My 12 for 2012... Annual Goal Review

So back in 2012, I set 12 goals I wanted to accomplish by years end... My "12 for 2012" so to speak... and it's time to check in and see how I did.

1. Put $5,000.00 into a Roth IRA. -- Accomplished. I've been making a point of maxing out my Roth IRA ever since I heard about this awesome gem in 2007 back when the contribution level was only $4,000 a year.... and boy did that seem daughting. I was 21 years old and in my first full time job and didn't have a clue how retirement worked. All I knew was that the internet was telling me I should start saving money now because Retirement is expensive. Little did I know that the Roth IRA would become my best friend with the pension system. I put in after tax dollars and it grows tax free... so when I'm old and I need money, I pull it out and don't pay taxes on it all... which is great because if my pension is still around for me to take when I retire, that will be all taxable income. To date, I've put in $29,000 into my Roth IRAs (split at 2 places--- i'm still working on merging them into a single account at Vanguard now that I understand how investments work.) As of today, they total $30,813.03   
2. Add $1,200.00 to our emergency fund. -- Accomplished. Our emergency fund is finally fully funded and sits at $12,500.00, which is slightly over 6 months of expenses for our family on a bare bones budget. Additionally, I keep a short term EF of $2,000 split between my 2 checking accounts to make my budgetting easier so I don't have to worry about my paycheck "clearing" before sending in our monthly mortgage payment.
3. Pay 2 additional mortgage payments this year. -- Fail. We did pay extra towards our mortgage in 2012, but it wasn't enough to equal 2 additional payments. We made sure to send a few dollars here and there, but we decided to cash flow the replacement of our windows in our condo instead of paying down the mortgage because I couldn't take the old ones anymore (they didn't sit in the frame right) and we realized we couldn't re-finance our mortgage that year. But hopefully 2013 will be the year of the mortgage meltdown!
4. Open and put in $5,000.00 into a Roth IRA for South County Boy. --FAIL. SCB wasn't able to really work much in 2012 and unemployment money doesn't count as "earned income" and we only recieved it for a few months. We amended this goal to have him put 10% of his "earned income" into a Roth IRA, and if he has any income that qualifies when I do our taxes then we will try and set up an account for him since we should be elligible for the Saver's Tax Credit which will give us a 50% tax credit on every dollar he puts in there, up to $2k. 
5. Save $1,000.00 to start a "new car" fund. -- Fail. We started out with a "new car fund" when we thought my mom was going to let us buy her Truck off her for $2k-- and that we would need to turn in SCB's 20+ year old clunker due to smog standards... But my mom ended up selling the truck to my sister's fiance's twin brother for $1,800.00... and then SCB's car passed California Smog standards so we can keep her for another 2 years if she runs.... so we abandoned this goal... 
6. Change the rest of my accounts, etc to my new last name. --- Fail I forgot one... Just one measly account... I so badly want to say I accomplished this goal... but I have one credit card in my maiden name still... sniff sniff.
7. Loose and keep off 15 lbs--- HAHAHAHA FAIL But I did manage to loose the weight I gained when I was all depressed from the birth control pills and my crazy family... but unfortunately it was not close to the 15 pounds I wanted to loose. I ended up loosing a net of 5... not 15....
8. Finish a Marathon.-- Accomplished I did the LA Marathon for Child Share for a third time and finished :) For 2013 I'll be doing a half marathon because I'm too busy to train for a full, but i'm going to push myself to try and run and jog more of it then ever before.
9. Read at least 6 books.-- Accomplished I actually read more than 6, but who's counting!
10. Crochet a sweater--- fail.... But I did start learning to tat and I did sew 2 skirts... and learned about pintrest.
11. Attempt to bake/cook 12 new recipes--- Accomplished:
1. Meat balls
2. Spinach bites
3. Chicken Enchiladas
4. Bread, rolls and pizza dough
5. Fried Rice
6. Crock pot beef stew
7. Turkey... I roasted my own Turkey!
8. learned to cook bacon in the oven and made my own breakfast sandwiches
9. Roast Chicken breasts 
10. Authentic Gyoza (potstickers)
11. Experimented with Greek yogurt as a swap for Mayo and Sour Cream
12. and we tried a number of new prepared foods like soup and orange chicken (and I can count that because its my blog and i'm soooo close to this one that I get a freebie.)
12. Attempt a small vegetable garden on my patio this spring/summer-- half win, half fail..We didn't start a garden because of our finances, in the fall my neighbor gifted me 2 plants, a tomato and a bell pepper and we now have an arrangement for spring to share my sunlight and produce if she buys the plants and I take care of them :)

Phew! 

So while I didn't fully meet all my goals for 2012... (and i'm okay with that) I think we had a fairly good year and I can't wait to see what happens in 2013...

Let's vote... shall I do my 13 for 2013??? Anyone want to make some suggestions for the list?