My financial Year in Review

This being the last day of the year I pulled up the reports section of my Microsoft Money program and took a good hard look at last year. In short I was unhappy with how I was at managing my money and I can do way better. The Where is my money going report showed that as I expected my two largest expenses for the year were for my mortgage and my car payment followed by groceries, insurance, and real estate taxes. The same top five I would most likely see on anyone's list.  Number six is gasoline, an expense that was higher than normal for us due to two car trips to Kansas we took this last year. Again, something that I am not horrified to see. What then shocks me is the remainder of my spending habits, clothing in the top ten? Not this year. Books and Magazines in the top 15? Nope won't happen this year. My largest utility expense is surprisingly for electricity. I would have guessed natural gas since our furnace, our stove and our hot water tank all run on it. But this just is not what the numbers are telling me. I am starting a campaign to turn off lights, read my own meter (only 3 bills the entire year were based on actual readings...something the electric company could not  explain to me to my satisfaction...shame on my meter reader and shame on me for not noticing sooner), and get these bills under control. My second highest utility is my cell phone, since I am locked into a contract for yet another year no changes will be made until that time is up. Then I will most definately be finding another plan. We had a lot of special events this year which added up to a lot of money for gifts, the coming year will see a drop in this number for sure.
The second report I pulled up was the always interesting Who gets my money report. As expected my  mortage holder and my car loan holder get the lion's share. But what was shocking was who was in the number three spot: Target. Oh dear. I am going to have to end that relationship. I hate breakups but it needs to be done.
On the upside I paid off my sole remaining credit card and am on track to pay of a student loan I took to help out one of my older kids. This will allow me to begin to pay down on the principal on my car loan. My mortgage will remain what it is. Due to the recent real estates troubles that hit hard in my area the value of my property is way less than what I owe on it. Putting me upside down in that area due to no fault of my own. I cannot sell my property for what I owe and cannot rent anything similar for less than what my mortgage payment is so the only thing to do is ride it out. I guess the silver lining here is that my property taxes will decrease due to the new evaluations.
I have three simple goals financially for 2013:
1. Pay off student loan and pay down car loan principal.
2. Reduce unnecssary spending and increase savings. (bye bye Target and hello Credit Union)
3. Increase income by finding a part time evening job.
Here's hoping that the end of 2013 will see an acheivement of these goals and a much brighter financial picture!!