It’s January and time to get organized! First up – getting our finances on track.
It’s so easy to become stuck in the rut of doing the same things over and over, but the start of the new year provides a fantastic opportunity to step back and evaluate your overall life goals and how they relate to your money.
One key to creating goals that will actually work for you is to know what you want. What are the results you would like to see in your financial life in six months? a year? five years? Rather than doing what the experts say, or basing your goals on what others think you should do, determine what YOUR goals are.
As I mentioned previously, 2013 was a whirlwind for our family with a lot of changes, so what we want for 2014 is to build stability and build our savings. With that in mind we have created a few goals for the next year.
Short Term Goals (within the next 3 months)
Pay second semester school fees (immediate)
Save at least $500 into our emergency fund.
Keep grocery budget to $500 a month total.
Increase income by $200 a month.
Intermediate Goals (within the next 6 months)
Pay for a business conference in April.
Save an additional $500 to our emergency fund by the end of May.
Save $500 toward a new car.
Long Term Goals
Save $3000 by December 2014.
Big Dreams
Save for a trip to Ireland.
What are some of your financial goals for 2014? Share in the comments so we can cheer each other on! 🙂
Click here for the next post in this series: Break It Down.
Make Money Online!
Click here for a complete list of The Peaceful Mom’s recommended survey sites.
I have added a few extra things in addition to our normal savings routine for this year:
Keep our grocery budget under $600 monthly – we eat organic, so it’s more expensive. I also pack hubby’s lunches; Save $500 for a beach vacation; Add extra money to our tithe every month.
I think those things seem realistic and I am hoping to add more goals as the year progresses.
I love that you are sticking with realistic, doable goals Michelle. You will be much more successful at sticking with them. 🙂
I went to Ireland with my mom in 2008. It was amazing! My favorite stop was Kylemore Abbey.
Our goals are to get my dad’s estate through probate court intact, save $500 to take his urn to Kansas to be buried with his parents, pay off all of our debt, buy a 2nd vehicle, and save for a down payment on a house.
It feels overwhelming but I know we can do it!
I’m sorry for your loss Alisha. It must seem overwhelming, but you are right – you CAN do it. One step at a time. 🙂
We’ve been working on our Dave Ramsey step 2 for longer than I’d care to admit. We will pay off our last non-mortgage debt ( my student loan-$4000/month) by December. I’m also working on cutting expenses in a few specific ways: careful grocery shopping using sales and coupons. (This is a bit of an additional challenge since we’re trying to eat mostly organic-suggestions welcome!); using what I have better including gifts(regifting closet, handmade gifts and cards). Finally, I’m working on increasing income without spending additional time away from home by writing and marketing a child’s book/toy idea I have.
It’s difficult to maintain focus when you have a lot of debt, but good for you for plugging along. Don’t give up! I hope that your book idea is very successful Anne.
I am homeless and starting from scratch, on EVERYTHING. I had to give away 80% of my household belongings, and am looking for a job.
I want to do things right this time around, so I don’t find myself in the same situation. What advice can you give me to regain my good credit standing, and to get back on track?
Here are our short and long term goals:
1. Get our $1000 emergency fund complete (we lack $200) – next 2 months
2. Save up for a new microwave (we have a dinky one that heats unevenly that we’re borrowing from our church) – about $120 – next 2 months
3. Pay off a credit card that has $600 balance on it – next 4 months
4. Start a fund towards decorating my house (we’re going on 2 years living here and I have maybe 4 things hanging on the walls!)- would like to decorate over Spring break.
5. Save for our 2015 trip to Disney World (Florida) – about $3000 by next Summer
6. Put $100 towards my two daughter’s savings account by December 2014.
My hubby and I still need to sit down and re-evaluate our finances now that he has some commissions coming in from his job. We have student loans that we’re starting to pay on now and that changes everything. We also owe money to the IRS (left out a W2 from our filing last year and got more back than we should have, used the money to pay off some debts, then re-filed and ended up needing to pay back $1200 of it and we still have not paid any of it back) and I’m hoping they will just take it out of our return this year.
5.
Great goals Stephanie! Sorry about the IRS problem. I would definitely make paying them back your first priority so you don’t incur any fees or penalties.
We are getting ready to buy a house! So scary. Your budget advice articles help a lot!
Scary, but exciting Kylee! Congrats!
Do you have a child in college? Those costs are so expensive!
No, no one is in college yet, and when they are they will have to work and go to an in-state school. 🙂