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A new year means new goals!

January 2nd, 2009 at 07:18 pm

Haven't written in awhile. I made it through the holidays alive but with a little bit of credit card debt. It sucks but I'm not that disappointed with myself. I was able to get my family useful presents for the cheapest I have ever been able to manage around the holidays.

I think I had the reigns a tad too tight in 2008 and that's probably why I splurged at the end of the year. Basketball Boy and I have worked fun money into our budget but in a *healthy* way. For every hour or more that we work out, we earn 5$ to spend however we would like. We cash out our 'workout days' at the end of the month and the money needs to last us until our next cashout. We aren't in bad shape by any means but we would both like to start the year out in a healthy way.

I did set some new goals for the new year. But I want to reflect on 2008 first.

I got myself out of about 3K in CC debt. I paid my car down by about 7K to just over 10K. I started and ING account in June and was able to save 4K towards that. Amazing!

For 2009 my goals are as follows ...

- open a joint checking account with Basketball Boy
- add Basketball Boy as a joint holder to my savings account
- save an additional 6-7K to bring the ING account to 10K
- pay off my car
- up Roth IRA contrib. from $150 to $200/mo.

I started on these goals by firstly changing my withholdings on my W-4. I should now see an additional $175ish per month and owe/get back very little on 2009's tax return. I will be getting back around $2500 for 2008's tax return which has been earmarked as follows ...

2K to car loan
$250 to savings
$250 to spend!

I bumped up my monthly auto deposit to savings from $150 to $250 and attempted to up my Roth IRA contrib. from $150 to $200 but couldn't figure out how.

There's my quick update, ttfn and I hope everyone has a wonderful new year!

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “A new year means new goals!”

  1. Amber Says:
    January 2nd, 2009 at 08:35 pm 1230928533
    1230928533

    Happy New Year Smile I like the work out idea and way to go on the CC debt, that's great. When every I work out I add a buck or to the cc debt
    I think you did really well in 08 and I am sure it will be the same this year

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    January 2nd, 2009 at 09:20 pm 1230931224
    1230931224

    My family did that workout incentive money too for awhile; it was a bonus to the spending money we already received. We had to cut it out for budget reasons, and almost immediately our exercising tapered off! I want to re-institute it once we have a bit more cash flow.

  3. homebody Says:
    January 3rd, 2009 at 02:57 pm 1230994625
    1230994625

    Can I ask why you are adding your boyfriend to your accounts? I would advise you not to as the mother of 3 daughters, the youngest about your age. Please don't take this as criticism, just think twice about it please.

  4. Amber Says:
    January 3rd, 2009 at 06:21 pm 1231006887
    1231006887

    Homebody, I was thinking the the same thing but was afraid to say. I added an ex once big mistake, if we're not married no way Jose

  5. kquealey Says:
    January 5th, 2009 at 03:50 pm 1231170622
    1231170622

    I appreciate and understand your concerns but I guess you would just have to know us to understand. We have talked thouroughly about our decision and after dating for three months agreed to save jointly and open a joint checking account together once we reached eight months. We have now been together nine months and have finally found the time to do so. He is saving for a ring and we are saving jointly for a house and wedding. Our parents also support our decision because they know that we want to move to fully joint finances once we are married. We also have a contract in place so that if anything did happen that contract could stand up in court. I do have my limits, I will not have anything such as a car or credit card joint with anybody, ever. Thanks again though everyone, I do appreciate it.

  6. Amber Says:
    January 5th, 2009 at 07:13 pm 1231182820
    1231182820

    Good idea to have a contract in place

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