A New Year and a New Plan...

**happymommy** · 12-11-2005, 03:41 PM

I want to be CC free and keep it that way. I racked it up again this season for online purchaces. That was no excuse, just lazy I guess. I was so determined never to charge again, what happened to my brain?
Then as time went on and a few purchaces later I went from 0 to aprox. $170. I did pay it off in full this month but I don't want to repeat sliding back.

How did you stop pulling out the cc for good?

Some of my goals for this New Year:

Keep Credit Card Free
Use Cash
Pay off our Car Loan
Continue to add to our Emergency Fund
Continue to add to our Stock Pile...it's a tiny pile.
Pay down our Mortgage
Well, these are just a few.
ohhh...Retirement Funding too.

What are yours?

**AmyBoz** · 12-11-2005, 05:03 PM

I'd like to:

*stay credit card free (with the exception of groceries on our ShopRite Amex, and pharmacy and gas which both go on our Shell MasterCard)
*buy very little that isn't gas, medicine, or groceries except for with the use of any gift cards that are received as gifts (I'd like to say not buy anything at all, but I realize that there will be birthday parties and an odd surprise here and there)
*work on our stockpile a bit, but try to live off of it as well
*not eat out more than once a month (includes restaurant eating as well as fast food)

**dwallyfam** · 12-11-2005, 05:07 PM

My plan is to

1. Build Stockpile. (Did work on that today)
2. No charging unless absolutely necessary. Then only if it is xx months without interest
3. Create a gift closet
4. Eat out only 1-2x a month. Maybe for a date night or something special with friends.

Kellie

**lilk** · 12-11-2005, 09:43 PM

I'm hoping to:

Paydown our mortgage (approx. amount is 98,000.00) and auto loan approx (amount is 16,100.00).
Up our 401K contribution.
And spend less over all on everyday purchases.

**seadream** · 12-11-2005, 09:45 PM

My goal
Pay off all credit cards and then only use them where I can pay them off every month
Pay off my car

**crdurham** · 12-12-2005, 01:09 AM

My goals for the new year are

Pay down as much of my credit card debt as possible.
Eat out as little as possible
Start saving more and cutting back as much as possible

**Scattymum** · 12-12-2005, 05:51 AM

mine are
1. get the debt down
2. build up my EF
3. Spend less on groceries - food and non food
4. build a stockpile - its non existant at the moment
5.keep my gift pile stocked - this worked really well this year
6. sort out a proper budget that works for us
7. try and sell some of my crafts and to build up a supply so I can do the christmas craft fayre circuit.

those are my main goals for 2006!

**Michele Annette** · 12-12-2005, 11:16 AM

This year I consolidated my cc balance and car loan with a low intrest loan from my credit union. It will be paid off in less than three years. My payment is $100 less than when they were seperate bills. I have been using that extra $100 for living expenses as my DH has broken his knee in September. I am very thankful for the extra $100 each month. Now DH is just starting back to work (slowly) and will be able to contribute to household expenses again soon. I hope to then put that extra $100 into the EF that has dwindled down during all of this. If another emergency arrises, such as another injury to either of us, we hope to have enough cash for a little while to live off of.

Once I have a sufficient amount in the EF I will put the $100 on the loan to pay it off more quickly.

I have since cut up my main cc and officially closed the account. Once my loan is completely paid off I will apply for a $500 limit cc from my credit union to have for things like renting a car, etc. No more $5000 balance cc for me!

We only eat out occationally. (about once every two or three months)

**pammy** · 12-12-2005, 01:37 PM

"How did you stop pulling out the cc for good?" I cut them up. We finally got dh's cc's paid off last year (the ones he brought into the marriage, I didn't have any). When that happened we had a private cc-cutting party. Guess I shoulda been scared cause we didn't have (or know we needed) an EF. I know better now.

Goals:
~Snowball debt
~Add no new debt
~Continue to stockpile
~Keep living below our means
~Start a gift closet or box

**Telephus44** · 12-12-2005, 07:20 PM

My financial goals for next year are:

1. Fully fund my Roth IRA (again)
2. Purchase another DRIP stock for our portfolio
3. Pay off all credit cards
4. Buy a house with 20% down (this is the REAL stretch for us)

A bonus would be to completely pay off my student loans - but since I have a low interest rate and we get the tax deduction - we'll put the extra money we have towards a house.

And I do use my CC for shopping online - I've had to dispute with a merchant for not receiving the product, and its easier to have the CC company freeze and reverse the charge. Plus, I feel safer using a credit card online rather than my debit card - at least if it is stolen they won't wipe out my bank account.

**Mojjo** · 12-12-2005, 08:09 PM

this is going to be good for me

~pay off my small (only) credit card...we had to put SS's airline tickets (to see his mom) on it and now I have to pay it off
~pay off 2 bills from our move...total about $1200
~increase savings contribution

adding my deferred comp to DH's just isn't feasable to saving for a house...but paying things off, cleaning up our report and then moving would.

**catzz64** · 12-25-2005, 08:18 PM

My goals are (and not to make any of you cringe

) ;

First we need to figure out just what we owe total. We have some old debt that is following just eating at us and we morally want to deal with. Not tens of thousands but enough....

Next...
Set up an EF...we've never had one (and I'm 41)...argh!
Try to pay off our car...and keep it for a couple years to save some extra $ toward other goals.

I do have a ???....I would love more info on stockpiling if any of you could point me in the right direction....I'm fairly new and my surfing has not found it yet. I am intrigued by how you all budget so little for groceries with families. Our grocery budget for 4 is about $550 per month or more...so that would be a significant help here!

Another goal would have to be to work on a gift box as well. Holidays and birthdays give me great joy when I can give, so that is important to me. I would like to work it into my budget monthly rather than urgently when an occasion comes up.

Lastly, would be working together with SO on budgeting day to day.

I am sooooo glad to have found you all!!!!!

**frugalfarmwife** · 12-26-2005, 04:07 AM

Oh my, now you're going to make me think!

My goals for 2006

Pay extra on mortgage all year

Continue to sell on ebay and use money for savings/ truck fund and mortgage

Larger garden to sell veggies to contribute more income to the farm.

Pay minimum on CC for the year (0% interest on the card for the whole year) but put the difference in an ING acct to earn interest on it.

Simplify life! (WAY TO CLUTTERED HERE)

Be a better and kinder person

Rebuild stockpile

Pay that mortage down, pay that mortgage down, pay that mortgage down! LOL

Become more organized!

Kris

guest7 · 12-26-2005, 07:05 AM

Goal 1: Cut down on my grocery bill. For a family of 5, I spent $7500 last year. I know I can beat that this year!

Goal 2: Drop all miscellaneous spending. You know the kind. Anything that is not a bill. I'll keep $xx on me and that has to last me the week. I had a real problem this year of no accountability. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Goal 3: Pay off my CC that I charged over Christmas. About $3K and NEVER do that again!

Goal 4: Open a Christmas savings account, so I won't have to charge again.

Goal 5: Take my second honeymoon in February. Heading off to Jamaica! DH already paid for that.

Goal 6: Instead of giving my DD 16 yo, my 1999 toyota camry when she gets her license, I'm going to keep it- continue to add my pseudo-monthly car payment of $540 to my Car Savings Account (currently $8500 +plus interest). I'll get DD a cheap $2000 car. Anyone selling? Then I'll have my Car Savings up there and when it's time to buy- I'll pay cash and not a large interest payment on a loan. I already know what's going to happen--- I am going to have a REAL hard time parting with 20K on a CAR! Seems that parting with my own cash is harder than taking out a loan.

Goal 7: Add $2000 to my retirement account.

Goal 8: I'll be using freebies, rebates, coupons.

Goal 9: Thrift stores this year!

Goal 10: Hang out in the forum for all the support and info I need.

**sillybutt** · 12-27-2005, 06:05 AM

I would like both of our credit cards to be paid off by the time I finish up for maternity leave mid-March.

I would like us to stick to a grocery budget each month. I tried this in December and didn't manage it, so we are starting fresh in January. DH suggested that we use the envelope system for groceries - take out the monthly amount in cash and put it in an envelope, and only use that cash to pay for our groceries.

I would like to cut down my miscellaneous spending during the week. I really really enjoy stopping for a mocha from Starbucks, or picking up a sandwich from Pret a Manger when I haven't brought my lunch with me, or going for lunch with my friends, but those indulgences are expensive and unnecessary. I think the envelope system is a good way to manage this as well - give myself something like £30 a month "fun money" and when it's gone, it's gone. Whatever's left at the end of the month can go into my change jar.

Finally, I want to pay a bit extra on my student loans each month. I can't really manage to make a much larger payment, but even paying a little bit extra helps to get that balance down faster. This month I've paid $250 instead of the $209 minimum payment due. Once I'm done with my maternity leave and am working again and can have a look at our budget, we'd like to increase our monthly mortgage payments as well.

I think that's enough to be starting with!