Once again I have started an Instagram post that turned into so many words that it really should be a blog post. So for those who like to take a peek into financial goals here is my exciting break down for 2019.
We are rolling out of December without carrying Christmas debt. We were able to cash flow Christmas for the first time in our lives and that is huge people. HUGE. The sinking fund for gifts and holiday shenanigans held up and we freaking made it!!! I mean… we didn’t have any left over, we used up every last damn penny and then a little more out of our grocery budget. It don’t mattah! I’m still counting it as a win.
So, because we didn’t set ourselves back with holiday spending we are rolling into January with fresh 2019 goals and a fresh 2019 budget. Cue the fireworks, confetti, and champagne glass tower… because that is what opening a fresh budget spreadsheet feels like for me. Excuse me while I do some cartwheels (just kidding I have NEVER been able to do a cartwheel in my life).
Ahem, allow me to collect myself so I can properly Vanna White these 2019 goals for you:
$3,000 to Our Sinking Fund
If you have never heard of a sinking fund I HIGHLY recommend you start googling. Think of it like an FSA (flex spending account) for your life, except everything rolls over into the next year, your employer does not offer it and ummm… there are no tax benefits. Basically it is nothing like an FSA, but it is flexible AND it is a spending account.
Last year we mostly used our sinking fund to pay for Christmas, we started it late in the year and while I optimistically added like 20 line items to save for… it didn’t work out like that. So I am going into this year with a simplified plan. Fewer steps feels like a better chance at success and this year our sinking funds are going to:
- Kid’s Birthdays – $300
- A New Dishwasher – $350
- A Pool Pass – $350
- Christmas 2019 – $1,000
- Kid’s Sports – $373
- Family Trip – $500
- Anniversary Dinner – $100
In total, these add up to about $3,000 so that is our funding goal, once we hit it we’ll stop and divert that money somewhere else. At the end of the year if we have money left over we will either roll it over into next year’s fund or bring all our dollars to dollar taco day at our favorite spot.
Keep up Weekly Budgeting
This is something that I started new in 2018. I always had a general map of what bills we needed to pay, but I didn’t really pay attention to the money left over after that. It felt like a lot to break down on a monthly basis and I avoided it. You know what isn’t intimidating, or a lot to break down? A single week. Once I started breaking things down into a weekly budget everything started to click. Seven days is a lot easier to plan for! If you mess it up it’s all good, another week is around the corner.
Kill our Lending Club Loan
In 2017 we consolidated some debt with a loan from Lending Club, an $18,000 loan that OH MAH GOURD feels like so much money!!! At the time it was the best move we could make for what we had to pay off, it was also the best interest rate we could get. However, it takes up a huge chunk of our monthly income, $567 per month. That sucks. That is crushing and it absolutely has to go. We always planned to pay it off early, now is the time to get busy! There is about $11,500 left on it and I’m crossing my fingers and filling my heart with hope that this gets paid off this year.
The end.
Really, it’s the beginning, but it is the end of this update. If reading this makes your heart do flips, cartwheels, and flashy jazz hand finishes you might want to stick around for more 2019 updates! If you have thought about budgeting but never got around to it I hope this sparks a tiny bit of motivation, budgets are fun people! So fun!
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