I find that when I set goals, even if I don't reach them, I tend to make more progress than I would have if I hadn't set them. So, in the spirit of getting a little farther, these are my personal goals from now until the end of the year:
1) Increase my emergency fund to $3500.
I currently have about $1400 in my emergency fund, which is not bad considering that a year ago I didn't even have an emergency fund. But I want a better rainy day cushion for my plans. I am currently putting 25% of my paycheck toward my emergency savings. That puts me on track to have just over $3300 in the account by the end of the year, if I don't add anything extra. But I like nice round numbers, and $3500 is about two months' worth of expenses for me, so I intend to kick in a little extra toward that.
2) Pay $50 extra per month on my student loans.
I have around $40,000 in student loans that I am itching to get rid of. I calculated recently that making monthly payments of $800 would pay off the full balance in 5 years. That blew my mind. Five years. Not twenty. Not when I'm old and grey. Not never. Five measly years. So my plan is to start making $800 payments every month beginning in January. (The required payment is $247/month.) I still want to get ahead a bit, though, and I think I can put $50 a month toward that without really missing it.
3) Not use my credit cards at all, except for my friend's upcoming wedding.
If I keep my credit cards in my wallet, I find myself pulling them out and using them without thinking about it. So now I keep them in a box in my closet and only take out one at a time, right when I need to use it, and put it right back. I am attending a friend's wedding in November in New York, so I'm going to put everything (plane ticket, ground transportation, gift, etc.) on my cash rewards card to get back the maximum amount. Aside from that, however, the cards stay in the closet.
How do you set goals for yourself? Are they quarterly, yearly, daily? Or do you set any at all? I'd love to hear from others.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
October 6, 2008
October 1, 2008
Introduction and welcome
My name is Laura, and this is my blog, Dollars and Dreams. I am on a journey toward my own personal vision of financial success, and I hope that sharing my experiences can help others, and maybe allow us all to learn from each other. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, I want to start with a little background.
Who I am:
I'm a 32-year-old living in Seattle, Washington. I was born and raised in New York state, and lived there for my entire life until just over a year ago. In August of 2007, I packed three bags, got onto a plane, and came to Seattle. I did not have a job lined up. I did not know a soul here. I found a room for rent on Craigslist and came here with my first month's rent and the last two paychecks from my old non-profit job in New York. Now I live in a beautiful city that I absolutely love, and within two months of being here I managed to achieve a personal goal: I got my first real editorial job. In New York, I worked mostly as an administrative professional, and it bored me to tears. But the parts of my jobs that I loved best always had to do with writing and editing. I felt trapped in office work because I'd been doing it for seven years, and when I came here I promised myself I would try something different and go after what I really wanted. If you think that sounds scary, it is.
What I want for myself:
My goals are many. I want to retire early, travel the world, and write about it. I want to work as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, write award-winning bestsellers, and get back into theater, among other dreams. To do all that, I need to do a better job with my finances. Currently I have almost $40,000 in student loan debt. I have a few hundred dollars on my credit cards right now, but I pay them off every month. I have an emergency savings fund (my first!) that I started when I got my job here. While my parents taught me some lessons about saving as a child, I never saved much money as a working adult. The money would come in, and I would spend it right out again. It has been a struggle to change that, but right now my emergency fund is at $1,400, which for me is huge. Financially, I want to be able to afford to finish my college education (yep, I'm one of those poor souls who has student debt and no degree to show for it), travel a few times a year without getting into debt, buy a house in the next few years, be able to help my family financially, and work toward the eventual goal of being fully self-employed as a writer and editor (with a few other interesting side ventures and hobbies).
Why I'm writing this blog: Over the past year, I realized my financial situation couldn't go on the way it was. While not in really dire straits debt-wise, I still wasn't making any provision for my future. I had lots of dreams, but wasn't taking steps toward making any of them possible. While prowling around online, I discovered personal finance blogs. I read, sometimes for hours, following chains of links from one to the next. I realized there were other people out there in situations similar to mine. Like me, they had dreams, and weren't quite sure how to get from point A to point B. But they were trying, and they were inviting others to take that journey with them. I love helping people, and sometimes I can do things for others that I can't do for myself. Maybe reading my story as I find my way along this new path will help you. I'm pretty certain that knowing you are out there listening will help me.
Who I am:
I'm a 32-year-old living in Seattle, Washington. I was born and raised in New York state, and lived there for my entire life until just over a year ago. In August of 2007, I packed three bags, got onto a plane, and came to Seattle. I did not have a job lined up. I did not know a soul here. I found a room for rent on Craigslist and came here with my first month's rent and the last two paychecks from my old non-profit job in New York. Now I live in a beautiful city that I absolutely love, and within two months of being here I managed to achieve a personal goal: I got my first real editorial job. In New York, I worked mostly as an administrative professional, and it bored me to tears. But the parts of my jobs that I loved best always had to do with writing and editing. I felt trapped in office work because I'd been doing it for seven years, and when I came here I promised myself I would try something different and go after what I really wanted. If you think that sounds scary, it is.
What I want for myself:
My goals are many. I want to retire early, travel the world, and write about it. I want to work as a disaster relief worker for the American Red Cross, write award-winning bestsellers, and get back into theater, among other dreams. To do all that, I need to do a better job with my finances. Currently I have almost $40,000 in student loan debt. I have a few hundred dollars on my credit cards right now, but I pay them off every month. I have an emergency savings fund (my first!) that I started when I got my job here. While my parents taught me some lessons about saving as a child, I never saved much money as a working adult. The money would come in, and I would spend it right out again. It has been a struggle to change that, but right now my emergency fund is at $1,400, which for me is huge. Financially, I want to be able to afford to finish my college education (yep, I'm one of those poor souls who has student debt and no degree to show for it), travel a few times a year without getting into debt, buy a house in the next few years, be able to help my family financially, and work toward the eventual goal of being fully self-employed as a writer and editor (with a few other interesting side ventures and hobbies).
Why I'm writing this blog: Over the past year, I realized my financial situation couldn't go on the way it was. While not in really dire straits debt-wise, I still wasn't making any provision for my future. I had lots of dreams, but wasn't taking steps toward making any of them possible. While prowling around online, I discovered personal finance blogs. I read, sometimes for hours, following chains of links from one to the next. I realized there were other people out there in situations similar to mine. Like me, they had dreams, and weren't quite sure how to get from point A to point B. But they were trying, and they were inviting others to take that journey with them. I love helping people, and sometimes I can do things for others that I can't do for myself. Maybe reading my story as I find my way along this new path will help you. I'm pretty certain that knowing you are out there listening will help me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
