easy to access. Besides, I would pay it back in a matter of months.

I love a bargain. The condo was listed at $17,000 and last sold for $28,000 in 2004. The owner moved out several months ago and just wants to rid herself of it and the monthly association dues. I'm happy to oblige.