by Tricia
Once I have the final numbers calculated, I’ll take a final look back at our 2007 goals and see exactly how we did. It’s hard to believe that yet another year has passed, and it’s time to declare some goals for 2008.
Debt Goal – Kimberly from Alpha Consumer asked me for a financial goal. I decided that we would like to pay off at least $10,000 more of our debt in 2008. This may be tough with a looming financial shake-up. But, that shake-up should be temporary until we get our financial groove back. When that happens, we should have more income overall to go towards our debt. One step backwards…two steps forward.
The only problem with having a goal of $10,000 is that it will mean that we will have about five months to pay off $7,000 by May 2009 (our credit card payoff goal date). A date that I thought was so far away is no longer so far away.
Savings Goal – I think a nice goal for our savings account would be to fund it up to $5,000. But since we may have to use some of it for moving expenses, I am going to be conservative here and have a goal of having it back at $2,500 (or more) by this time next year.
How are we planning on achieving the above goals? The main thing is to increase our income, which we hope to do by my husband finding full-time employment in his field. I also have been keeping an eye out for extra income that I can make. It’s not just any income, though. I am looking for high return income so I don’t have to spend as much time working. That way, I can concentrate on cutting our expenses as well.
Happy New Year Everyone! Here’s to 2008!
Tricia –
Two things occurred to me:
After catching up on your blog from when we were out of state for Christmas, I noticed the comment about finding good stores for bargains after you move. The commenter noted that you have a wide readership with many resources. I know you like to keep some things private, but if you were willing to share a little about the type of work your husband is looking for perhaps there are readers out there that can be of help in his securing a good position. I know this area is expecting to have quite a number of jobs in the next few years. ‘Just don’t know if one might be in his field.
Another thing is a resource that my husband used a few years ago when he was searching for a job after retirement age. He had worked primarily for one company for all of his working years. This time he took advantage of the meetings hosted by several of the churches in the area for people looking for jobs and said that the input and suggestions for the latest way to really position yourself best in the job search were invaluable. They brought in excellent speakers from the corporate world as well as having those who wished give personal suggestions or a recount of their successes (or mistakes) in their job search. And, he didn’t just go to one source. He attended several of the meetings to take advantage of what each had to offer. He also attended several professional society meetings to network with other members. In the end all his work resulted in a very good job offer.
Good luck to you both!
Sandy