2011 was an amazing year for our family. I quit my job, my husband secured a post-doc position, and we began to aggressively pay down our debt. We are still deep in the financial trenches, recovering from my husband’s long haul to earn his Ph.D. and our decision to have two babies back-to-back. However, we both feel optimistic that our income will continue to increase and our lives will continue to improve. To help facilitate our progress, we are setting goals for 2012, which I will update monthly with our progress.
–Pay off our credit cards. Right now we owe $15,815.82 on credit cards. I am committed to making 2012 the year we become credit card debt free, ideally before October.
–Pay off my student loan. My student loan is currently at $6,167.53; we plan to pay this off no later than the end of 2012, although ideally sooner.
–Make $30,000 in online income in 2012. I have joined the Online Money Bloggers and have made it my goal to earn $30,000 in online income this year. I plan to do this through my staff writing jobs, virtual assistant work, and advertising on my blog. I also started a new blog, which I will discuss in another post in just a few days. Finally, I plan to release my eBook that has been on hold since November.
–Snowflake at least $750 a month on debt. We plan to continue to selling stuff around the apartment. In addition, I have devoted one of my virtual assistant jobs entirely to snowflaking, and I will continue to pursue other ways to make extra money.
–Sell $1,000 of stuff around the house. In 2011, we sold $1,550 of stuff. In 2012, we plan to sell more on Craigslist and to finally have our long awaited garage sale. Between these two, we hope to bring in at least $1,000.
–Learn to use coupons strategically to lower our grocery bill. I used to be fairly good at using coupons to play the drugstore game, but when my third child was born 20 months ago, all couponing ended. I know that I am spending more than I need to for toiletries, and even though we try to eat a mostly organic diet and have to buy foods to accommodate our food intolerances, there are still ways to save with coupons.
–Lose 25% of my body weight. Losing weight went on the back burner when we became gazelle intense. Honestly, I have been averaging 6 hours of sleep a night, which is not enough for me, and I haven’t been eating as healthy as I should be. While I want to be debt-free as soon as possible, I don’t want to do so at the expense of my health, so I plan to work on my diet and try to fit more exercise into my day. I am not going to follow a particular diet plan; I am just going to eat foods that are better for me.
–Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Five to six hours a night is not enough for me; I am grouchy more often than I would like because I am so sleep deprived. A large part of the problem is that my husband and I both have a natural tendency to go to bed sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight and wake up around 7 a.m. Our kids, however, like to wake up around 5 a.m. Both my husband and I are experimenting with going to bed between 9 and 10 p.m. and getting up at 5 a.m. when the kids do. (Usually one of us drags out of the bed to watch the kids at 5 a.m.)
–Send my daughter to Japanese school. As I mentioned previously, one motive for our big, hairy, audacious goal is to send our oldest daughter to Japanese school no later than June of this year.
–Increase our emergency fund. While we are paying down debt, I just want to have a small emergency fund, maybe $2,000 to $3,000. I want to keep most of it liquid, but I will look at places where I can put the money such as a high interest checking account or savings account. I may also consider a short term CD, depending on CD Rates, though I would only invest in a CD a few months at a time.
I’ll update these goals on a monthly basis, at the end of the month.
What are your goals for the new year?
Those are ambitious goals! Good luck to you. I would especially work on the more sleep one! My hubby and I now go to bed around 9:30 and get up at 5:30. It has made a big difference in our lives.
We’ve done it for two days now, and I feel much better. My husband, well, he’s not liking the new routine too much.
Great goals. But I am a little worried about your weight loss goal. I have met you… you seem tiny and losing 25% of your weight seems like a lot! You will vanish! 🙂
You must have mistaken me for another person you met. 🙂 I am anything but tiny. I could only dream to be so.
Nope… it was you. 🙂 Just be careful with the weight loss and don’t lose it too fast or too much. When it comes to losing weight, slower is better in terms of long-term success at keeping it off.
Good luck with your goals! I’m hoping to sell some stuff around my house too, I think I’ll aim for $1,000.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Love how organized your goals are!! Can’t wait to follow your progress AND your success.
Since you’re planning on losing weight anyway, interested in joining my 10 pound challenge? 1st prize is $75, second prize is $50, there’s 2 $25 prizes, an ipod shuffle, a $15 prize….
you could lose weight and then contribute your winnings to snowflakes! let me know if you’re interested, i’ll email you the info. or my blog post goes live jan. 9th too
Sure, I’d be glad to join!
You made good progress in 2011 so you will now continue on this trajectory. There is no ‘might’ about it. You’ve changed direction. So a pat on the back and get on with it!
Thanks for the encouragement, John.
Sounds like some ambitious plans for this year, but I am sure that you will be able to accomplish them. You have been making great strides in recent months on income which could only get better.
I hope so. Thanks!
I am a zombie/monster when I don’t get enough sleep. I really hope that you find a schedule that allows you more time to rest.
Me too! I feel like I haven’t slept well since I had my middle child 3 years ago. Lately, it has just gotten worse.