Behind Blue Eyes: The Great Money Experiment: The One Year Mark

On my way home from a meeting tonight I realized that I'm coming up on the 1 year anniversary of hitting bottom with my finances. I'm very pleased to report that, while I still have a long way to go, I've certainly come a really long way in the last year!

Here are a few of the highlights:

I've paid off $11,281.19 in the last 12 months! Wohoo! Go me!
I haven't used a credit card for personal expenses since November 2007! (Full disclosure: I do still have an AmEx for work-related expenses, but it sits in my drawer unless I have to pay for something work-related for which I will be reimbursed.)
I have paid off 5 of the 9 creditors I had when I started. Only 4 to go!!
I've saved nearly $2000, which is set aside for various items I know are coming down the pike, along with a healthy(ish) reserve for "unknown" expenses.
This website is now self-supporting! I'm not making a ton of money off it but the ads over there on the right generate enough income to pay for hosting costs. Obviously, I'd be happy if it earned more but I've met my original goal where the ads are concerned.
I've learned how to grocery shop by clipping coupons and stockpiling when items are on sale. I've cut my average spending at the grocery store in half since I started: I now spend about $100 a month on food. (I budget for toiletries and other household items separately, but the amount I spend on them has also dropped significantly.)
I've finally figured out how to budget for and buy gifts for friends and family for their birthdays and holidays without feeling constantly surprised. I know this seems wacky given birthdays and most gift-giving holidays don't change year to year, but in the past giving gifts has always felt like a burden to me. It's not that I didn't want to give gifts to people, it's that I never felt like I had even enough money to get the things *I* needed, so buying things for others always felt like a hardship. This is largely due to the fact that I rarely planned ahead and constantly lived month-to-month. I'm not trying to make excuses - it's just how things were. But it's important to me to give gifts to my friends and family, and this year I've gotten better at planning ahead and setting aside money in the budget each month for gifts. Obviously, this area still needs work but I feel like I've made some real progress on this front.

And, because I still have a long ways to go, I wanted to set myself some goals for the coming year. They include the following:

Pay off all but my student loans in the coming year (~$16,000). This is pretty aggressive in light of the other goals, but I'm going to aim high for now.
I need to get better about just stopping places to eat when I'm out and about. I did really well at this for a little while and then I sort of fell back into my old habits. Need to find a way to motivate myself to not do this and save the money instead.
Within the next few months, I want to be living on the previous month's paychecks, leaving the current month's income untouched until the following month. The thinking here is to give myself a bit more cushion to work with.
Slowly nudge my 401K contribution back up towards 15%, to maximize my employer's match. I'm currently investing 4% of my income but I'd like to get it to at least 10% by this time next year without making a significant cut in the amount I'm repaying to debts. My employer's match is very generous and I'm fully vested so not taking advantage of this match is like throwing money away.
To my point above, I need to get better about planning for, buying (or making) and wrapping up gifts for family and friends. If anyone has tips on budgeting for gifts, rules of thumb they use for shopping, when;where they buy, where to buy nice wrapping paper/cards/ribbons inexpensively or anything else that would make this less challenging, I'm all ears!

Onwards and upwards, grasshoppers! Stay tuned for the mid-year update in March...