Financial Goals

Wow!  I can’t believe another month has flown by and only two more months till baby arrives!  Here’s how things are going in the savings and spending department!

Current Short Term Goals
1.) Save 3 months of my salary for maternity leave.

• Savings Goal: $6,000  (Needed by the end of September 2011)
• Current Savings: $4248.79
• Needed to reach goal: $1,751.21

I’m pretty hopeful we’ll be able to meet this goal by the time baby arrives. 

2.) Save $2000.00 for baby necessities. 

• Savings Goal: $2,000 (Needed by the end of September 2011)
• Current Savings: $250. 27
• Needed to reach goal: $1749.73

Ha!  So, the bad news is we’ve only saved $250… lol.. however, we have been purchasing baby items here and there using Amazon gift codes (thanks to SwagBucks) and using what’s left in our checking account after the bills have been paid. :)

So far we’ve purchased:
-Graco Lauren 4-in-1 Crib in Espresso – $150.00 (the price has since increased to $175)

-SoHo Butterflies Meadows baby nursery crib set – $56.66 + shipping (the price has increased slightly since our purchase}

-Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat, Red – $143.99 {what we paid on 7/31}
-Britax B-Agile Stroller, Red – $208.05 {what we paid on 7/31}
-Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat Extra Base – Free {see details below)
-Britax B-Agile Stroller Child Tray – Free {see details below}

*Amazon is running a deal through 8/31, if you purchase Britax B-Agile Stroller and Britax B-Safe Car Seat you’ll receive a free B-Safe Infant Car Seat Base {$79 value} and free B-Agile Stroller Child Tray {$19 value}.  The price of the stroller and car seat seems to vary from day-to-day so if you’re in the market for a purchase like this watch the prices before making a purchase. 

-Britax Roundabout 50 Classic – Kathryn – $78 {We actually purchased this at Target last week after we found it marked down 50% off- a great deal on a Britax! We will use this after Baby E grows out of her infant car seat.}

We have a few more big ticket items left to purchase like a pack-in-play, baby monitor, and breast pump, but things are coming along.  Our baby shower is coming up in a few weeks so hopefully we’ll be able to cross some more items off our list. :)

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Last month I shared with you my current short term goals and asked for your tips for saving on baby necessities.  Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions!

Here’s an update on how things are going!

Current Short Term Goals (6 months or Less)

1.) Save 3 months of my salary for maternity leave.  

• Savings Goal: $6,000  (Needed by the end of September 2011)
• Current Savings: $3358.93
• Needed to reach goal: $2,641.07

I was checking an old savings account that I don’t use anymore (because I LOVE my ING Saving Account more) and came across $800 that was just sitting there (earning a measly .25%)!  I transferred that $800 bucks into my 3 month salary account immediately (where it’ll at least earn 1% till I need it).

2.) Save $2000.00 for baby necessities. 

• Savings Goal: $2,000 (Needed by the end of September 2011)
• Current Savings: $85.00
• Needed to reach goal: $1915.00

We have been paying extra on our 15 year mortgage since we moved into our house 4 1/2 years ago.  Hubby and I are looking to move out of our current home to be closer to our parents in about a year.  Taking that into consideration and with a baby on the way, we’ve decided to stop paying extra on the mortgage and save the extra for baby. 

What are your current short term savings goals? What are you doing to meet your goal?

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Thank you to TurboTax for sponsoring my writing about household finances.Learn more about how TurboTax can help you find every tax deduction you deserve. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

I’ll admit it.  I like to be in charge when it comes to our family finances.  I like knowing what money is coming in and what money is going out.  I get a kick out setting financial goals and I look forward to balancing the budget every month. 

Luckily I have a husband who is totally understanding and absolutely willing to hand over the financial reigns to me!  Even though I take charge when it comes to our finances I still feel it is important to get my husband’s input.  After the budget comes together we review it together and make sure it is something that we both can live with.  

Budgeting does not have to be complicated. Did you hear that? Budgeting does not have to be complicated! You don’t have to have the perfect spreadsheet or budgeting software to get started.  You have to do what works for you and when it comes to budgeting needs one size does not fit all.  Keep in mind that managing your family finances is a process and you will learn through trial and error what works for you.   I use a simple excel spreadsheet that I typed up myself to keep track of our monthly income and expenses.  I track EVERYTHING.  That might sound like it takes a lot of time, but it really doesn’t- online banking has made things so easy!

And you know what? Budgeting every penny (whether it’s money to pay the bills or money that is allocated to a savings goal) prevents overspending.  I’m not saying that I don’t ever go over our budget, because I do, but with a budget I’m much more aware of how my spending may (negatively) affect my other financial goals.

Here are some quick tips to get your budget started:

1.  Take Inventory.  Write down all your monthly expenses (mortgage/rent, utilities, grocery, fuel, insurance, tithing, etc.).  Estimate what your monthly expenses are in each category.

2. Determine your monthly income.  Include paychecks and any extra income. 

3. Review your income versus your expenses.  Are you spending more than you make? Are you overspending in certain categories?  Are you leaving enough money at the end of the month to reach your short and long term financial goals?  Take a good look at each category and make adjustments as needed. 

What are your budgeting tips?

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Personal
-Take my vitamin D everyday.

-No soft drinks.  I’ve been off of diet soda since Thanksgiving after coming to the conclusion that my body is better off without artificial sweeteners.  This has been HARD!  It’s been a month and I still crave the yummy carbonated goodness. 

-Tame my sugar addiction. In an effort to break this addiction I’ve signed up for the 2011 Sugar Detox Challenge hosted by Naturally Knocked Up (the challenge begins Jan 10, so you still have time to sign up!)

-Continue taking steps towards a whole food, real food lifestyle.  This will involve many baby steps, many of which will probably need to be broken down into goals of their own (we’ll save that for another day!).  

-Lose weight.  I hesitate to put this goal is writing, because weight is something that I’ve battled with my entire life.  Up, down, up, down, up, down, UP. I’m hoping that weight loss will be a side effect of moving toward a real food diet and that this weight loss will be something that is sustainable, not short lived.  Vague huh? lol

-Continue taking steps towards a greener lifestyle.  I’m finding that this seems to go hand in hand with the real food lifestyle. Just google, the scary stuff that’s in your hygiene products, makeup, cleaners, etc. Eek!  So, this means I’ll be exploring homemade cleaners, natural beauty products, switching from plastic to glass, tossing the Teflon, filtering the water, etc, etc, etc.  I anticipate this being a slow change as doing all this at once could be very costly! I’ll keep you all updated on this journey.

Finances
-Continue tithing 10% of our income.
-Build our ER Fund back up to $15,000.
-Pay $100 extra on our mortgage each month.
-Max out Roth IRA.
-Get Micah through graduate school debt free.

I plan on keeping you guys updated on the progress of my goals throughout the year (whether you want to read about it or not).  

So tell me, what’s in store for you in 2011?

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A year ago I wrote my 2010 financial goals, I wanted to review them and give you all an update on how things went down. 

Financial goals for 2010.

1.) Save $3,750 to reach my goal of saving $15,000 towards a new car.  Woo-hoo!  In May 2010,  I met this goal!  My car is 10 years old and just hit 118,000 this month.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for 10 more years!  

2.) Save $1,500 to completely fund my 2010 Roth IRA. The Roth IRA is fully funded for 2010!

3.) Continue paying $100.00 extra a month on the principle of our mortgage. Check! We paid an extra $100 each month- only $62,550 left to go!

4.) Add $1500 to our Emergency Fund (a long-term goal of mine is to build our ER Fund to cover 1 year of expenses). FAIL! Our furnace went out in December and because the unit was 15 years old we choose to have the furnance/AC replaced with a high efficient model at the tune of $5,371 (we will be getting a $1500 tax credit though). This money came out of our ER fund which means 2011 will be the year of building our ER Fund back up!

Did you accomplish your 2010 financial goals? Did you encounter setbacks like I did?

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