So, as many of you may know, in September, I set a goal for our family to save $10,000 by June 2009. It was a good goal, and we did well in the implementation, however, I am not sure that I truly thought it all through.
First of all, I’m in grad school right now and am not getting reimbursed for the rest of the credits, so I’m paying $7,000 out of pocket for grad school. Also, I have to take the principal’s exam in January, which costs $480. I have 2 boys in daycare, which costs approximately $1800 a month, and our mortgage is $2600 a month (but we always pay $2800). Originally, I did figure these in, but seemed to forget their real impact on our budget. The truth is, these things make it difficult to save in general.
This is not to say that we can’t save anything. We certainly can, and we’d be remiss if we weren’t working our butts off to save SOMETHING.
I also changed direction a bit, partway through my self-challenge. We used to charge everything and paid off our cards at the end of the month. However, I decided, this year, to pay cash for as much as I could. The original goal had me putting all of my piano money into our second bank account, but I made a different decision with that cash and instead, used it to save for Christmas, which we paid for mostly in cash, and to pay for other things that came up, like skate rentals during the kids skating lessons, etc. I also have to admit to being weak and using that money to pay for getting take-out once a week.
So, where do we stand now?
I’m not walking away from the goal all-together. However, it’s time to redefine, refocus, and repurpose. My spring semester bill will be coming in January, and it will be $5000. Quite frankly, that’s going to wipe us out. The saving that we have done will be taken for that. The good news is that I graduate in May and so after that, no more grad school bills. The other good news is that after May, I move over on the salary guide, so next September, I will be making more money as a result of the degree. More good news is that our middle child will start kindergarten in September, thus eradicating a daycare payment.
Dh is getting a dividend check in January, which we are anticipating being a few thousand dollars. We may need to use it for grad school, we don’t quite know yet what we’ll do with that. I plan on still putting the $200 piano lesson check I get from the one family right into our extra bank account, and using the piano cash I get from the other family to pay for skate rentals, putting aside for birthday shopping (we don’t go crazy on birthday shopping, however, we do have 3 kids, so the money will be for party (again, we do small parties at home) and gifts), and I also have begun my own, special fund where I’m saving to purchase a treadmill…a good, electronic, fancy treadmill, as another goal of mine for the new year is my fitness.
Dh and I are planning to sit down this weekend and come up with some firm, quantifiable goals for the new year, so when we do, I’ll fill you in then.
In the meantime, I have to admit that my 3 original mini-goals still stand. I haven’t been too successful with them so far, so I plan on kicking it into high gear starting January 1. I’ve been distracted by grad school, and that is certainly not going away any time soon, and my internship and action research that needs to be completed by May and directing the school musical is definitely going to add to the distraction factor, however, I’m going to try to remain focused.
To that end, I’m reposting the original mini-goals, what we do well and what we need to work on, as a gentle reminder to myself where we are:
Here’s what I think we do well:
•We have a shared commitment to this goal
•We’ve taught our children good money management skills and they don’t have the “gimmes”
•Utilize the library for dvd’s and kids books
•Pack all lunches from home
•Cook homecooked meals and not eat out (on our dime)
•Teach piano for extra income
•Freecycle to get things that we need (like J’s fabric scraps…it’s a great hobby and we’ve made it free)
•Sew ripped clothing to make it last longer
Here are things we can improve on: (feel free to add)
•Find cheaper/homemade healthy snacks for lunchboxes and home
•Reducing our grocery bills (means we may need to get more creative with our meals…we can hack it…smaller meals means smaller waistlines, too)
•Hang dry all of our laundry (just need that outside line)
Mini-Goal #1
$200 per month AT LEAST goes into that special account. Obviously, we’ll put more in, but we must put in at least $200 a month
Mini-Goal #2
Keep our Amex under $750 per month, which includes our groceries, which brings us to:
Mini-Goal #3
Groceries under $350 per month. Diapers, paper products, and all other items included. Just need to get creative.
So, as I said, I’ll be back with a firm, overarching goal, but in the meantime, I’ll keep on keepin’ on.
First of all, I’m in grad school right now and am not getting reimbursed for the rest of the credits, so I’m paying $7,000 out of pocket for grad school. Also, I have to take the principal’s exam in January, which costs $480. I have 2 boys in daycare, which costs approximately $1800 a month, and our mortgage is $2600 a month (but we always pay $2800). Originally, I did figure these in, but seemed to forget their real impact on our budget. The truth is, these things make it difficult to save in general.
This is not to say that we can’t save anything. We certainly can, and we’d be remiss if we weren’t working our butts off to save SOMETHING.
I also changed direction a bit, partway through my self-challenge. We used to charge everything and paid off our cards at the end of the month. However, I decided, this year, to pay cash for as much as I could. The original goal had me putting all of my piano money into our second bank account, but I made a different decision with that cash and instead, used it to save for Christmas, which we paid for mostly in cash, and to pay for other things that came up, like skate rentals during the kids skating lessons, etc. I also have to admit to being weak and using that money to pay for getting take-out once a week.
So, where do we stand now?
I’m not walking away from the goal all-together. However, it’s time to redefine, refocus, and repurpose. My spring semester bill will be coming in January, and it will be $5000. Quite frankly, that’s going to wipe us out. The saving that we have done will be taken for that. The good news is that I graduate in May and so after that, no more grad school bills. The other good news is that after May, I move over on the salary guide, so next September, I will be making more money as a result of the degree. More good news is that our middle child will start kindergarten in September, thus eradicating a daycare payment.
Dh is getting a dividend check in January, which we are anticipating being a few thousand dollars. We may need to use it for grad school, we don’t quite know yet what we’ll do with that. I plan on still putting the $200 piano lesson check I get from the one family right into our extra bank account, and using the piano cash I get from the other family to pay for skate rentals, putting aside for birthday shopping (we don’t go crazy on birthday shopping, however, we do have 3 kids, so the money will be for party (again, we do small parties at home) and gifts), and I also have begun my own, special fund where I’m saving to purchase a treadmill…a good, electronic, fancy treadmill, as another goal of mine for the new year is my fitness.
Dh and I are planning to sit down this weekend and come up with some firm, quantifiable goals for the new year, so when we do, I’ll fill you in then.
In the meantime, I have to admit that my 3 original mini-goals still stand. I haven’t been too successful with them so far, so I plan on kicking it into high gear starting January 1. I’ve been distracted by grad school, and that is certainly not going away any time soon, and my internship and action research that needs to be completed by May and directing the school musical is definitely going to add to the distraction factor, however, I’m going to try to remain focused.
To that end, I’m reposting the original mini-goals, what we do well and what we need to work on, as a gentle reminder to myself where we are:
Here’s what I think we do well:
•We have a shared commitment to this goal
•We’ve taught our children good money management skills and they don’t have the “gimmes”
•Utilize the library for dvd’s and kids books
•Pack all lunches from home
•Cook homecooked meals and not eat out (on our dime)
•Teach piano for extra income
•Freecycle to get things that we need (like J’s fabric scraps…it’s a great hobby and we’ve made it free)
•Sew ripped clothing to make it last longer
Here are things we can improve on: (feel free to add)
•Find cheaper/homemade healthy snacks for lunchboxes and home
•Reducing our grocery bills (means we may need to get more creative with our meals…we can hack it…smaller meals means smaller waistlines, too)
•Hang dry all of our laundry (just need that outside line)
Mini-Goal #1
$200 per month AT LEAST goes into that special account. Obviously, we’ll put more in, but we must put in at least $200 a month
Mini-Goal #2
Keep our Amex under $750 per month, which includes our groceries, which brings us to:
Mini-Goal #3
Groceries under $350 per month. Diapers, paper products, and all other items included. Just need to get creative.
So, as I said, I’ll be back with a firm, overarching goal, but in the meantime, I’ll keep on keepin’ on.