We’re in the final stretch of paying off all of our consumer debt!  I can’t begin to tell you how many times we’ve fallen off the wagon but we’re back on board!  Even though I know how to budget and set up a plan, what’s always tripped us up is unplanned expenses and of course getting on the same page about our goals.

It wasn’t until recently that I realized how much MY spending got us into trouble.  My husband has also been the culprit, buying a $500 watch which had me through the roof!

He isn’t a big spender so that caught me off guard. We dealt with it but having that spat helped me realize that we weren’t on the same page with regards to our spending.  Because hey, Im not all that innocent myself.  Chile when it comes to my hair and beauty products you can’t tell me nothin! *primps hair*  But after losing my debit card and being forced not to spend money, I learned some lessons and I’m back in the game.  There are things we can afford to give up but giving them up won’t change our debt payoff date so in essence they are minor.  However, we have opted to stop eating out, reign in grocery spending to $400/month, and stop shopping until we reach our goals.  Hold up, all work and no play makes Ginger a grouchy girl. So that we don’t feel like we’re in debtors prison we’re working on incentives at the mid point and end of the month to keep us going.  Can’t have all work and no play right?  I feel good about this because the end is in sight! **happy dance**

I tentatively have our credit card debt being paid off by June 2009 and we haven’t decided if we want to pay off the new car this year.  This is the car we purchased in October 2008 after the other one went kaput and the State wanted me to pay $1700 to fix it when we owed $1200.  We sold it.

The pros are that we would save a lot of money on interest payments and be able to then take the current payments and throw that towards savings.  Not to mention then be truly consumer debt free.  Have any of you done this?  It would mean tightening our belts through the end of the year as the payoff amount is $19k.  The alternative is to put the money newly available from the credit card payoff into savings and continue to build our emergency fund up to 1 year. I’m leaning towards building the emergency fund. 

One challenge on the horizon will be to save half of our monthly income after paying off the credit and/or auto debts.  This is doable since our monthly expenses are a little less than 4k and since I just started working, this adds a substantial increase to our monthly income Yeah!

*Pay off credit card debt, still undecided about paying off the car loan this year
*Increase emergency fund to one year.
*Resume payments to retirement accounts
*Secure adequate life insurance/Increase life insurance coverage
*Start baby fund I’m a little anal so this starts my preparation
*Start House Remodel fund: Once we’re debt free, pay cash for hardwood floors (8k), finish basement bathroom/laundry room (5k), update master bathroom (3k) and build new deck (8k). Budget: $20k-the goal is to find one company to do all the work at a discount.

**Queue music*

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way.

And, please, as I move closer to my goals and I post my spending charts, obstacles, spending mishaps, feel free to check me a few times and get me in line. I promised myself that this year I would share more concretely about what goes on with my finances. I can talk about it, now it’s time to be about it.

Question: What are your plans for 2009? Any big financial goals on the horizon?