Our 2011 financial goal was to save $8,000 to survive for four months on one income, while Eric quit his job and went to school full-time for the firefighter academy. He graduated from school Saturday and started his new job Monday, so now that we know we’ll have two incomes in 2012, we need a new plan for our finances.
Here are some new personal and personal finance goals for 2012:
1. Pay off credit card debt.
We still have roughly $2,000 left on a 0% interest credit card. We plan to pay it off by March, before the 0% special rate disappears.
2. Contribute full match to 401K.
I ceased my contributions this year. There was no company match offered for my first year of employment. The plan was to open a Roth IRA and contribute there, but I never got around to it… anyway, my contributions will start Jan. 1 with 3%–and eligible for the full company match of 3%, meaning I will have the equivalent of 6% of my annual income contributed to my 401K this year.
3. Open Roth IRAs.
As a semi personal finance blogger, it’s kind of crazy that I don’t have a Roth yet. But we’re real people who make mistakes. And sometimes it takes us a while to get with the program. We hope to open these asap, and while we have no plans to max out the contributions (I believe the max contribution is $5,000 each), we hope to at least start somewhere.
4. Get eye surgery.
I hate my contacts. I’ve been wanting to get my eyes fixed forever, but the price tag was too hefty (around $5,000). 2012 is the last year when you can contribute $5,000 to your Flexible Spending Account, which is funded with pre-tax income through your employer. In 2013, your max contribution will go down to $2,500. So in order to take advantage, I had to take the plunge. With health insurance included, it will cost me about $500 each month. It’s expensive, but I hope, well worth it, too.
5. Move out of the shack.
I can’t take it anymore. No dishwasher. No real bedroom. No washer dryer. Tiny kitchen and even smaller bathroom. We need to move. We know we can’t live anywhere else without digging into our savings, but sometimes quality of life outweighs saving contributions.
6. Pay off at least one student loan.
I have two student loan payments. The first is consolidated, and the second is comprised of 5 smaller student loans. My goal is to pay off at least 1 of the 5 smaller student loans.
7. Make $2,500 in side hustle income.
I have really enjoyed the side hustle. And it’s wonderful knowing that the money I’m making will contribute to our travel dreams without affecting our bottom line.
8. Go on a honeymoon
We have to go on a honeymoon this year. We just have to.
9. Save $10,000
We opened ahouse down payment savings account but it is practically depleted right now. We need to increase our savings again if we plan to buy a house one day.
10. Continue growing the blog
It has been so wonderful to watch my little blog grow. I hope to continue to increase my readership and expand the blog.
11. Eat healthy, lose weight, start running again
Last year, around this time, I realized I had gained 20 pounds since getting married. This past year, I’ve been working on losing it, but my biggest problem is I love food, and I’ve only lost about 10 pounds. My goal for 2012 is to lose those last 10 pounds, start running 2-3x a week and keeping doing barre, which has been amazing for reshaping my body.
12. Be nicer to the husband
I could work on increasing my patience, and having more compassion.
*Thanks to Debt Free by Thirty for the inspiration of this post*
What are your goals for 2012?
21 comments
I love your goals! I think putting them in writing (esp on a public forum) helps you with succeeding them! You’ve got a cheerleader over here if you ever need one 🙂
I love how detailed and numerous your goals are! I’m afraid mine as of now is to “keep on keepin’ on” with our ongoing goals. I wish I had the excitement of new goals!
Wow! Nice goals, girl! I will be watching your updates about eye surgery. I wear contacts and I am scared to death to do an eye surgery. What if something goes wrong? But I am somewhat paranoid (as you know.) 🙂
These are great goals! Especially the one about opening the Roth. No need to delay that one.
excellent set of goals. I love the last one. Wish my wife had that in her list 🙂
Number 12 is the best!
If your just off of a single income. How’s your emergency funds? If you are running low, you might want to consider refunding it as a goal.
You have a lot of goals!! Most important one is to pay off that credit card. You do that and all the other ones will get easier…
Great goals! I am still trying to get my list of goals together for 2012. Such a procrastinator am I!
“Be nicer to my husband” – I think that is very nice, and I plan to adopt for my New Year’s resolution. But I think I need to write out some nice thing to do & read every month so I don’t get too busy or forgetful.
Love your goals! Here is to 2012!
It is worth doing something to make your home a home although as it isn’t ‘yours’ don’t go overboard! Just remember that money isn’t everything and you need a “I’m so worth it” saving which you spend to make life better. (oh dear – is this a personal finance blog?)
Our goals are to finish paying off our negative wealth in the first half of the year so we can afford to send our son to a really good school if he passes the exams in January. We will do this by putting into effect a project I have been working on (for too long) and generating various other income streams.
Good luck with your plans….
I love the progress made. It is fabulous that you guys were successful, but I don’t want to diminish the hard work you both put forth. Anyway, good luck with your new goals for 2012.
I haven’t even thought about goals for 2012 yet… I know I should, but things are so up in the air I’m kind of scared to.
I definitely want to have Lasik at some point, but it’s just SO darn expensive! My eye doctor keeps telling me I’ll go completely blind if I don’t have it, but I’ve never had that kind of money at my disposal. Maybe this will be my year!
You have a great set of goals and I hope you’re able to reach all of them!!!
Love that your blog is growing fast! That is so great. And I too want eye surgery…let me know what you come up with for good surgeons and costs! maybe I should do it out there – LOL!
I’m totally with you on the quality of life thing, re: your love shack! I mean, don’t go crazy or anything, but you spend a LOT of your time in your home. It should be some place you really like being and that makes you happy! Like, I know a lot of people who won’t put any effort into painting or decorating a rental, because it’s a rental. But like, I maybe spent a couple hundred bucks painting and decorating my place (over a few years), and it turned it into somewhere I really wanted to be, as opposed to somewhere I just hung out after work. As far as I’m concerned, that was worth it.
Good luck with all of your goals!
Good luck with your goals in 2012
I need to exercise on a regular basis and would love to tone up (& lose the last 5-10 pounds). Got any ideas for staying on track?
Great goals! I hope 2012 goals well for you.
Good luck on your list. This is a pretty comprehensive list. I can’t wait to read your progress throughout this year.
I love side hustle goals. Hopefully you make more than your goal!
Hahha I love being nicer to the husband. That was one of my goals last year.
Good luck with your goals this year!