Of goals, Jenny Blake of Life After College writes, “Goals are specific, measurable objectives that you want to achieve by a certain time. Values are more abstract – they are the general guiding principles by which you live your life. Some examples include freedom, happiness, service, creativity, security, accomplishment, integrity, excellence and many more.” My father and I recently got into an argument about my knowledge of the “value of a dollar.” Ms. Blake speaks about honoring values, here, and not the value of the dollar. I can’t help but think there might be a relation between the two. As she says in the blog the quote links to, “Money is not about buying stuff – it is about what that stuff can ultimately create for you. In that sense, it is a means, not an end.”

I thought I was doing fairly well on saving my money, up until my recent birthday when I went a bit overboard… but today, I was appalled by what I previously thought were good habits. I signed up for Mint.com, which my mother distrusts since it aggregates your different accounts on a separate website. I’m taking the chance. I’ve only used the site for one day, and it’s already taught me that I overspend like crazy. I earn a fairly meager wage at 30 hours per week, but more than minimum wage… and since I took my position, I thought I was saving at least half of what I earned each month. Now, I know that was just… a pipe dream.

I’m very stubborn and I don’t want any hand holding or lecturing when it comes to my learning how to budget the money that I earn. As much as my parents support me, financially and familially, I don’t want to discuss the money I earn with them because I know we will just disagree and argue. So, I choose Mint.com as my professor and am establishing a budget. I could never formulate one on my own before, because my income fluctuates so much and, though I log in to my bank account frequently, I could never SEE exactly where my money was going. (I am SICKENED now by how much I spend on coffee and magazines!!!)

Another website to recommend would be CreditKarma.com, which provides your FICO score for free.