At the end of 2007, I made my 2008 financial resolution. Now that we’re a month and a half into 2008, I think it’s a good time for me to reevaluate the goals I set for myself this year.

My primary goal of 2008 is to pay off $10,000 of my student loans. To spread it out evenly throughout the year, I have to save $834 each month. Let’s see how I’ve done with following through with my plan so far.

• Pay myself first by having part of my paycheck automatically deposited into my loan pay back fund.

I haven’t set this up yet, because I’ve been having to use most of my paychecks while waiting to get reimbursed for my relocation expenses and to get my security deposit back from my previous apartment. Throw in a new security deposit and a couple months rent for my new place, and the money was a little tight for a while in January. Fortunately, I got both my reimbursement and security deposit back this week, so I’m back on track. I’ve been able to put $834 into my loan payback account for the first two months of 2008.

• Receive a 0.25% interest rate reduction from my loan consolidator by having payments automatically withdrawn from a bank account.

My loans are still deferred at the moment, because I haven’t graduated yet. I should probably be finishing up my thesis writeup instead of writing this. Assuming I complete everything in time for graduating in May, that’s when the payments will begin. In the meantime, I’m holding my loan payback fund in a high-yield savings account to earn a few extra dollars.

• Reduce my expenses by living frugally.

I’ve definitely been making a great effort to live frugally. I’ve been taking advantage of free food that’s available at work and free or cheap entertainment in general.

• Live with a roommate.

I’m renting out a room in a house, which is saving me a lot of money compared to living in an apartment by myself. The common areas are already furnished, so I didn’t have to spend money on living room furniture. The kitchen is also fully stocked, so I didn’t have to buy dishes or pots and pans.

• Carpool to work.

I haven’t started carpooling to work yet, because I’m not quite on the same schedule as person who I would carpool with at the moment. Hopefully, this will change in the upcoming weeks, and we can both save some money on gas.

• Generate multiple streams of income (freelance work, CashCrate, etc.)

One of the reasons I haven’t had much time to blog lately is because I’ve been doing some freelance work. If anyone is looking for a web developer/programmer/designer, let me know, and I might be able to help you out.

• Continue to reevaluate my goal throughout the year and make adjustments when necessary

This is weird. Now I’m commenting on the very thing that I’m doing right now. Anyway, I’m happy with how things have gone so far this year. It’s looks like I’m on target to reach my goal by the end of year, which would be awesome. Be sure to keep checking in as I continue to update the world on my progress.

With the New Year approaching, it’s a good time to think about my financial goals for 2008. It also helps when Patrick at Cash Money Life gives you a chance to win a 4 GB iPod nano for sharing your 2008 financial resolution. How could I pass up such a sweet opportunity?

Broke Grad Student Doesn’t Wanna Be Broke No Mo’

My financial goal is to pay off half of my student loans by the end of 2008. This requires approximately $833/month or finding one of these on the ground:

How am I going to do it?

Since I don’t foresee finding a $10,000 bill, the timing couldn’t have worked out any better for me to land my first real job. I recently received a job offer that starts in mid-January. It includes a nice salary and benefits, so making a payment of $833/month is completely realistic. Of course, I still need to take actions to save money, so I will:

• Pay myself first by having part of my paycheck automatically deposited into my loan pay back fund.
• Receive a 0.25% interest rate reduction from my loan consolidator by having payments automatically withdrawn from a bank account.
• Reduce my expenses by living frugally.
• Carpool to work.
• Live with a roommate.
• Generate multiple streams of income (freelance work, CashCrate, etc.)
• Continue to reevaluate my goal throughout the year and make adjustments when necessary

Why am I going to do it?

Broke Grad Student is tired of calling himself broke.