So, it is about that time of year to make resolutions again. What are yours for 2008?




Our goals are to:

Continue to declutter (we are getting close to being done with this)

Eat down our pantry and then buy consciously and menu plan so that we don't end up wasting food.

Put $1000 a month extra on debt for the first 8 or 9 months of the year and then put that same $1000 on our Jan. 2009 surprise 2 week trip to Disney/ Florida

Compact as much as possible. Dh and I discussed it and we really don't need much this year other than maybe some new clothes for him for work and some for me as I continue to lose weight.

Make all gifts this year. We don't have many to gift to but I want to use my sewing stash to do so.

Start either an Etsy or HC to sell off some of my wares to help raise money for Disney and other trips.

Definitely get back on track with healthy eating and exercising (get back to whole foods completely from scratch cooking).

Stay on budget for the year.




So, what are your goals?

To eat nearly all of our meals and home and to reduce our food spending while eating better food

To put aside 20% of our after tax income in savings

Those are my two big GOALS this next year.

And along with the savings part is also learning more about investing etc. I got a book for Christmas "Boglehead's Guide to Investing" or some such thing and I am starting with that book. Thanks to the simpledollar.com blog I have a big reading list.

Not necessarily all thrifty related, but so far my goals for 2008 are to:

Eat a whole foods diet

Walk at least one dog daily (dogs are getting fat, and I'm feeling guilty)

Pray daily

Read at least once a week

Stop deficit spending in our budget

Limit my computer time to once a day

Return school paperwork/homework when it is due

Reserving the right to come back and edit/add...

Our biggest, overarching goals:

*save as much of our "new income" as possible
*drastically increase the amount of food we grow/raise ourselves and/or buy locall

More specific:

*sit down together and set a new zero-based budget including savings and paying off our secured debts (small car loan, HEL, and mortgage) and/or saving for an addition on our house (we need to do some strategizing on what will work best)

*compacting...still need to hammer out the details. But we really want to continue to reduce our consumption of new goods, and especially goods from China.

*I want to get the basement heated and then declutter it thoroughly.

*Declutter the main floor very deeply, again.

*Get filing in order and set up 2008 for smooth biz record-keeping.

*Declutter the cow shed.

*Set up for raising animals for food this spring. Meat birds, Highland cattle, a pig or two? Not sure what's on the list, but all we be done with CASH and meat birds are highest on the list.

*Work on farm to school project.

Last but most important:

*Live slowly, calmly, deliberately. Spend time with each other. Enjoy each moment.

declutter - it never ends for us!

pay off IRS

pay off dh's car (and get it running!)

get a nice chunk of $ into savings if possible

we have a lot of unkowns in the background, but mostly I just want to eliminate our $10k of debt to the car/IRS and get some savings. And eliminate DH from any decision making, his are all bad,expensive mistakes!

2008:

Get the house sold!!!

If we get a tax return - to NOT spend it. We need to save for real estate taxes, pay for the rest of our CSA share, prepay our car insurance for 6 months if we can (get a discount), and insulate the girls' room. I'd also like to have a cushion back in checking so the credit isn't so tempting.

Careful/conscious clothing shopping. Luckily a lot of what I bought for fall is going to still fit for spring. My objective is to sell last year's to pay for this year's.

Not buy impulse things at the grocery store - stocking up on something we already buy that is on sale is one thing. But, I need to avoid buying something just because it looks great. Make up a meal plan, then a list, and stick to it. I do not need to fill my freezer and pantry for three months when we get paid every two weeks. It's a hard habit to break.

Make or buy eco-friendly cleaners only. Use microfiber as much as possible.

No more paper plates or napkins - buy/barter/trade for cloth napkins and hopefully get more plates for the family so paper isn't so tempting.

Be better about freezing leftovers and making double dishes so that we have a stocked freezer of homemade "convenience foods"

No eating out unless it's a birthday. Period. And when we DO eat out, eat something we really want, cannot make, super special. No more human chow.

No fast food unless we're on the road for more than 3 hours.

No driving to the city or neighboring cities for no real reason. Conscious driving only!

Buying local, small-business coffee (organic and fair trade) beans only.

Eat more plants! Drink more water! Drink more green/white tea!

Buy in bulk whenever possible, less small individually wrapped things - largest container possible.

* Find some way to get back to any sense of normalcy around here.

* Save 35% of take home pay (401k and medical savings come out before that). I understand that this is a huge number for some people, and I hope that people don't take things wrong or think they should save this much. Our goal is to learn to live on half of our income so we can take a pay cut when we leave the area.

* Reduce grocery expenditures while increasing consumption of local foods.

* Declutter and organize, a never-ending project.

* Work on projects that benefit us in terms of the Riot 4 Austerity (window quilts, line drying, etc.)

* Grow more food this year.

* Sell the trailer and SUV (only vehicle) so we can buy a smaller used car outright.

I'll probably edit again later.

My goal is to STOP buying retail. I want/need to either buy clothes at the thrift store, or buy fabric at the thrift store and make clothes.

I was so broke for 8 years, buying only at thrift stores, or picking up rejected clothes in donation piles, etc.

Now that we are doing a lot better financially I got into the habit of buying only retail for clothes, especially kids. I'm kind of torn on the issue though, because I've found buying retail that Gymboree prices if you know how to shop are very competitive with thrifts around here, and there's the resale value, sigh :eyes:

Apart from that I want to finish decluttering once for all and never let clutter creep back in.

I'm actually thinking of all the ways I will spend money here. It seems counterintuitive, but we've been holding off on things over the years and it is time to pay.

1. Service the A/C
2. Pump the Septic system
3. New timing belt for the van
4. Replace belts and hoses in the van too.

I'll add more later. Dh is home. I want to go see him. :)

Ok..I'm back so I can explain myself. It is time for these big needs for home and the van so my goal is to save for them first, then for other savings. I feel like part of being thrifty is taking care of what I do have so I don't have to spend more cash later for inconvenience or breakdown of equipment.

I find that making spending goals helps me make savings goals especially if we are in the black instead of in the red.

I have a lump sum that I would like to save as well. In addition, we have two trips planned this year so I'll be saving for them so I will not incur any debt to take them.

for my business
-i need a clear plan for how to keep track of what i'm making and spending...i need to know what i need to pay for taxes and be organized.

for our personal:
-pay down on our van
-pay down our one credit card
-get a good refinance on our house
-continue to not use credit card
-save money for a family vacation in the summer

Saving a place in line here, and coming to edit when I have more time, but my most important goal is to live more deliberately again. We were on track for awhile, and then life threw us a few curveballs, and we went through a long period of just barely existing. I want to get back into the habit of living with intention.

So far:

~Start contributing to DH's 401K.
~Pay 2500 to the midwife for HB. Surprise!
~Pay off about 2500 credit card debt.
~Get the emergency fund built back up.
~Start saving for a new(used) vehicle, or repairs to our old ones.
~Save for a family vacation.

~Figure out how to increase income. Everytime DH gets a raise, it is taken by insurance increases (I'm PT, so ineligible). We're up to 460/mo. on a $50K gross income between the 2 of us. It is ridiculous, especially with all that they refuse and we are still responsible for. I work 25 hours a week, but after childcare, I have only added about 350/mo to the household income. It does make a big difference, though, because our budget is so tight. I love what I do, Anna will be going to school in 2 years, and I contribute to a state retirement plan. I feel it is worth it for me to continue working.

Now, you guys know way too much about our finances. :lol: Is it even possible to reach my goals on this income? I know we can do the first 3. The second 2 are really just pipe dreams and hope for the best.

I, too, reserve the right to come back and edit. :)

Shop at home first

Shop local thrift store next

Clean out the pantry and freezer, use the stuff taking up space

Get some meals in the freezer, so dh isn't running to the store for a "few things" when this baby is born, because he can't leave the store with less than 6 bags

Plant more in the garden, use more of the space I have

Find the cheapest way to upgrade our vehicle, because we're not all going to fit with a rf seat in the back

Open ING accounts for each of us, move the kids' savings into theirs (ds has $180, he may as well earn some interest on it), set up dh's automatic $50/week to go to his ING account instead of the credit union (again, more interest, plus we got a $25 bonus thing in the mail)

Make an effort to get to the Farmer's Market, both the one just a few blocks from here and the ones that are less than 10 minutes away

Ds and I are declaring a zero tolerance policy on plastic bags, complete with a fine for each bag brought into the house (we have a bunch of string bags that we love, but need to make more effort to use)

DONE-- Worked on a excel spreadsheet to snowball the credit cards (included the motorcycle too, it's 1 1/2 years away from being paid off). It needs some tweaking, but it's a start, and dh is on board!

Our only current debt is the house and we'd like to get it paid off or moved to some land. (Its a manufactured.) The big goal is to make double payments to principle with an eye on paying it off within 3 years.

I want to cut my sewing stash in half since it is the center of our clutter.

Our other big focus is on whole food eating. We are about half way there. I need to make small detailed goals on this so I'll be back to post more.

I need to declutter more, make better use of my space and get rid of things just not being used. I still have boxes that are unopened since I moved 2 years ago. I'm sure most of that can just be purged.

Save more towards my downpayment for a house. I'm getting there slowly but I'd like to be adding more.

Move away from single serve items. I dont use many of these, but there's room to improve.

Buy eco-friendly cleaners/body care items as the old ones run out.

Buy more organic/local food. I'm doing what I can, but it's difficult without driving. Some of the grocery stores in the area are slowly starting to carry more, thankfully, and I will support them bringing it in by buying it.

My goal is to spend cash only for purchases.

We have a child going off to college and I want to buckle down our expenses so it isn't as painful paying tuition!

I am also going to get my front garden whipped into shape. It is an unkempt, past its prime plot and needs a bit of magic to make it nice.

I wrote out some goals in my journal on Christmas, here are the ones that are thrift-related:

- Take a good crack at a garden. I've never been a great gardener, so the past few years I've tried things that didn't work (such as container garden tomatoes that were devoured by squirrels.) I'd really like to build a raised bed this year.

- Go to the farmer's market every Saturday. Renew effort to eat locally.

- Acquire/organize all the baby stuff I will need for minimal $.

- Get a sewing machine.

- hit garage sales this spring and summer. Get all the stuff we need like new shoes for dd there, instead of going to Target at the last minute.

- get rid of my giant "to be given away or sold" pile that's taking over my laundry room.

Posted mine to my blog and on the other thread. :)

i love these goals... i need to think about mine and post them later!! :)

My goals are pretty fluid as I am trying to figure out what works for us right now, but the basic line is:

Live off of our current income and take Don's Dec raise and Feb raise and put wholy towards debt. Take all (but what we need for new computer) bonus, tax returns, and extra checks and put that towards debt.

Pay off Best Buy, and City Bank by the end of this year (and hopefully be well on the way to one more, but if we do this, I will be ok with it).

By the end of the year be only eating local beef and pork.

Menu plan and stick to them... I am menu planning in three month rotaions 6 days a week with Sarah/SnugBug so by the end of Jan I should have a good three month rotation.

Make us fit in this little house for one more year (which means moving Alex into Cyan's little room and Logan and Cyan into Alex's room, which will take some doing, but should work well).

Plan the garden well enough so that we are eating out of it as much as or more than veggies from the store by June.

And my more fluid goals:

Start sending things on time (I will post about this in a moment).

Only eat out once a week.

Budget.

Organize homeschool stuff. Plan for next year.

Declutter to the point where it is easy for the children to clean up.

Deligate things to Don, and to Alex, and even to Cyan when I can't do things instead of eating myself up with guilt.

Plan for Christmas. Starting now. lol...

My goal is to pay off a part of our military CC debt and save $10K by June. That means I need to stop spending so much and accumulating clutter. I know I can do it.

i love planning and thinking about goals. i haven't really sat down and done my end of the year thinking, but i'll get to it and post at some point.

Buy used or do without as much as possible

Pay off CC debt

cook from scratch

reorganize office shelves to house homeschool supplies

make great progress with homeschooling so DH will want the boys to be homeschooled again this fall

get/keep the house clean and organized

reduce waste as much as possible in all areas of our lives

reduce clutter as much as possible

enjoy ourselves

pamper my DH

go to a yoga class once a week

here are mine:

-declutter, simplify, organize...the house, life, etc.
-eat healthy
-buy local when at all possible
-put substantial savings aside
-exercise regularly
-spend more time outdoors as a family
-be more eco-conscious

I did a decent job last year of exercising regularly and getting our family to eat healthier, but I want to be much more hardcore with the healthy eating in 2008. We seem to have fallen off the wagon a bit here in the last couple of months.

I have spent the last three years trying to "fit in" to this suburban life and hating it and myself. Hate is a strong word and I don't hate it all the time but there have been times of true loathing. I am dedicating this year to getting back to confidence in myself. But I need to temper it. I want to move. It's not really in the bag for me. Houses are not moving, supposedly we are headed into a recession/depression?? Anyway probably not going to happen. But I can't have the worst looking yard on the street for not fertilizing/watering and I just need to find some balance between appearances and being true to myself. Sigh.

Some compacting related goals:
give up fast food
give up Walmart (yes!!! really excited about this)
dedicate self to gardening during growing season and putting food by
switching back to cloth napkins, cloth diapering and kitchen towels
eco friendly cleaning
there are others but those are the biggies

some home improvement related goals:
putting on the deck (finally)
replacing front mulch and keeping up on yard maintenance, dh wants to hire a service but I'm not so sure on that!
replace carpet in one room (much needed)

financial:
pay off credit cards with tax return and do not use
make a calendar that includes unique monthly expenses
save emergency fund (three months of living expenses)
add "entertainment fund" to budget, brainstorm thrifty family entertainments
saving up to: fix car, fix lawn mower, go on one family vacation, replace bread machine, buy a snowblower, replace grill

family life:
develop a house-cleaning schedule I can maintain
be more consistent with homeschooling schedule
brainstorm thrifty outings and family entertainments with dh

some wishes:
stick to and reduce grocery budget
save for a freezer
clean out the attic and basement

most of my goals this year are related to getting us to something we can live with and maintaining it. Gosh it's feeling overwhelming already!

Pay off all debt (or as much as possible).

Declutter entire house including attic and outside.

Get rid of storage.

Set up an etsy &/or list things fs to help pay off medical bills.

Finish paying midwife.

Continue to fight ob/gyn that doesn't want to take our ins. for the emergency c-section.

Get caught up on dentist, eye dr. appointments.

Get new glasses for both dh and myself. :eyes:

Get up the nerve to start a blog about decluttering and getting out of debt. Oh how exciting. :lol:

Things I would love to do, but probably won't happen:
Take a mini vacation since we have never been on one.
Get reliable transportation for dh.
Start saving to buy a house in a couple of years.

- Acquire/organize all the baby stuff I will need for minimal $.

- hit garage sales this spring and summer. Get all the stuff we need like new shoes for dd there, instead of going to Target at the last minute.
.


Get me a list, wouldya, Dawn? Will you find out gender ahead of time or are you needing gender neutral?

Get me a list, wouldya, Dawn? Will you find out gender ahead of time or are you needing gender neutral?

:monkeydan
Have I mentioned how much I love hand-me-downs? :heart:
I think we are going to find out ahead of time. I mean, if they're already looking, why not, lol. I'm hoping at the next appointment in 2 weeks, I'll be 17 weeks then, that I'll be able to find out.
At this point I would say cloth diapers and covers for sure. Receiving blankets. Some kind of sling. An ergo. We're pretty good on starter newborn clothes, as we got many from little Mr. Oak, but could use some 6m and above sizes.

I'm thinking about making a "will trade artwork for baby stuff" post. :)

I have some nice receiving blankets made up and also have some new CD's, and ring slings made. Let me know what kind of art you do and maybe we can come up with a trade.

:monkeydan
Have I mentioned how much I love hand-me-downs? :heart:
I think we are going to find out ahead of time. I mean, if they're already looking, why not, lol. I'm hoping at the next appointment in 2 weeks, I'll be 17 weeks then, that I'll be able to find out.
At this point I would say cloth diapers and covers for sure. Receiving blankets. Some kind of sling. An ergo. We're pretty good on starter newborn clothes, as we got many from little Mr. Oak, but could use some 6m and above sizes.

I'm thinking about making a "will trade artwork for baby stuff" post. :)

Ha! I bet some of that was Jack's, too, since I gave Gwen a couple bags when she was pregnant! :lol: I'd be thrilled if it were - since it's great to know things get passed around like that.

I don't think I have any diapering or slinging stuff left (gifted, passed, or sold most of it before we moved) but I will absolutely check. I definitely have very nice two layer jersey receiving blankets - those are my favorite because they work so well for swaddling even wigglebugs. And, I will absolutely have 6M+ stuff.

I have some nice receiving blankets made up and also have some new CD's, and ring slings made. Let me know what kind of art you do and maybe we can come up with a trade.

Cool, I'll pm you about it.

Ha! I bet some of that was Jack's, too, since I gave Gwen a couple bags when she was pregnant! I'd be thrilled if it were - since it's great to know things get passed around like that.

I don't think I have any diapering or slinging stuff left (gifted, passed, or sold most of it before we moved) but I will absolutely check. I definitely have very nice two layer jersey receiving blankets - those are my favorite because they work so well for swaddling even wigglebugs. And, I will absolutely have 6M+ stuff.

Thanks! Yeah, I love that stuff gets passed around, too. Especially all that little stuff that they grow out of within weeks.

For 2008 the plan is:

1. Pay off the credit card no later than March 2008.
2. Finish up with oldest sons vocational training (tuition) March 2008

That will free up $900 a month for debt

3. Reach medical deductible for one of our children for her medications in May 2008

That will bump the debt reduction amount up to $1600 a month

4. I will go full-time next school year. (I'm a teacher) which will bump up our debt reduction monthly amount up somewhere between $2500 and $4000 a month (depending on which school district I end up going with)

The only variable that is "iffy" is my moving to full-time teaching. I should be able to do it easily. If that does not happen and I remain in my current position, we'll be putting $2000 a month on debt starting in September 2008.

Either way, our debt snowball will really start picking up speed here this spring. FINALLY!!! It seems like it has been so much work with such slow progress so far.

We'll continue to declutter and give things away. That has been a great blessing for us to do. We will keep the reduced amount we spent this Christmas for next Christmas. Nobody really missed getting a lot less this year and it felt like the right thing to do.

That is all I can think of right now. Oh, we are going to put braces on our two girls this summer, but it won't affect the numbers above since I already allowed the money for that. (we don't have insurance, so we pay the orthodontist monthly interest free.)

It should be the year things start to turn around for us!!!! (unless anyone has a relapse medically speaking....praying this does not happen)

Michelle

~work on debt snowball!
~make and stick to the budget!
~save daycare money for disney trip Dec. 08
~start back up with menu
~don't go overload on buying clothes for kids
~declutter and sell things of value on craigslist
~feed the freezer

*Eating out only 1x a week, if that.

*Take the money we used to use towards eating out and put it in a non-touchable savings account.

*Put $10-20 in each of the kids savings accounts monthly.

*Make and use cloth bags for groceries.

*Declutter!!! The kids (especially girls) do NOT need this many clothes!!!

*Begin green cleaning more and try to work away from chemicals.

*Send lunch for the kids at least 2x a week. They love the bento way that I have been trying and actually finish the meals so I think it will be a great thing.

2008 is also going to be my year for improving myself (physically and emotionally) and mending fences and burning bridges (with toxic people/things that do not benefit my life).

- Stay out of credit-card debt
- Pay our van off. There is $5K owing on it, and we pay as much as possible toward it whenever we can squeeze any extra money out of the month. If we get a tax return, that's what we'll do with it, too.
- Work on a million tons of paperwork. I'm going to midwifery school in February 2009, in New Zealand. So I need to figure out applications, loans, immigration procedures, medicals, etc. for all of us. Very overwhelming. Very.
- Remember to take the cloth shopping bags to the store. I have enough, but I have a problem with actually USING them.
- Declutter. Hard-core. By the end of the year we want to have pretty-much nothing so we can move internationally without having to pay storage fees or ship stuff. We plan to rent out our home for the 3 years.

Kerri

1. stick to the budget
2. make a weekly food menu based primarily out of what we already have in the house
3. less trips to walmart
4. de-clutter the garage and have a garage sale
5. buy as little as we can in terms of "stuff" - shop more thrift stores and sales
6. pay down our cc bills with any 'extra' money
7. save more, buy less
8. get a deep freezer and buy in bulk
9. get a sewing machine and make more things

i think i've decided that my biggest simplifying and thrift goal is going to be to be happy and content in my situation.

this will look like me really shining again and being joyful and happy. looking in, it will be hard to tell whether or not dh is having a good month, making enough money to cover our bills, etc. right now, it's kinda obvious because i am stressed and worried and not generally happy when i feel like things are not great financially. i mean, everyone gets stressed over that, but it's kind of hard to explain what i'm trying to say. our situation is temporary. we'll be ok no matter what. dh WILL take complete care of us if he does not make enough money at his new law practice. he will get a second job...or another one all together. in a couple of years, i feel great about working part time to either earn enough for us to live without going into debt or to pay debt...or both! we have lots of earning potential. i have no real reason to be consumed and worried and all the time trying to decide whether i should be trying to make money or whatever. it makes dh very sad...and he really does want me to not have to worry and let him deal with it all. easier said than done, honey...lol.

anyway, probably should be another post. lol. we will sell our house this year and probably be living in a small apartment. that will be wonderful *and* hard. dh has no idea what he will make from month to month right now, and so far, he has not had a month where he made enough to cover what we've decided is essential. there's just no telling what kind of situation i'll be in from month to month this year.

i am thrifty and thoughtful and resourceful and simple right now. i will continue to be that way, but my goal for the year will be to do all of that joyfully...and with peace.

Goals for 2008

* Ds1 needed dental work

*DONE* Ds2 needed dental work

* Dh dental check-up/cleaning

*HAVE $300* Save $500 in an emergancy fund

* Pay down the hospital bill (owe about $500 can't find the last statment, will update with correct amount later)

* Pay off the house before Nov (I'd like it paid off then so I'll have "extra money in Nov & Dec for holiday meals and gifts .... last payment is supposed to be Feb 09)

*DENTIST IS MAKING MY RETAINER TO HOLD THE SPACES YA!*
Me dental (need two bridges, but will probably get something removable thats cheaper or something to hold the spaces ... not sure yet really)


* Get thresholds LOL (we put new flooring down 3 years ago with our tax refund. STILL need the threshold things between all the rooms...dh was/is supposed to get wood and stain them to match the trim in the house) ... lol I put this last because well its already been 3 years, and isn't really important. yk

i think i've decided that my biggest simplifying and thrift goal is going to be to be happy and content in my situation.

this will look like me really shining again and being joyful and happy. looking in, it will be hard to tell whether or not dh is having a good month, making enough money to cover our bills, etc. right now, it's kinda obvious because i am stressed and worried and not generally happy when i feel like things are not great financially. i mean, everyone gets stressed over that, but it's kind of hard to explain what i'm trying to say. our situation is temporary. we'll be ok no matter what. dh WILL take complete care of us if he does not make enough money at his new law practice. he will get a second job...or another one all together. in a couple of years, i feel great about working part time to either earn enough for us to live without going into debt or to pay debt...or both! we have lots of earning potential. i have no real reason to be consumed and worried and all the time trying to decide whether i should be trying to make money or whatever. it makes dh very sad...and he really does want me to not have to worry and let him deal with it all. easier said than done, honey...lol.

anyway, probably should be another post. lol. we will sell our house this year and probably be living in a small apartment. that will be wonderful *and* hard. dh has no idea what he will make from month to month right now, and so far, he has not had a month where he made enough to cover what we've decided is essential. there's just no telling what kind of situation i'll be in from month to month this year.

i am thrifty and thoughtful and resourceful and simple right now. i will continue to be that way, but my goal for the year will be to do all of that joyfully...and with peace.

Stephanie, this is SO wise and spot-on.

You know I have been struggling with starting my self-employment. It's been about a year now that I started taking myself seriously with the writing. And I have been freaking out about money the whole time because of being in the same situation as you and your dh - not making enough to cover what we decided was essential. And deciding, how much to cut during this time, what things *are* essential, how much can I go on living our "regular" life and when do I make longer-term decision to reduce expenses.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are starting to happen, and good things keep building on one another. I haven't posted too many details here because things are still in the "about to happen" and "might happen" phases, at least some of them, but I have enough going on that I'm no longer sick/worried over it.

And so in retrospect it's like "Why was I ever worried? Of course it was going to work out."

So, choosing to focus on joy and peace NOW - that's a powerful, if challenging, task. Really could change a lot about how you experience your world. And from "almost on the other side" - I say it's just about the best thing you can do for yourself and your family!

~pay off most of debt
~use all of my daycare money to pay for disney trip next Christmas
~don't overbuy
~keep up with menus
~reuse, reuse, reuse
~limit miles put on vehicle
~declutter at least 150 items per month
~finish up my dental work and pay cash
~continue working on the budget and debt snowball with dh
~start using the envelope system

My goals~

Make, trade for or thrift for needed items (new baby and household etc...) and *only* needed items.

We plan to pay off our house in the next three years, so putting half of our income towards that. Ouch!! This will be a killer.

Spend only $50.00 per week for groceries! :drop: I have a good pantry thankfully, but after that is used up, we will have to depend 90% on what we can produce.

Sell enough things to pay the midwife.

Do better with planning meals ahead of time and following through.

No eating out, utilize only free entertainment outside of netflix and sell enough to cover that monthly fee.

Produce all of our dairy, meat and eggs this year along with 80% of our fruits and vegs.

Finish re-organizing our house and decluttering (although I don't think that is ever finished).

Do more bulk cooking.

Spend more time with my children and DH.

Use our tax return for farm improvement. We need more fencing, more animal shelters, more fruit trees, lots of garden seeds, plants etc... I also want to have a pond put in and stocked with fish.

Getting our van air conditioner fixed would be really nice. 15 passenger vans don't have the best air flow and I'll be very pregnant through the summer.

It will be a **VERY** tough year financially if we can follow through on this, but worth it in the long run, of course.

I am terrible when it comes to sticking to goals.
But here they are:

phase out all non-natural cleaners. (except bleach to wash my rags that I use to clean other people's houses and toilets.)

food allergy testing for me. I figure in the long run this will help reduce costs of herbs, special skin care items (for my yucky acne), and spending on specialty food items in desperate attempts at pin-pointing what is bothering me so bad.

purge. seriously. moving in 3 months and my goal is reduce my amount of JUNK severely. (I have already started this and made $40 too!)

STOP starting crafty projects with good intentions and ending up with wasted items, like all the bath salts I made that no one likes.

Sew more cloth menstrual pads and decrease my use of dispoable pads.

Recycle more!

Produce less trash.

Buy food in bulk more.

Get a deep freezer after I move and fill it with hearty, delicious, healthy home made meals. (delicious is the key word here. the kids turn their noses up at thawed out stuff about 90% of the time).

Find a place with a yard that isn't too shady. PLANT A GARDEN! Or at the very least get more pots (or unwanted 5 gallon buckets) and plant some edibles. Swiss chard is still going strong 9 months later, from seed, so I know I can at least grow THAT!

Love my kids more. Appreciate them more. Learn to accept my life as is and stop trying to find happiness in hollow situations.

Have friends over for tea and board games more.

Thank you for this thread!

I had to laugh when I read this:
Put $1000 a month extra on debt for the first 8 or 9 months of the year only because that's what we make in a whole month....:heart:

1. Cut out Fast Food and Junk food (this will save us considerably on our food bill)

2. Really watch what we spend. I only use the car to take the kids to and from school so I would like to cut down use of the car for anything else. (gas money)

3. Clean my house. I am probably the worlds worst housekeeper. My poor hubby has taken this on and I NEED TO STEP UP and JUST DO IT!!:sob:

4. Get down to the bare minimum. (me first and then we'll work on the boys)

5. Walk more. (now that I don't work I'm gaining weight again)

6. Learn how to cook. Things my hubby will eat. Without burning it:rainbow:

Okay-- Will check in once a month at least.

We have 5 credit cards (don't ask how this happened, as I am kicking myself). They are all relatively small but we don't need them and as we have proven if we have them we will spend on them. I know we will pay at least 2 of these off this year with our income tax return. Depending on how much our return is we will either pay off the 2 smallest or one small and one larger.

For holidays this next year I really want to go to more handmade. I am going to start a list and also a list of gifts that I can make with what I already have on hand.

We are going to a cash system. We will deposit enough to cover our monthly bills into our bank account but we will not use that bank account for anything else. We have a second account that I will put a little in for emergency gas money. I will only use this if I am out with the boys and need to use a debit instead of cash for gas. Then we will keep the cash for our weekly budgeting needs. This is a huge step for us and it is really the only way for us to stay on track with what we need to do financially.

I am going to declutter again, I need to figure out what we really need and get rid of everything else. It seems that this has been the year for hand me downs which I love but my children do not need 20 pairs of pjs a piece. I need to weed through some things and pass them along. I am also going to get some things ready for the spring consignment sale. I made about $150 in the fall. I would love to have the boys clothes sorted and a list of things we need so I can keep an eye out at the local thrift and also at the consignment sale.

I am also going to try to start recycling this year. There is a man in our community who will pick it up but I need to set up a center and then get dh and the boys involved.

Robin, Wish you all the luck in your new year goals. <hugs> Same goes for us and credit cards - we have one with only a 200 balance -

work on paying down debt
use what we have
do without

I'd like my home to be filled with only things I love
I want everything to have a place

more but I'll think on it a bit...

declutter - it never ends for us!

pay off IRS

pay off dh's car (and get it running!)

get a nice chunk of $ into savings if possible

we have a lot of unkowns in the background, but mostly I just want to eliminate our $10k of debt to the car/IRS and get some savings. And eliminate DH from any decision making, his are all bad,expensive mistakes!


We payed off the IRS!!!! :) YAY!
Now, its just the car. I think we can get it payed off relatively soon. :)

Congratulations!! :heart: