Are We On Track to Meet Our 2007 Goals?

At 11:50 p.m. on December 31, 2006, I posted our goals for 2007. I’ve been meaning to take a peek at those goals and see how things were going in July. Well, now it’s halfway through November so I better see how things are going. Perhaps I’ll have to kick things up a notch to meet these goals by December 31, 2007. (The goals are in the quotes – my notes follow.)

Debt Goal – I would like to pay off at least $12,000 more of our debt in 2007. To account for monthly finance charges, weâ€™ll probably have to pay around $1,100/month to make it happen.

Ouch. I know we haven’t paid $1,100/month to our debt. At the end of December, our debt was at $24,398. Today, it is at $19,250. That’s a decrease of $5,148. We are well shy of paying of $12,000. BUT, we took a break to beef up a savings account.

Savings Goal – Since I only have about $121 in a savings account, it might be nice to put a few more dollars in that account. If I can double the balance in 2007 Iâ€™d be happy. Itâ€™s a start.

We did more than double that $121 in our savings account! The balance in there today is $2,046 and there will be more contributed to it by the end of the year. It’s interesting how my priorities have evolved.

Retirement Goal – I will have the ability to contribute to a 401K plan this year. I am excited and I really have no idea what to expect with this. Iâ€™m waiting to get paperwork so I can read up on it. Iâ€™m on the fence right now with how much to contribute because of our debt.

I am contributing to retirement now and it feels good to have some money for the future. While it’s not as much as I’d like at the moment, I am hoping to be able to increase the withholding come the new year.

Extra Money Goal – I havenâ€™t forgotten about eBay. I still want to sell a lot of our stuff on there to make some cash to go towards our debt reduction. I also want to reduce clutter in our house.

Well, I haven’t sold anything on eBay yet. However, we had three garage sales this summer and made a huge dent in our clutter. We also made a nice amount of money (about $600 total). I’m hoping to test the eBay waters during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Personal Goal – Iâ€™m not going to set a specific poundage to this one, but I would like to lose some weight this year. I just want to have more energy and be able to do more things. Iâ€™m hoping my Elliptial will help.

I was keeping track of this at Blogging Away Fat. To my delight, I have shed 25 pounds thus far. No, I’m not losing the weight at Biggest Loser speed, but it’s still coming off. That makes me happy. Unfortunately, I’ve had to go on a hiatus from Blogging Away Fat for a while. That’s probably for the best because I’m also trying to quit the smoking habit. Doing both would be very difficult, so while I’m trying to quit smoking I will be hiding the scale for a while.

Final Thoughts

All in all, we’ve met a lot of the goals that we have set for 2007. The biggest one that isn’t close to being met is our debt payoff goal. I thought I would really be bummed about it, but I’m not. I know that our priorities changed during the year with creating an emergency fund. I feel much better now that we have one.

Even though we are far from meeting our goal, it doesn’t mean that I won’t give it our best shot. That’s the thing about goals. Sometimes you don’t meet them but you can still work hard to do your best and see how close you can get.

Posted by Tricia on November 15, 2007 at 8:10 AM in General Debt | 15 Comments »
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Dawn responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Your doing fantastic!
Your on the right path and that’s really the hardest part … getting on that darn path!
Progress is progress no matter what the numbers are, good job and keep up the good work!
The Chef responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Excellent progress and congratulations.
I feel that the excess money in your savings account (the amount more than $242 which was your original goal) can be funneled to some other places like investing or to reduce your debt further down from the current status.
Mrs. Micah responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Even paying off $5000 is great, especially with your husband’s whole job thing. I’m glad you’re happy with where you are in your goals. It’s an excellent place to be–on the right track and making good progress.
FinanceIsPersonal.com responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Very nice job there! Right now my big financial goal is to save up to pay cash for my masters degree, and I’m almost there!
arduous responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Congrats! You handily achieved 4 of your goals, and the fifth one you made definite progress with. That is so awesome.
Michelle responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
One of my favorite quotes of all time:

“My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.” -Ronald Reagan
Our Debt Blog responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I have one goal for 2008, to pay off my credit card. Thanks for inspiring me!!
Megan responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Congratulations on all your 2007 achievements.

Maybe it’s time to start another blog called “Blogging away Cigarettes”?
Chief Family Officer responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I’m glad you’re not bummed, because it looks to me like you’re doing fantastic! Congrats and keep it up! (And continued well wishes on the quitting smoking thing too.)
Tricia responded:
Posted: November 15th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Thank you everyone

The Chef – Now that we have our savings there, I really like it. I could pay off debt with it, and I may use some of it to pay the last bit off when we are close to paying it all off. But right now, it feels good having a cash cushion if we need it.

Michelle – that is a super great quote…I love it!

Oh boy…about the cigarettes. I’m up to around 14/day now during the work week. I need a better game plan to help me cope during the week.
jaye responded:
Posted: November 16th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I’m sure you’ve already done this, but…perhaps you should think about how much you spent on cigarettes in 2007 and how NOT smoking would have increased funds for debt reduction. Maybe looking at that number will inspire you to knock a few more cigarettes off of your daily allowance or maybe you’ll just quit! Good luck with this. I’ve seen my Mom quit a few times and it hasn’t been pretty but she did it! We’re all pulling for you.
Pat responded:
Posted: November 16th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I am glad that you have let up on the dieting till you are off the ciggies. I was thinking that you were just taking on too many projects at once and were in danger of becoming overwhelmed. I have lost 80 lbs. in the last 18 months and believe me I could have never done it if I hadn’t made it the center of my life!
MVP responded:
Posted: November 17th, 2007 at 1:31 am
Good for you! You’re way ahead of most people in achieving your New Years resolutions. Losing 25 pounds is NOT easy, but you’re on a roll, so even though you’re trying to quit smoking AND declutter your house AND pay off debt (whew!) don’t stop the intensity. Me, I can really only focus on one thing at a time, but kudos to you and your family for being multi-taskers and making it happen!
» Roundup: Please Donate One Dollar on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity responded:
Posted: November 17th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
[...] is periodically checking in on them. As Tricia at Blogging Away Debt whittles away at her debt, she checks in against her goals. If you stopped after reading the first piece about her debt (as one would likely do if they were [...]
Gladys responded:
Posted: November 18th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
yes, good for you!
keep going!