Yikes. We are almost a full week into 2019, and I have yet to post my goals. Initially, I had a planned to write a (cough) an elaborate itemized timeline of everything I hope to accomplish. Given the way the year has started, I quickly ditched that idea. I am now going to keep it simple in 2019.
Financially, Hubs and I have just four goals.
- Pay off the $3,600 we owe to Citi.
- Pay off the $8,276.42 we owe to Visa.
- Add $100 biweekly to our baby emergency fund. Additionally, we will periodically add our coin jar savings to this account.
- Advance to Dave Ramsey’s baby step three~start saving for a fully funded emergency fund. (Woohoo!)
Ideally, I would like to see our credit card debt paid off before Fall rolls around, if not sooner. As I mentioned earlier, our year did not start out as planned. Some were minor inconveniences that we could easily rectify such as our FSA not showing we were contributing, which we most certainly are! Others were personal inconveniences such as delayed flights resulting in an extra travel day for Hubs.
Where things got a little sticky was receiving our escrow review showing we are short (gulp) by $798. Rather than taking our bank’s option of paying this shortage back over the next 12 months (and increasing our mortgage payment), we have decided to stop the snowball for 2+ weeks and cover it in full. Although this shortage is not technically debt, I kind of feel like it is as it is money owed to an account.
In addition to our four financial goals, in 2019 I plan on reading 12 books related to finance/business. Alternatively, I may accomplish this with some online courses for my business as I’d still be learning.
So, there you have it. Pretty simple stuff! Given that in 2018 we paid off $34,531.97 of baby step two debt, I feel these goals are achievable. The new year may not have started the way we intended, but that won’t deter us. 2019 will be the year we finish what we started in 2017!
I think your 2019 goals are great, both the financial and reading goals. I like to do quarterly goals, so this quarter’s financial goal is to add another 1000 to the home repair/maintenance fund. Things don’t last forever, and we have a couple of appliances on their last leg! If any of the books you read are especially good, I hope you let us know.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…One Sentence Reviews: My 4th Quarter 2018 Reads
I’d likely do better with quarterly goals (bite-size pieces!) but I’ll give this a whirl and see how it goes. An extra $1000 is a good idea, especially with older appliances. They just don’t make stuff like they used to! I’ll keep you posted on my reading.
Don’t you just hate those surprise escrow shortages! Good for you for paying it on one lump sum.
The strange thing is that once we pay this lump sum, I’ll payment will go down by a couple of dollars. I plan on still paying the same amount (rounding up) so at least it will help pay down the principle.
Hi Lucy, this is Chris. Your goals sound very doable, and I am excited to see you be debt free some time this year. I have followed you for most all of your journey the past two years, and am so impressed at how you are coming along with the debt snowball. I am hoping to have good news to share by the end of this week also, and will post a comment. 🙂
Thanks for following along! Looking forward to hearing about your news! Nothing like leaving us all in suspense!
You are going to do EVERYTHING you set your mind to – there is no doubt in my mind!!! We are on a very, VERY tight budget in order to get those credit cards paid off!!!! I read something (can’t really remember), but it was you are sacrificing your future if you don’t sacrifice for your goals. NOT what it said, but it hit home with me since I tend to have pity parties and “feel sorry for myself”. I’m reading the YNAB book right now and like it a lot.
I’m bound and determined to make it happen. The journey to take control of our finances is not one for the weak. Living on such a tight budget is anything but fun, but it will be so worth it to rid ourselves of debt. I didn’t know YNAB had a book out. I’ll need to see if my library has it.
I am so excited for you! You definitely have taken control of your life and did it! 🙂 so proud of you!
Thanks, Rhitter. It has been inspiring to read your journey, too! I am equally proud of you! It sure feels good to turn the tables on our debt and take control!