This Month's Update on Our Financial Goals

Like I've said before, two of the main reasons I wanted to start this blog were to actually hold myself accountable financially and to allow others who were desiring to save money a place to go for questions, answers, tips & proof that if you're willing to work hard, be diligent & figure out the difference between needs & wants, it is possible to live like no one else.  


I strive to be completely open with our financial goals, not because I feel our goals are more important than other's, but simply because for us, seeing other people's real life financial decisions is what motivated us to work like crazy & pursue financial peace.  I want you to see that I'm living what I'm promoting (or "practicing what I preach", if you will).


Our 2011 Financial Goals:

(There have been a few changes in our financial goals since the last time I shared.  You can read last month's update here)

• Pay cash for our summer vacation to Disney World.: Goal Met!

• Pay off our van: We're almost there!!
• Since the first week of April, we have paid off an additional $1,355 on our van!!  We now owe only $1,995 & we are estimating it will be paid off by the end of May-about 1 month ahead of our initial estimate.

• {Save to replace our garage door  ...yes, an addition to the list!}: Goal On Hold
• I'm striking this out not because we have already accomplished this but because after speaking with our landlord, she said it's not something we have to worry about right now. So, we are going to skip to the next goal & focus on replacing the garage door later

• Increase our emergency fund
•  We currently have our basic, $1100 emergency fund in place. We plan on increasing this to cover 3 months of our necessary expenses, such as rent, utilities, groceries, gas, diapers/baby food,  in case my husband lost his job or was unable to work

• Replace my husband's car with another "new-to-us" car
• Regarding this goal: My husband spoke to our friend/mechanic & he thinks he may be able to fix the a/c (which currently doesn't work at all), which means we wouldn't have to replace the entire car! If that's the case, this goal will be crossed off a lot quicker than we were expecting!

2 Main Projected Financial Goals for 2012:

• Pay cash for furniture/necessities/expected medical bills for a future second child.
• Regarding this goal: We expect to save enough ahead of time to pay cash for the furniture/necessities we will need for a second child. As far as the proposed medical bills go, we plan on paying for them out of our regular budget, since we will most likely not have enough time to save up a lump sum before a second child arrives. **Note: By "future second child", I mean I am NOT expecting at this moment:) Just want to clear that up...*

• Begin saving for a down payment on a home
• I often feel drawn to the idea of paying cash for a home. When I read stories of others who have done it, I feel a stirring in my soul, as if this is what we're supposed to do. But, we have made no decisions about this yet, since we have  other financial goals to meet before we even get to this baby step. And also because we are quite happy with our current house. We are so thankful for the lovely place we are able to call our home, which makes us feel content with continuing to live there until we are able to save enough to buy.

We owe our financial success to Dave Ramsey, because his principals taught us how to live like no one else so that later, we will be in a position to prosper & to GIVE.  I highly suggest you read a little about him and his thoughts on living debt free. I'm so grateful for all of the ideas he helped us put into place before we had our daughter; I am now confident that we've changed our family tree forever!

"Live like no one else, so later, you live like no one else."

-Dave Ramsey