2008 Goals

Goals, resolutions whatever you call them! I was working on these while babysitting 2 8 year old twins, so I may need to tweak them.

1. Budget our money better. Pay bills on time- while our village doesn't report to credit companies, the pay the electric bill every 2 months is starting to drive me batty.

2. Pay down our debt by at least $2400. We have a loan payment of $130 a month so we'll snowball the other $70 into the best place for it. Number 3 was list debts so we know what we have to pay when, but it fits better with #2.

3. Use savings, rebates & misc found money to fund our emergency fund. We had a good start to it last year but it was depleted opening various checking & saving accounts that are more accessible to us. Once we get the direct deposit fixed we'll set up a weekly payment back into the ING account. We want to have at least $1000 in the EF by December 31, 2008

4. Blog daily, I have been neglecting my blogging. Mostly because I work online as well & it is just a lot of sitting in front of the computer.

5. Work on one DIY project everyday. We have a HUGE list of improvements we will be making in 2008 and most are to be done by us. The only thing I won't do is the roof!

6. Do better at cards to friends & family. Birthdays, anniversaries, etc. I have been really slacking lately.

7. Focus on MYO (make your own) mixes and grocery items. Now that I have the stand mixer of my dreams, and while it still wasn't the "Frugal" thing on my list it was a deal you just couldn't walk away from. The day we bought it the Licorice was available for $259.99, free shipping & a $50 rebate. So we end up only paying $10 more than my Mom did for her Artisan. Plus I have the horse power I need for it to last a very long time.


I mean really, the bread machine I want was $199 and it only took me a year to kill the $50 bread machine I had!!! Plus I will be selling my old stand mixer on ebay sometime after the holidays (last set like mine sold for $102).

8. Eliminate more clutter. As we can replace substandard items with good quality items I need to get rid of the old stuff!!!

We have to be really careful with our money now that we are back to one main income source & we are planning on moving some rooms around again on top of the remodeling & updating.

Of course I am babysitting again. When school is in it's only a couple hours a day, but they are friends with my kiddos so it's nice. And they were here almost everyday while someone else was getting paid to watch them...

So who knows what 2008 will hold, I am going to spend the last few days of 2007 reflecting & celebrating with my family!

Happy New Year!