20 Goals for 2020

Here they are, if a little late for the new year. I came up with 20 financial goals for 2020. Some are basic: pay off debt, save more, etc. and some are much more personal to us!

The last 8 months have been a roller coaster! My life was crazy and busy and I let finances fall by the wayside. I budgeted intermittently, I paid debt sporadically, and I transferred more money out of savings than into it. I want things to be different this year!

These are 20 financial goals that, if successful, will drastically improve our financial situation by the end of the year! In an effort to increase my chances of success, I want to check-in with my goals monthly. Even though I’m getting a late start, I want to get off on the right foot!

Please wish us luck as we try to do better and be better!

1. Get credit card debt below $10000. This has been a monkey on my back for way too long! Because of Christmas and my dad’s death, our credit card debt ballooned to over $20,000… again! I’m hoping to get it down in the $19K range before the statement actually hits, but it’s very depressing! I have a lot of work to do to get out of debt, but it’s not impossible. It will just take discipline and hard work. Pay on the credit card monthly and STOP charging on our credit card.

2. Track our family spending every other month of the year… which will help us with our next goal.

3. Increase contributions to envelopes and go “cash only”: In order to get out of credit card debt, I have to stop charging on my credit cards, therefore, I need to fully fund my envelopes. I want to increase contributions to my envelope so that I will not have to charge any of our daily living expenses: food, gas, toiletries, clothes, etc.

4.  Increase Christmas savings: Last year I budgeted $200 per month, and although it was great to have that money, it wasn’t enough come Christmas time. I want to increase my Christmas budget by 50% every month. By doing this, my hope is that I will fully fund Christmas and not have to charge anything for Christmas, including traditions, parties, foods, and gifts.

5.  Church Tithing: In July of last year, we started donating $200 per month to our church and then in October, upped it to $300. I want to continue monthly donations to my church. My goal is to donate $300 EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH. We have been married for 17 years and never in our marriage have we tithed every single month in a calendar year.

6.  Pay off car! This rolls right into our next goal…

7.  Once The Husband’s car is paid off, put $345 payment into savings each month towards a new car fund.

8.  Save $5000 above and beyond my “normal savings” or any car savings. Can be used for vacation, debt payoff at the end of the year, towards a down payment for a car, buying a car for The Boy, etc. I am using a 52 week challenge to meet this goal and I have already deposited the first 4 weeks into my savings account and have budget for the following 5 weeks in my February budget.

9.  Meal plan 8 months out of the year. I know 8 months is random, but it is really hard for me to do it every month and life gets busy. I’m starting with a goal of meal planning 2/3 of the year. This really cuts down grocery costs and I hope it will help me stay within budget.

10.  Assuming I can meet all of the above goals, my last goal would be to increase my savings rate. Right now, we only “save” $200 a month but I tend to transfer $500+ money out of savings every month, so currently we have a negative savings rate. I would like to get out of debt and add at least $500 a month to our savings account.

11.  Open, and use, a Health Savings Account for The Husband’s braces.

12.  Increase my 403b contributions by $100 sometime during the year.

13.  Increase The Husband’s 401k contributions by 3% by the end of the year.

14.  Have one billing period where I don’t charge ANYTHING (except autopays) on my credit card.

15.  Have a successful “No-Spend” September. Last year we had a horrible no-spend month. With my dad’s illness I was constantly shuttling between my house and my parent’s and it made life, and planning, difficult. This year, I want to be more prepared and truly see a difference in our finances.

16.  This one sounds silly, but I want to add it anyway. I drink… A LOT… of tea. I also buy a lot of tea. I want to drink the loose leaf tea I already have and not buy anymore until I am only down to 3 flavors. I could probably go for at least 6 months without buying any more loose tea. Yes, I have that much!

17.  Add all our “subscriptions” to our monthly budget. We budget, but I forget things like the pool cleaner, The Girl’s IPSY bag, private lessons for The Kids, etc. I want to get all those things actually added into our budget so we can see how much we actually pay out each month.

18.   Don’t spend any money, out of pocket, on supplies for my classroom. It’s so easy to buy everything I need myself. I want to utilize my classroom budget as effectively as possible and not purchase supplies for my classroom using my personal money. (This does not include lessons I might choose to purchase.)

19.   Keep current (monthly) with what I owe The Kids. Our children “work” for us sometimes and we pay them a wage. I keep track of what we owe them and pay them “whenever”. I want to keep up on this better and pay them monthly.

20.   Check in on my financial goals monthly. I know that’s more often than most people, but I need the motivation! And the accountability!