Me & DH spent the past year selling/buying a house, moving, and settling in.
I'm ready for a new year. I have a temporary job starting that will last through approx August 2011. I want to be mindful of every cent I earn from this job :skept:. I'd like to use it to reduce our debt as much as possible!
Anyone else planning their goals for the coming year? I needed a break today from decorating/preparing for Christmas, so I started writing up my goofy "debt charts" :toilet: The numbers are staggering!!!
This is just the January - June schedule... July - December is in another file. No real reason other than I hate having to scroll and forget what line I am on :lol: After I paid the bills, I black out the column so I know I am DONE for that cycle.
I am but money isnt on my mind, if i thought about the no job for me and cut in hrs of dh i would go crazy thinking about the money that isnt there so im thinking about my garden!
Well, it's going to be our year of serious snowballing.
Hubby wants to retire at 62 and the only way that can happen is to get the balance of the bills paid off, and or very close. We go after his truck payment first. When that is done, then the HEL which is a fixed loan, the following year.
I hope for a good size garden. I already have the seeds here. I caught a sale at the farm store this fall, when seed pkgs were marked down to .15 each. And bulk seed was also marked down a good percentage.
I plan on hatching baby chickens. Some for quick sale as babies, and then some to grow as started pullets. I have a good bit of interest in my animals. I can't count them as sold however till I have money in hand. It's like counting your chickens before they hatch
I am still debating whether or not, to find me a part time job, but we have made it since May of this year, with me having no income. I think I am way more valuable at home. The hubby's low income job is looking way more secure now that 2 others, have retired. It's close to home, and has good insurance for the both of us. Hopefully he can work there part time after he retires in about 3 yrs.
I think that what we practiced this year for frugalness and kept the reins tight proved to both of us, that we can set goals and make them, even with little money.
2011 will bring lots of changes for us...good ones I hope.
I have been working on getting all of my doctors' visits out of the way(knee, foot, migraines, and everything else that needs dealing with) so I can function like a normal person again. by the summer I should be a new woman. YAY!!
we will be moving next week, so we will have to get settled into a new house.
DH will be graduating next year in December. great Christmas present to himself!
we have to get money saved to replace DH's jalopy. right now he has 177,000 miles on it so we are hoping it makes it to the end of the year.
and last but not least, next year I am to receive my inheritance from my great uncle. it was worth a hefty sum 4 years ago, but alot has happened concerning the stocks and what not he had, so I would be happy to walk away with $5000 after taxes. it would definitely go into savings.
~Yeah, I get in planning mode around Thanksgiving. I've been playing around with the budget(obviously going up now that we have a new baby)but haven't settled on one yet. I usually just up all the categories by 10% but that doesn't really work when adding another person.
If the housing market improves at all we may sell and move to something a bit larger. We have a nice amount saved already for this purpose. We may sink it into adding on to this house though. I'd rather move.
I'll finalize my plans this week and print everything out in two weeks when we find out DH's new pay rate. Hopefully he got a decent raise this year. ~
DH and I bought a new house this past year as well. We are now moved in and I am just now thinking about buying stuff to decorate (all my walls are bare). It should take a lot of money to do this and we will budget for it for the rest of 2011....I also want to buy new bedding and nice rugs for the floors. We plan to purchase a pool this spring and that also needs to go into the budget. We just paid cash for a new (to us) Toyota Tacoma so we have a better vehicle to drive now.
In the next couple of weeks, we should have a certain plan for our money and I will post on that later.
Also in the just moved club. I'm thinking and researching where and what to plant, and a thousand and one projects for the house and yard. More fantasy than planning at this point. I need to make an overall plan and start prioritizing what gets done right away and what gets put off - otherwise it's going to be a very busy, expensive year.
I'm an American living and paying crazy taxes in Denmark. My plan for 2011 is to live as simply as possible, spending only on necessities and travel. I bought my flat, hoping to break even when my contract comes due in May, 2013.
Despite 50% income tax and 25% VAT, I'm managing to save 80 - 90% of my take home pay. Not having a car helps.
But I do wake up in a panic at least a few times a week over what will happen if I can't sell my flat when I'm ready to leave.
More of the same for me in 2011. I need to replace around $500 in saving that I used -- my tax refund will probably cover that, but if not, I'll do it over a few months. Otherwise, the only goal is saving very aggressively for retirement.
One thing I have decided to do it keep more of my savings locally, rather than in my online savings account. I get essentially no interest at my brick and mortar bank, but the interest is so paltry online, it really will make little difference, and it will be more accessible should I need it. I'll probably split it about half and half. After assessing my situation, I've been keeping less in long term savings and putting more into the retirement accounts, so the interest doesn't amount to much anyway.
well i will need to redo budget for first 6 months of year because i quit my 2nd/ 1 weekend a month job and my last day is the 2nd so that will change where some bills get paid from .
then i will need to redo it in june because i will have 2 high school tuitions to pay next year startimg july ) ( which will make money really tight - but this will be the last time i have 2 in HS at the same time)
plan to continue hitting the debt also .
will be looking for a cheap used car for my almost 17 yo who will be getting license probably june or july .
and early in the year i have some $$ dental work that needs done .
but i am noty even worrying about doing budgets until the week after christmas .
Yes my money plans for 2011 include to start adding $25 to my credit card bill each month...would like to add another $50 to that but i will see. I put my student loan on forbarence last year so i am paying interest only payments. Hoping to add more to go to principal but again we will see. First I need to pay down the credit card. Also in 2011 I would like to add more to savings per pay period need to work on coming up with an amount. Kind of off topic but would like to work on my stockpiling hba's and food.
My goal is to continue putting an extra $100 on my mortgage. My goal is to have it paid off asap! Also, not to buy anything unless an absolute necessity and just pay bills and continue to increase my ef!
Yes, I'm planning my goals for 2011. I didn't do as well as I wanted to in 2010, and cash is going to be tighter for me in 2011 because I'm having a large chunk taken out of my paycheck to fund some planned medical and dental expenses.
I've done a little review and some thinking, but nothing in writing. Dh and I will do a financial review the week after Cmas and see how we're doing, then tweak things.
1-finish paying for prenatal care
2- pay off hospital and delivery fees of DD due in Feb
(started saving for these 2 in 2010, but have used up all the money paying for prenatal care. I have less than $500 due for that I believe now.)
3-repay the $600 we borrowed from savings for emergency eye and dental appointments this year.
4-find a good grocery budget and follow it (with additions like diapers and maybe formula)
5-add aggressively to 3-6 months savings acct.
6-continue with sinking funds
(we started this in 2010, but didn't really follow it greatly (ex. new car fund has $44 and we have saved for a year, car repairs has $30 and we spend $250, etc. It helped to have a little saved, but we need to get even better at this!)
I have set up what I think will do for our 2011 budget. Some things will change after the baby, I am sure. Don't forget about possible tax changes. Maybe some of us will get more in our pay checks. We are debt free except the mortgage after the dr. bills (hopefully gone by tax return time).I think that is enough for now. With the help of these boards and you guys, it is possible!
We plan to retire completely in 2011. We agreed with the college to come back in February to teach one more class, and that will be the end. We've been working slowly towards this goal, cutting down on teaching, not teaching at all this semester, working with finances along the way. But this will be the year it all comes together. Once fully retired, and knowing I am not going back, then I'll go through my teaching files and books and materials, and sort them. Some I will donate to a local school, some I will dump and some I will keep. It will be a big job after 40 years in education (I started teaching in 1971). Also intend to ruthlessly go through boxes of "stuff" in our basement and do the same: sort to donate, trash or keep.
In 2011, my plan is for my husband and I to pay off some debt and for us to become financially stable. I am a counselor trying to transition to full time stay at home mom. First step, become financially stable with Internet CEO moms (.com/whynot). Second step, Work only from home. Third step, have children. I am really excited about our plan for the next few years. I'm only 26 and maybe I'm old-fashioned for wanting to be a stay at home mom, but it is also important to me that I contribute to the family income. So far I'm well on my way to meeting my goals!
Anyone in my boat?
I am soooo screwwed for 2011. I just had to borrow from overdraft to cover a credit card charge that over-maxed it.
My only light at the end of the tunnel is tax return time and the POSSIBILITY that I will get some back child support from the ex's tax return. Haven't received any since March of 2010.
I'll be spending 2011 counting my blessings because I certainly don't have any pennies to count.
My goal for 2011 is to roll with the punches and end up with our net worth higher at the end of 2011 than it is at the end of 2010. DH is still unemployed and his best prospect at the moment is a 6 month contract. I am hoping to change jobs. We are hoping to have another child. Lots of changes, so I'm mostly going to try and not lose ground, continue what we're doing.
We are also on schedule to have DH's car paid off in Dec 2011.
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