OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD 2012

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2012 Financial Goals Progress Report #2

I am borrowing this format from Laura at NoMoreSpending  to help me stay accountable to my 2012 goals.




1.   Pay off credit card debt this year.  Yep, it has got to go.  We have about $11,5000 in stupid credit card debt.  With our current living arrangements (we moved in with my sick parents to become their caregivers) our expenses are low(er).  There is some good news here.  We have reduced the credit card debt to $7900.00!!  I moved some money from savings and with the extra money from my mom we were able to get the balance down quite a bit.

2.  Increase Emergency Savings from $1000.00 to $3000.00.  Right now our emergency fund carries about $1200.00, but by the end of the year we would like to increase that to $3000.00 for a little more piece of mind.  Emergency savings is at $1000.00.  Any extra will go to debt, at least for now.

3.  Building online income.   My work situation has changes totally.  I am now a fulltime care giver for my dad, and soon for my mom.  I will be able to (hopefully) find time during the day and night to learn more about HOW to successfully do that.  You know I did join the $30,000 Online Income Challenge, right?   Job situation has  has changed AGAIN. I was employed but very briefly.  Still unsure which direction I will be going.  Online income is small, but I am grateful.  For February, it was about $100.00. 

4.  Christmas 2012.   I again will be working my $500 Holiday Challenge.  I was able to stay pretty close to the spending/ shopping budget this year, so I am pretty happy about that.   Acquiring gifts all year round at deep savings really helped the bottom line.   Still NO  shopping yet, but I am  still  auto-transferring to my Christmas ING account.



5.  Have more fun!  Life is short and I know that saving money, budgeting, and being frugal is important.  But....   having fun and enjoying life is just as important!   Living in Central Florida provides many opportunities to visit theme parks and be a kid again.  We have not yet decided which park we are going to get a year long pass for, but I am leaning towards SeaWorld. And next year.... Disney World.  I will be getting passes for me, my husband and my grandson.  Money well spent.  DONE.  Right now my daughter's family and myself have the SeaWorld pass.  When my husband does go, we will get him one too.  His work schedule is a little crazy right now.

6.  Plan a Trip out West.  We want to go to San Francisco, visit Alcatraz ( I find that place to be very fascinating), Cross the Golden Gate Bridge, to name a few.  It may not happen this year, but it will happen.  I plan to save at leat $4000.00 dollars towards this goal.  Back burner for now. Need to secure stable employment first.

7.  Roth IRA..... hello....  you remember me, don't you?  My retirement planning has taken a BACK seat lately.  Time to get all that back under control.  I have a 401k with a previous employer that I need to do something with..... and I do recall a Roth IRA too.  I am a huge slacker when it comes to this stuff.  Help please.  Fail.  There is the rest of February to get it changed. Lets see what I can get done in March.

11.  Get our wills done.   Enough said.  This has been on my goals list for the last two years.  Nope, not yet.

So, there you go.  Not much progress, but that is okay.  These last few months have definitely been different.  Looking forward to normal again.

11 comments:

Bowen4flag said...

You should, in the least, print out wills on line and take them to the bank to have them notarized. A simple will and a health directive are key to your survivor's sanity.
Do the "big will" later.

Jane Harrison said...

My choice would be to get rid of c/c debt first, which is what you are doing. Once that is gone you'll be in a better position to beef up emergency savings and roth. Checking in frequently with your goals is very wise - something I should do!

Laura @ No More Spending said...

I would pay off the cc debt first too. Good job on the reduction this month :)

C.R.P said...

You have so much on the go right now, Lisa! I think you're doing great though, keep your eyes on the prize!! :)

michelle said...

Wow good job on lowering the credit card debt!

CentsToSave said...

Thanks Michelle!

CentsToSave said...

It is a little crazy around here. It may just be time to "be still".

CentsToSave said...

We are working on it. :)

CentsToSave said...

We are trying like heck to whittle that cc debt down!

CentsToSave said...

Good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

Newlyweds on a Budget said...

you're doing well!! it's still early in the year, but the year does go by sooo fast : ) good job for taking care of some already

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