Setting goals is extremely helpful for me. I have anxiety if I don’t have a plan set in stone, and by writing down exactly what I’d like for us to accomplish makes me feel better. Last year I didn’t set goals, but I did in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015.
-Pay $8,000 down on the principal of our home. We’re still in the same house we bought almost 10 years ago. That is crazy! I never thought we would be here that long. I’m glad because my sister and her family now live next door! I can’t see us moving in the near future, although you never know. We’re slowly chipping away at the mortgage, and that feels good!
-Save money for college education/the future for kid(s). I would love to help provide funds for a college education for our child(ren) and will do the best we can with saving now. I also figure by the time our kid(s) start college, we’ll have the mortgage paid off hopefully and will be debt free so that we can cash flow many things!
-Save $500 a month for retirement. Right now, we are contributing to Mr. Money’s 401k with his employer, and we also are contributing to our Roth IRAs with Vanguard as we are able. I’d like to make sure we’re on track for retirement (especially since I am a stay at home mom!). I think $500 a month sounds like a good number for us. We will see if we can swing it!
-Don’t eat out unless it’s planned and budgeted for. This is something we always struggle with. Our whole family enjoys dining out, and we view it as a source of entertainment and pleasure. With me staying at home, often my days are long and sometimes lacking adult interaction and just getting out of the house is awesome sometimes. Also, not having to cook is wonderful as well. We have started going to a house church and one thing our group does is gather for a weekly dinner. It’s so nice to bring a side dish and dine with our friends! This definitely helps.
-Become/stay debt free. With our daughter’s recent hospital stays, I’m unsure of exactly how much we are going to owe, which makes me so nervous. I hope it’s not a ridiculous amount. I can’t lie, I’ve been worrying about it but not much I can do at this point. I am very thankful that she is feeling better and nothing more serious is wrong.
–Go on a nice vacation somewhere. In 2016 we weren’t able to take a vacation anywhere since Mr. Money switched jobs. His work has been short staffed and he deals with a lot of crap being an executive chef. I’m hoping that we will be able to take early vacation versus waiting until the end of the year and then he loses his vacation like he did in 2016. It wouldn’t have been so terrible if he would have gotten paid for it, but he didn’t.
What are your goals for 2017?