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by Tricia

Once I have the final numbers calculated, I’ll take a final look back at our 2007 goals and see exactly how we did. It’s hard to believe that yet another year has passed, and it’s time to declare some goals for 2008.

Debt Goal – Kimberly from Alpha Consumer asked me for a financial goal. I decided that we would like to pay off at least $10,000 more of our debt in 2008. This may be tough with a looming financial shake-up. But, that shake-up should be temporary until we get our financial groove back. When that happens, we should have more income overall to go towards our debt. One step backwards…two steps forward.

The only problem with having a goal of $10,000 is that it will mean that we will have about five months to pay off $7,000 by May 2009 (our credit card payoff goal date). A date that I thought was so far away is no longer so far away.

Savings Goal – I think a nice goal for our savings account would be to fund it up to $5,000. But since we may have to use some of it for moving expenses, I am going to be conservative here and have a goal of having it back at $2,500 (or more) by this time next year.

How are we planning on achieving the above goals? The main thing is to increase our income, which we hope to do by my husband finding full-time employment in his field. I also have been keeping an eye out for extra income that I can make. It’s not just any income, though. I am looking for high return income so I don’t have to spend as much time working. That way, I can concentrate on cutting our expenses as well.

Happy New Year Everyone! Here’s to 2008!

by Tricia

Right now, we are in a financial groove. I know what to expect for our income and our expenses are fairly regular. I know what stores have the best deals and I know what thrift stores have the best prices.

But things will be changing shortly.

When my husband finds a full-time job, we will end up moving to wherever that job may be. It scares the heck out of me that we will no longer have our super-cheap mortgage (less than $350/month) and I no longer will know where to get the best deals.

I’m not against change. I believe that change can be important to make things happen in your life (hopefully for the better). But it doesn’t mean that change will be easy. For me, it’s downright scary given our debt-ridden financial situation.

The one thing I am doing to try to face this fear is to start preparing for the financial shake-up. How? Well, he’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Build Up That Emergency Fund!

Our savings account is at $2,500 right now. On Monday, I will be throwing a little more into it. The goal for a while is to put our debt reduction on hold and to keep contributing to that fund. We should rename it to the “Money to Make Tricia Feel Better Fund.” We’ll beef it up as much as possible so we have it to weather some financial hardships that can come with a move.

Sell More Stuff!

I read Debt is Slavery back in August and that book opened my eyes. It’s a big reason why we sold so much stuff during our three garage sales this summer.

Get rid of the clutter and there is less to worry about in your life!

I might have some more time on my hands soon, and while the huge piles of snow in my yard deter us from having a garage sale, I really need to get on eBay and do some selling. I know I keep saying it and I keep dragging my feet. But if I soon have that time that I’m thinking I’ll have, well, there will be no excuse.

We’ll make some extra money to put in our savings account and we’ll have less to take with us when we move.

Keep Healthy!

I haven’t been in the best of health lately. In fact, I’ve been under a lot of stress and have been suffering from stress-related symptoms. At one point, I thought there was something really wrong with me and I almost went to the emergency room. I waited it out due to fear of a high hospital bill and the symptoms did go away. I began tracking my symptoms and I noticed a relationship with being stressed.

I need to reduce the stress in my life and keep healthy. When I’m not feeling well, I have a tendency to get depressed and that is not good. I need to keep optimistic during this transition and I need to keep a clear mind to keep myself together.

Conclusion

Well, that’s what I’ve come up with so far. Basically I’m going to hoard as much money as possible, get rid of as much stuff as possible, and keep myself as healthy as possible. If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

I already feel a little better about the whole thing after writing about it. So perhaps the fourth item up there should be to talk about it with others.