I have several but my ultimate goal is to get enough out of debt so we can afford to build or buy a bigger house. Getting out of debt is a big priority and socking enough away for unexpected expenses and for emergencies. Do you all have a amount that you make sure you have in savings before you start paying down your debt? I am in such a dilemma on what to do. I know we need to keep some back for emergencies but our debt payments are killing us. We can't decide if we should keep our tax returns or use it to pay off my van. It would free up 250 a month but we don't have much savings now to fall back on for the year. What do you all do or suggest? Thanks. Amy

Our Main Financial Goal is to be Totally out of Debt...
Also another main Financial Goal of ours is to have Money Saved up not touching it.
Money Saved up in the Emergency fund.
Money Saved up in a Christmas Fund so we don't have to use other money that was desginated for another purporse.

Our goal is to be out of debt and actually have money in our savings account.

My goal is to save money for a down payment for a house. To mommyto4: I had $1,000 in my emergency fund before I began paying off my debt. This is what I felt comfortable with. The emergency amount may be different for you, but do what feels comfortable to you.

mine is to put a down payment on a house.

Mine is to be debt free and have a fully funded (6 months worth of living expenses) saving acct. . I would save some of that tax refund and put some on the debt. That way you'd be covering the no new debt base incase of emergency. JMHO..... .

Our financial goal is to be totaly out of debt in 7 years(counting house)and to always have 6 mo worth of livng expense saved and never touch it.To have money put away for the kids and retirement.

Our goal is totally debt free and to buy a house. I've just started the savings thing:eek: (better late than never, I guess) so that is now also a top priority. If you pay off your van you'll have the 250 then to sock some away, it might be the way to go especially if your interest rate is higher.

Long term: Pay off the mortgage early. I'd like to own the house by the time we are 55, instead of 65, which is when the loan would payoff if we made minimum payments.

Short term: Replenish mutual fund that we used to get us through DH's unemployment.....that is $3700 and I hope to have it funded by May, and plan to use our tax refund(if we get one) and monthly deposits to get there.

Short term: Save up for a family trip to Disney World in early December, 2004....we should have free airline tickets for 2 or 3 of us by then with frequent flyer miles, and I want to save about $200/month starting this month to cover the rest...we won't go if we don't have it 100% paid for ahead of time.

We went for years without any kind of emergency fund beyond the "Bank of Mom and Dad", and in hindsight, that was very risky and we were very lucky that our true time of need didn't hit us until later in life when we had some money saved. Having been through several months of DH being unemployed, I would not be comfortable with an emergency fund that was less than 6 months worth of expense money.

I am working on paying off my credit cards and saving for my emergency fund. When I get my tax refund I am putting it all on my cc's. I hope to have my cc's paid off within the next couple of months.

I also put money away monthly into an RRSP (IRA) for my retirement. I have been doing this since I was about 19.

After that my long term goal is to pay off our home and I would love to go to Europe one day!

Ours is to have no unnneccessary debt, to have savings, and to keep up with our bills. We don't want to be wasteful, like we have in the past. We don't want to live from paycheck to paycheck the rest of our lives.