Blogging Away Debt

My 3 Must-Achieve Goals for 2019

2019 is the first year that I am writing down a unique set of financial goals for the new year. I believe in the power of writing goals down, and since I am a visual learner, I also love tangible reminders like vision boards. For 2019, I want to identify my distinct financial goals and will post them here in hopes that you all will hold me accountable! Ideally, my goals are measurable, timely, and realistic so that I can reach them at the end of the year. I have several goals that I would like to reach, but I am limiting my primary goals to three so that I can sharpen my focus on them.

This is my financial vision board. The middle of the board has an inspiring quote:

After Love, nothing causes as much emotional turbulence as money. How we save and spend reveal who we are: our fears, our hopes, morals, and passions.

Goal 1 in the bottom right shows an approximation of my saving goal, a quote by Suzie Orman who I love, and a quote about remembering that money should work for you and not just the other way around. Goal 2 is in the bottom left corner and gives a visual reminder about working for more money. In the top right corner, a woman is cutting her credit card and it also says that emergencies are never planned. I added the reminder about retirement investing in the top left. What are on your 2019 vision boards?

Goal 1: Save at least 25% of my Income

A lot of financial advice suggests saving at least 20% of your monthly income. I did not meet this mark in 2018. My savings hit an embarrassingly low point in June of 2018 and I saved $280 out of about $2700. I believe that this decline was because of the lack of intentional plans for saving, so I recently updated my budget for the new year. I am on track to meet a 20% savings for January 2019.

Out of roughly $3,050 after-tax pay that I earned for the month, $525 goes to my $2100 Bank of America credit card balance.

Another $85 goes to pay off the interest on my student loans while I am in school. Therefore, I am saving a total of $610 of my income for January, exactly 20% of my check. I plan to try and save even more, ultimately progressing to 25% for the year.

Goal 2: Earn at least $200 in Monthly Supplemental Income

I earned almost $2000 last year in substitute teaching and this additional income was helpful. Side hustles give me a bit of extra cushion that I need. I think perhaps my mission to get a tutoring job is not meant to be because I have tried relentlessly but either cannot find one or find one that would be worthwhile. In the meantime, I will continue to do what I have done and to keep looking.

Goal 3: Plan for Debt

I struggled with this third goal. It is actually several large goals that I broke into smaller individual goals that all address debt in some way. My first goal is to 1) have my credit card paid off by April. I also want to eliminate “emergency-type” charges by 2) budgeting for all possible upcoming expenses and continuing to grow my emergency fund. This will eliminate the need to pull out a credit card the next time the mechanic tells me that if I don’t have both my front and back brakes replaced before I get on the road then I won’t make it back home. I am going to keep my credit card paid off.

My last goal is that 3) I want to pay down my student loans. I have two loans, both subsidized Stafford loans with the same interest rate. The smallest one has a balance of $1,200 and my plan is to pay that off in total.

What are your financial goals for 2019?

How I Use My Credit Card

by Hope

There have been lots of questions and confusion in the comments of my latest budget post regarding my credit card. Rather than responding to all the individual queries, I thought I would clear it up here.

Credit Card Details

My line of credit on my only credit card is $5,000. This past fall, I was able to pay down the rolling balance from continually maxed out at $5,000 to $3,700. And I’ve kept the maximum balance at that $3,700 range for the past few months.

How I Use It

I use the credit card as a rolling line of credit. Meaning, I use it but pay it off immediately. And I use it a lot every month. I pay a number of my monthly bills with it as well as use it for gas and groceries.

This is why I don’t have a minimum payment for the credit card in my budget. I pay the minimum in my usage and payment strategy. But have been good at no longer growing the debt this fall.

My Reasoning

I realize that this is not the recommended use for a credit credit. But I do this for two reasons:

One it gives me added protection from having my bank account cleared out again. (This has happened at least twice in the last 4 years.) I am very careful about using my debit card or anything that has direct access to my cash.
It also allows me to keep paying on this debt and not growing it any further.

I hope this clears up the questions about my credit card, why I didn’t budget a minimum payment for it and how I use it. If there is anything I missed, please ask in the comments and I will do my best to answer.

I do know that I am not willing to close this last credit card account, even when I do get it to $0. But I will definitely always have the cash to pay it off. I just feel safer using it when traveling and for the added security with larger purchases, car rentals and more.

Editors note: One way you might consider improving your credit score is something called tradelines. When you get a tradeline you’re basically paying a fee to be added to someone else’s credit. Buying tradelines isn’t for everyone. It costs money and unless you want to spend thousands of dollars a month, its only going to be a partial solution. So you’ll want to be sure your bills are paid on time and your credit card utilization is low.