Tuesday, February 3, 2009

2009 Goals (January Update)

Wow, January is gone already. The time is just passing by so quickly, I can hardly keep up. January was a very busy month for us. I started THIS blog, which had over 100 hits by the end of the month (Thanks everyone!); we bought our first home, we started our game/date nights, and was able to save more more money as well.

2009 Goals!!!!-Updated

Our Family Goals:

1. Read the bible in it's entirety in a year. They have many, many resources out there that you can use to help you get through the bible. (gotta keep up with this; usually when I read I start with scriptures from the daily bread or my Sunday school lesson)

2. Have my little sweet pea go to sleep on her own and use the potty by herself. Also ween her from nursing.( I have been making average strides with this issue. I haven't been as good with this as I would've liked but I am making progress)

3. Have a date night with my hubby at least once a month. Have family fun night twice a month. (We went to the Olive Garden (with a coupon), played scrabble, and spent more time having conversations together)

4. Eat healthier. ( I'm working on this. We discovered a new salad this month that was soooo good,; I will share the recipe in a later post)

5. Spend more time outdoors when the weather is beautiful. Parks & Libraries are great places to start. (Weather is still cold, wet, and now it's snowing outside)

Financial Goals:

1. Spend less money on ALL bills, including Electric, Food, etc. (The electric bill has remained the same for the most part; I have decided to spend only $50 a week for groceries for a family of 3, which is $200 a month; gas is a huge saver and we only spend about $100 a month for 2 cars )

2. Save 30% of our income by December 31st, 2009. Seems like a long shot, but with focus and discipline, it can be done. Besides, when the Lord sees my family being good stewards with our money, he'll make it stretch or even add on to it. (The Lord has really blessed us in this area; not only did we have to bring $34.99 to settlement on our home, we were able to put that extra money in savings that we would've brought to settlement. Our goal was to save 30% of our NET income, I am happy to say that we are at 74% of the goal. When we reach this goal, we will just continue to save more.)

3. Open at least 2 ING accounts. I have seen many people recommended ING as a great place to start, when trying to be financially independent. (We are actually going to open 3 accounts; one for Emerg'cy fund, Vacation, and Christmas; we also have a regular savings account with our credit union )

4. Get Sweet Pea a piggy bank or some kind of saving device. It's never to early to teach good habits, especially regarding money. (Didn't get the piggy bank yet, but it's still on our list)

5. Buy our First Home; which we are currently in the process of. I'll keep you all updated. (I'm proud to say that we are NOW homeowners and moving in Feb 13th!!!!)


How did you do in January regarding your goals????

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love the piggy bank idea. So so cute. We have a $50 grocery budget for 2 and we have food left over. So you should do just fine with that for 3 people.