goals 2009

1. 6000 EF
2. 6000 home repair fund
3. 6000 prepay mortgage
4. 2000 personal savings car/computer fund

Paying off home repairs from last year means a delay in getting started on this year's goals until th end of the month. Getting money into EF is first priority.

I'm starting the 2009 financial year tomorrow. We're paying off end of last year's repairs tonight and the slate is cleared again. One of my immediate goals is to limit my spending on non essentials to $10 a week so I can build up my savings to pay for essentials and other future purchases. I've got to get organized the night before and get lunches and snacks ready to meet this goal. I'm planning my grocery shopping tonight for the week as part of the process.
I had a weird schedule this week at work and ended up eating more meals out that I care to admit to. Fortunately the weird hours included some overtime which covered that expense. I'm ready for a regular routine again.

1 EF 950/6000
2.home repair 0/6000
3. prepay mort 40/6000
4. car/computer fund 200/2000

My boss was suddenly laid off this week and another co worker's home went up in flames. I'm trying to curb impulse spending in both of these cases because my first thought is to give much more than I can afford. I did the group gift and dinner route with the boss and now that the shock is wearing off it seems right. I impulsively gave $100 in an envelope to the co worker who now is living in a hotel when she came in to pick up her check today. Was it too much? Should I have waited for the inevitable group collection at work where I would have given $20? Can I afford to be so impulsively generous when my own safety net of cash is pretty weak? That's $140 out of my savings in three days. I'm going to find less expensive alternatives to future giving at work. Bottle of wine and a card maybe? I want to be generous to others when I can but not go broke.

No. You were not wrong. You are $950 better off than them and are aware of your finances. Even if they themselves never remember generosity, karma has a way of turning around.

For the coworker who had a fire, how about giving stuff? It'd be much cheaper for you to give her a spare coat than to give her the money it would cost to buy a spare coat, and the same for lots of other stuff. Also, that means she doesn't have to spend time converting money into a coat

1 1950/6000 EF
2.0/6000 home repair
3. 0/6000 prepay mort
4. 300/2000 personal computer/carfund

posted a savings chart on the fridge this month. started adding to home fund march 6. Glad to see there is so much to read in forums. I
have much to catch up on.

Our savings goals are a bright shiny light but I am overwhelmed at the moment. I ran up $1000 in credit card debt the past six weeks while taking care of two family members who have been in hospital and moving into assisted living. This is what else happened: I spent a little extra on everything else that I normally spend on. I'm trying to get back on track with both and not beat myself up.

Here's where I'm getting overwhelmed: I have no money right now and I need to say no. That's hard for me. My father, especially, is very aggressive about making plans for us to visit them, setting up incredibly thoughtful siutations that make it hard to say no without seeming like a jerk. Like offering to host to a lobsterbake at my in laws for 4th of July or suggesting a race for my husband near them or bringing my niece and nephew down for a visit. They seem innocent enough but all of these require a lot of work and sometimes expense on my part. I just need to say no.and make no promises. Even though he's being manipulative, he's doing this out of a genuine desire to see us and I appreciate that effort to make a connection.

goals 2009
1. 4000/6000 ef
2. 1088/6000 home repair
3. 0/6000 prepay mortgage
4. 682/2000 personal computer/ car fund

Those numbers look good, but my credit cards are a different story. I'm in trouble again. I'm caving when someone around me asks me for something or wants something or I sense that they need something. I took the card out again because I was running errands for others and it was messing with record keeping to keep pulling cash from there and maintaining balance in checking account. Reimbursement arguments this week delaying reimbursement and that is making me more anxious. I was planning on paying good chunks of my balances off now I'm not sure if I'm going to have to suck it up and pay it off myself. I'm on vacation this week and I'm joining my Dad with my nieces and nephews and then a trip to with my husband and there's also a trip up way north to visit the grandparents. See, weak? These trips might all be manageable if I felt I had some control over my spending, but I don't right now and it's terrifying because I know how much I can spend when I am feeding some other emotional need through credit cards. I'm in presence of tightwads all the time, you'd think that would help instead I just want to rebel. Just writing this is helping me to get a grip though.

Can't you get rid of your credit cards? Freeze them, or cut them up? If you are having problems saying no, then make it so you have no choice? If you don't have the cash, and the plastic is inaccessible, then you genuinely have no money.

Maybe sit down with your family on this vacation and explain you are having problems and you probably won't be able to see them for a few months while you pay off your balances. They might be sympathetic.

I agree with InterfaceLeader. You need to get rid of the plastic. You are doing well on your other savings goals but the plastic is really hurting you.

Does your family have any idea that you are struggling with money, or are you the kind of person who doesn't let them know? If they don't know, you should tell them. Maybe not in a way that says 'I have been having trouble because of what I was doing with you guys', more of a 'I have discovered that this is what I have to do' so they don't start feeling guilty about past events, but realise that future ones need to be different.

If they do know and don't care, then they're not being thoughtful at all and you shouldn't feel bad about turning down invitations

Thank you for your comments, Interface, jac & emoore. I can't tell you how important it is to write here sometimes. In April it really saved me. Just having a place to vent made all the difference. I wiggled out of trip to visit grandparents, spent next to nothing on getaway with husband, and used cash only on trip with my dad and nieces and nephews. I put a freeze on spending on credit cards and committed to a weekly automated payment plan to get out of debt for now while I work on a plan to snowball more towards that. I was reimbursed for some of expenses for taking care of relatives but am opting for the weekly withdrawals to pay off credit card for the next couple of weeks instead of a lump sum to even out cash flow.

Goals 2009 update
6000/6000 EF Fund (we are going to continue to add to this every month)
463/6000 house repair fund ( We've had some work done, yay!)
893/2000 personal computer/ car fund
40/6000 mortgage (starting this Friday we're starting on this goal)

2665 Credit card debt (yeah, I'm thinking about this. Payoff date is December 09.)

You met your EF goal. Congratulations!!

I would really consider paying off your credit cards next. Once that's done, you'll have so much more money to put towards your emergency fund or your mortgage fund instead of sacrificing paying interest for an even larger EF.

I know you probably don't want to do this, but if I were you, I would take the money out of the EF and pay the credit cards, but everyone is different, and if you don't feel comfortable doing that, don't.

Put your credit cards away if you're tempted to use them. If you don't have them, you can't use them. Or..give them to your husband. You can't have them or you'll be tempted. Try working on that in June. You'll get used to not having them at the ready. I went to Home Depot the other day, and realized I left my debit card in my jeans. I had to pay with a credit card, and I ALMOST left the store without my purchases. If my parents weren't waiting for me to go out of town with the supplies, I totally would've gone home and returned with my debit card. So, I used the card. *sigh*

Thanks peachy for your imput. I I've been giving this a lot of thought over the week. Savings Goals vs paying off credit card debt. In my mind and not for wholly rational reasons, savings goals wins this week. I want the savings more than I want to have credit card paid off right away.

Currently I'll be out of this credit debt by December 15, 2009. It's going to cost me about $70 in interest over that time. If interest rates change, if my job situation changes, if I change my mind I can pay it off out of the emergency fund if I want to, but for now the saving goals and paying down the mortgage are really important and I don't want to lose momentum there. In the past I've gotten off track with my savings goals by paying off credit cards with savings and it was discouraging to save for so long and then poof have it disappear. I just kept postponing saving for the really important stuff for me. I want to think of our savings as off limits except in an emergency or for what they were intended for. Is that shift in my priorities worth seven months of payments and $70? At the end of the year I want to have a solid emergency fund, a house in good repair, a mortgage under 10k and no debt in that order. That's my gift to myself and my husband this year, balance.

Even though I haven't had my credit card in my wallet since April, I decided to cut it up today. I know what the real problems are. Baby steps.