Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A review of Financial Goals 2011

Yeah....this isn't going to be pretty.....for the full list, check out Financial Goals 2011.

Here is where the numbers stand, compared to a year ago:

  • Credit Card -  was $35,065.23 now $37,164.32  (increase of 5.99%)
  • Student Loan - was $29,225.79 now $28,142.57 (decrease of 3.70%)
  • Car-                 was $4,156.35 now $12,801.07  (increase of 308%....OUCH)
  • Medical -          was   $208.00 now $2,083.33 (increase of 1002%...DOUBLE OUCH)
As a whole....it looks bad.  REALLY BAD.  BUT.....we did pay off the small student loan, and the big loan went into repayment, so that is going DOWN.  We paid off G-man's car (early!), and now have a new car and payment for that.  The retirement loan isn't in there...but we paid off most of that, and it will be paid off almost a year early from the original payment plan. And the medical...what can I say....losing our waiver has had a major impact, plus 2 dental emergencies..


Our specific goals were:

1)  Pay off G-man's car early.   DONE!!!  It was paid off in May 2011, vs January 2012, as originally scheduled.

2)  Pay off $10,000 in debt (not including the retirement loan).  HAHAHA.  Look at how optimistic I was a year ago.  Oh Mysti....little did you know.....

3)  Side Hustle $2000.  I originally signed up to be a ChaCha worker, and decided I didn't like it.  I was spending way too much time for way too little money.  Our yard sale brought in some money, but not a ton.  All in all, this was a moderate fail.

4)  Open ING Christmas AccountDONE!!! This worked great for us this year, as we had the money saved up for Christmas, and had money available early as some deals came our way.  We had some confusion over where what money went...but figured out how to solve that.

5)  Continue to work on zero-based budget.  Still not there...but getting closer.

6)  Curb food spending.  *sigh*  Still an area that needs improvement.

7)  Get life insuranceWe started to look at this back in June, but didn't follow through.  Bad us.

8)  Make willThe upheaval of the year made this one a non-contender.  We didn't even talk about it.

9) Resume retirement savingsNope.  Not even close.

10)  Find one "free" family thing to do per month I would say this wasn't a complete success, but it wasn't a complete fail either.  We definitely did more things together as a family this year than we have in years past.

I don't even know what to say about all of this.  It has been a bad year all around.  I would love to say "It could be worse" but really....how much worse could it really be???  We are now worse off than we were 2.5 years ago.  All I can do is move forward.  

It really is depressing to see how much you DIDN'T accomplish.  But it is what it is.  I have committed to being honest with you guys, so here it is.  In all its glory...or lack there of. 

12 comments:

  1. I will just make one comment and that is about your lack of a will. This is a HUGE problem especially for you and your husband who have two children with special needs. I would respectfully suggest that as soon as you can, you find a local lawyer who does wills (or, if you are comfortable, do it yourself via one of the internet services). You do not have many assets, so you probably just need a simple will that complies with the requirements in CT. A power of attorney, and a living will would also be a good idea. I'm sure I speak for myself as well as many of your readers when I wish you and your family a wonderful 2012!

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  2. Like you said, all you can do now is move forward, hopefully 2012 will be much better for you!

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  3. Chalk it up as a year finished & move forward - you are doing great & working towards a goal... 2012 is going to be a great year, a year for great things to happen ;) lets just get it to happen! Good Luck Mysti!!!

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  4. Mysti with the year you had it would have been much easier to just give up, BUT you didn't. 2012 is going to be a good year for all of us so no worries.

    I think in reality you did pretty well all things considered!

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  5. Oh Mysti - I am with Judy. You could have given up, but instead, you are going to move forward and don't look backwards.

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  6. You are brave enough to put it all out there and take the comments that come with it. I would NEVER do that. I admire you for that. Keep plugging away at it.

    I have been married for 14 years and have never made a will. We could not agree who would take our kids, so it has been avoided. Irresponsible I know. I bring it up once a year. Perhaps this will be the year. Life insurance is a HUGE one though. You NEED to fit this in. You would be done if tommorow your husband died. Work on getting that before working on the others. Really, it is vitally important.

    Hope 2012 is good to you.

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  7. It sucks that the year didn't turn out as planned, but hey, aren't goals always a bit too optimistic? I admire you for giving this honest overview and hope it helps you with establishing your 2012 goals!

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  8. When you have young kids at home it is always hard to move forward. Your car problems cost you a lot of money. Over and over again, you will not have that this year. Things will get better. You just hang in there. Don't make me have to come over there, and prove it to you!

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  9. Yep, hang in there girl! Not every year is going to be as bad as this one and you WILL get ahead at some point. (saying this to convince myself as well!)

    Telling you to get on with the will would be like the kettle calling the pot black. I have special needs kids as well, though not same situation, and equally struggle with this one.

    Baby steps.

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  10. Sometimes it's one step forward, two steps back. I know, I've been there.Looking back (as I'm so much older than you)I can see the progress but when I was right in the middle of it, not so much! I've been teaching now for 20 years and it pays the bills really well. However when I went to teacher's college I was a single parent of a one year old living on social assistance. The first 7 years of teaching I earned an hourly wage as an "occasional" teacher (night school) and had NO BENEFITS!Then I finally got a permanent contract (13 years ago) and have made good financial progress since then. So over the long haul I made progress, and so will you. It's just so much harder to see when you're stuck in the middle of it. Take heart!

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  11. You know what I really admire about you? You are honest. That is a very admirable quality in someone! I think you have to give yourself some credit, it's been a rough year for you, and you can only do what you can do, right!? :) Here's to a new year, Mysti!! Wishing you & yours a happy, successful, & healthy New Year!!

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  12. I completely agree with Carla. I love that you are honest and I thank you for sharing with us. You have inspired me this year to keep trying and I hope 2012 will be a great one for your family.

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