There's this utility that comes with the Mac OS, Stickies, which simulate little post-it notes. You can have the program start up automatically when the Mac is rebooted so the stickies are in the background. It's only an application though so the notes don't float over all the windows or anything fancy. Anyway, I haven't found any really useful uses for it other than the following.

Last year, at about this time of the year, I wrote down my New Year's Resolutions on a sticky. Every time I startup my computer the little sticky shows up and I've gotten into the habit of just hiding it without thinking about it. Now it's the end of the year so I should review what few things I've accomplished this year.

1. Pay off credit card by the end of January. That was overly optimistic, although I would have done it too if not for the car accident that set me back $3000. At the end of the year I have $4000 on one credit card, which would be pretty sad if not for the fact that I paid off my college loans. I should be able to pay it off by the end of April, unless something comes up of course.

2. Don't charge more than you can pay. In general, I have not been able to do this all year. I can usually keep my expenses down except for the big things that I never seem to take account of, like car repairs or vacations or expensive gifts. Actually, what I meant when I wrote this resolution is "don't charge more than you can pay off on your credit card". Since I never paid off my credit card bills all year, this has been a resounding failure.

3. Pay off Stafford Loan. Good thing I didn't put a time limit on this one, because I only just paid off this loan last month. I've also paid off my Perkins Loan this month, so I have no college loans pending. This leaves me with three liabilities: $7000 to my mom for my car, $2000 to my sister, $4000 on a credit card. After I pay off the credit card, I'll try to repay my sister then my mom and then I can start saving for a new car. Although unless I sell more stock options, I'm unlikely to be debt free by the end of next year.

4. Don't reduce paycheck contributions. I'm talking about 401K and my Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). At the start of the year they were at 6% and 10%, respectively. My mom really wanted me to increase 401K to the max of 15% I didn't have the funds for that, so I said I'd have to drop ESPP to do it, and she agreed. So by the end of the year they are now at 15% and 1%, respectively. One goal next year will be to increase ESPP to 10% Technically, I failed this one. My mom now wants me to increase my ESPP since Oracle stock is doing so well. I'm more philosophical. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to live long enough to benefit from these contributions.

5. Build up a $1000 reserve by the end of June. By this I mean that I want to have $1000 in my checking account at all times, in case of emergency. Since I was trying to pay off my debts, I didn't reach this goal until a month or two ago. Having money in the bank gives you a lot of flexibility, even if you have significant debt. Not having a cushion means that any expense goes on the credit card, worse if the expense can't be charged, then you have to get some cash. I find that I sleep easier with some debt and money in the bank.