#43.) Just finished reading Napoleon Hill's 'Think & Grow Rich' for the second time around. Apparently anybody who is successul that I have come in contact with has read this book at one point or another. Even if you are not looking to become filthy rich or anything crazy, this book is great to read to examine yourself and where your life is at.

The first time I read this book, I did not have many concrete goals in mind. After reading it, I saw how important it is to have a definate goal with a definate time period just like this 101 list. I have put together a goal list and vision board in my head and figured I should read this again after having definate goals. I do plan on reading this again in the future.

#99.) I set up a budget for my expenses on www.mint.com. This site organizes your finances and shows you where you can save and better budget your money. For those of you who know me know that I like to be very organized and might even know that I have kept track of every cent I have spent since Feb 2004. This site automatically tracks my expenses through all of my accounts and outlines everything with graphs and charts.

To set my budget, I used the average of several different categories from the first 6 months of this year and all of last year. For an example, this year I average $113.40 on food/groceries and $169.33 in 2008 on food/groceries. I set my budget at $120 and will get an email alert when I go over that budget for that category.

I only set budgets for categories that I can control. My utilities, rent, and car expenses stay the same for the most part and I cannot keep track of how much hot water I need to be using.

#63.) I did not email a family member butt I did call one. I got a hold of my biological grandmother who lives out in Arizona. I think it has been about 12 years since I last talked to her. I am not used to people telling me how deep my voice has gotten. I am actually trying to plan a trip out there and go over some family photos to help fill out my family tree.

#41.) My grandfather just released his 7th book which was about his mother's side of the family. I read it today and got to fill in some blanks on finishing my family tree on the SPRUNG side of the family.

#55.) Ash got me a very nice beach cruiser bicycle for my birthday. Yes my birthday was over 3 months ago butt it is the thought that counts right?

#42. ) How to make Millions with your Ideas was a perfect read. I currently have a great idea that i am on the middle of capitalizing on and this book helped give me some great ideas and ended with a perfect summary at the end that i can use as a checklist for the business i am creating.

#42.) Just finished a pretty short book but very informative on short sales.
Michael Citron's "The Art of the Short Sale". It explains how to put together a well developed package to send into the banks on the borrower's behalf and while I was taking my notes on the book, I kept mentioning 'my package' which i would laugh at each time.
(My package needs to be very detailed. My packaged should be organized. My package will be very big because it will include many documents. etc.)

#43.) I actually finished reading Ross's book about a week ago but forgot to list it. It was a very motivational book on trying to convince somebody to get into real estate. It did not try to upsell anything and was very blunt and honest about the business which most books do not seem to be that way. It was a good read though and the cover of the book is aweesooommmeee....