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Final Thoughts on Our 2007 Goals

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In November, I took a look to see how we were doing with achieving our 2007 goals. Now that I have some final numbers, it’s time to finalize how we did. (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, we’ll probably have to pay around $1,100/month to make it happen.

Total credit card debt we paid off? $7,704 At first glance, it appears that we didn’t reach our goal by a large amount. But, we have to take into consideration that we were able to increase our savings account by $2,756. Add those two numbers together, and we have $10,460. Our priorities did change through the year and we decided to concentrate on saving more money. When you look at the total, we came very close to reaching our debt goal.

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 I’d be happy. It’s a start.

Well, we came a long way from doubling the balance in our savings account. It still amazes me that we have money set aside if we need it for an emergency.

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. I’m waiting to get paperwork so I can read up on it. I’m on the fence right now with how much to contribute because of our debt.

I am still contributing to a retirement account, but not as much as I could be. I was going to increase my contribution shortly, but I am going to hold out a little bit longer to see what happens with my husband’s job search.

Extra Money Goal – I haven’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.

Yep. There’s still eBay and there’s still a bunch of stuff left over from our garage sales this summer. I missed out on the prime Christmas shopping rush, but eBay is open year-round so it’s still on my To-Do list.

Personal Goal – I’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. I’m hoping my Elliptial will help.

I am pretty darn surprised. When I went on hiatus from Blogging Away Fat, I thought for sure I’d plump up and gain back everything I lost. To my amazement, I’ve only gained 3 pounds so that means I’ve lost over 20 pounds. Things at least kept fairly constant since I quit blogging about it. Now just imagine if I worked at it more!

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how we did with our goals. We didn’t meet them all, but I have a feeling that getting them written down helped a great deal.


14 Comments

  • Reply neilo |

    If you shoot for the stars but only reach the moon – you still reached the moon!!!

  • Reply The Chef |

    Congrats! to you for acheiving the goal, but i would still insist to shed off some of the fat from your savings to pay off for your debt… you have over exceeded your goal for savings ($242). why unncessary pay the interest on the debt.

  • Reply Tricia |

    Neilo – good point 🙂

    The Chef – Right now, my credit card debt is at 0% so I am not paying interest on it. When that expires later this year, then I will have to take a close look at our situation (and resulting interest rate). We have a lot of unknowns at the moment (might be moving soon, etc.) so I’d like to keep the large savings for now.

  • Reply danielle |

    You’ve come a long way. I keep taking two steps foreward and two steps back with 1500 measly dollars. Keep up the good work.

  • Reply Jim ~ mydebtblog.com |

    I would like to have focus on meeting financial goals and sticking to it. December was rough and credit card debt went up and savings went away. Damage is done though and all I can do is move forward. I need to find some ways to get 0% on my credit cards to help me pay them off faster without wasting money on interest.

    You did mention retirement savings though which I currently do even though I’m in debt. I think it’s too risky to stop contributing to retirement since the earlier you start, time is on your side. The long term goal I have is to be out of debt by 30 so I can boost my retirement savings and do a Roth IRA.

  • Reply Sherri |

    You mentioned it in a comment but to add to your 2007 accomplishments, you got your credit card debt at 0% so that it made great sense to build that emergency savings account. Part of your 2007 goal was geared towards chasing after the finance charges, so I think you deserve a congrats for avoiding them all together!

  • Reply Ryan S. |

    That’s a great amount of progress toward your goals, Tricia! I hope you’re proud and reward yourself (without spending much 🙂

    Ryan
    http://uncommon-cents.net/

  • Reply Fiscal Musings |

    It’s good to at least see someone with goals and who’s working towards them. Nice progress as well.

  • Reply Matt |

    Sounds like you had a pretty good year. Our goals change as the reality of our life change.

  • Reply Money Blue Book |

    Looks like you are doing great with that credit card debt. Keep working hard at it – you can do it!
    -Raymond

  • Reply EasyChange |

    You have a lot to be proud of Tricia. The key thing is to just keep going. Every day is a new day and a new opportunity.

  • Reply Steve Sanders |

    For help with credit card debt, try a company called Credit Card Zappers.

    They actually took off my interest charges for 3 months in a row, and an overlimit fee.

So, what do you think ?