First off, I guess I’m actually back and I see that we now have a new interface for creating a posting. Nice! I like it. It also seems to be less draggy than it used to be. What is draggy? Well, it used to lag and I could type faster than the text would appear on the screen. I’m quite certain that the techie IT-guy husband would explain that it was my system or some such thing. I don’t care. I like this better.
So here I am, returning to my aged blog, ready and refreshed. I also have a goal and may need to split it off in to a new blog. We’ll see. To sum up 2013: My honey quit school. I quit working on a second bach degree. We sold our house. We have simplified life.
Now we’re going in to 2014 with two goals for the year:
1) Financial Health
2) Physical Health
I’m not worrying about the weight thing. That can be a 2015 or 2016 goal.
I’m also working on a “Positivity” project on FB. Yes, the dreaded time-suck FB. I post something positive each day – at least once per day, sometimes more. Why? Well, I’ve discovered that gradually over the years I have descended into a fair amount of pessimism that has carried over into all aspects of my life, including work, kids, and my relationship with my husband. Not a healthy way to live and really destructive on those relationships. Time to make a change and how better than to try 365 days of not whining in the one forum where it’s easy to whine. Next year I can expand it beyond FB and see how I do. I’m not looking for fast changes, just permanent ones.
As for the family’s #1 goal? I’m using “You need a budget.com” or YNAB.com, for those of us who like things simple. My first assignment is to write down some short- and long-term financial goals. So I’ll start here and if I decide to blog my YNAB experiences, I’ll start up a separate blog and load them there. First I need to make it through the trial period and see if I take to their system. I like the education component, so I’m hopeful. Anyway, here is a brief of some of our goals and I’ll firm them up more later (ie, when I can hold a family meeting and see if we all agree or if there are more to add):
Short term – get our monthly income stabilized so we’ve got the right amount being taken out for taxes and can afford all our payments and monthly bills, start a small savings plan for our emergency buffer, get rid of the storage unit so we’re not losing that money each month, get our taxes done correctly so we don’t owe a lot to either federal or state, prepare for the possibility of youngest son needing tonsillectomy. (there are more, but this is just off-the-cuff)
Long term – Get rid of all credit card debt, save for a new vehicle, get through the repayment time on our student loans and then watch the public service forgiveness take care of the remaining balance, get both our credit scores over 750, save for Christmas/gifts and vacations each year, increase our earnings, create solid retirement savings for both of us, save something for the boys for college (even if it’s just enough to help them in the first year).
I have more that I’d like to add for short-term and some are kind of medium-term. I’m really thinking that I need to get it all written down and perhaps brainstorm with my honey, who is all to apt to just tune out anything to do with finances. I should also add that I’d like to teach my kids how to handle money responsibly, since that hasn’t been done and in a few years (at least for my oldest) it will be a necessary life skill for them to have.
Well. There it is. I’m done for now, but will be back once I figure out where I’m heading with all this. Here’s to 2014 and all the potential that exists for it since we’re in January and anything seems possible.
cheers,
moonfire
