I am not going to lie. When it comes to my relationship with money, it has always been rather rocky. I have always been blessed to not find myself in situations where I didn't have some type of safety net under me in regards to my finances. In high school I never held a job. My parents wanted me to focus on my studies. My first job was the summer after I graduated and I thought I was rolling in the dough. In fact this unrealistic perception of the value my currency carried continued after graduation from college. I know things were tight. I held down three jobs to make a 40 hour work week, but I never truly felt things would bottom out. I knew my parents would help me out if I needed it. I am so glad I never needed it. My first real job out of college was working as an assistant teacher at our Universities child development center. I was making probably just short of 20K, and once again I thought I was raking it in. I had a cheap apartment ($375 a month), no real bills (college was taking care of by my parents), and my outside work activities didn't really come with a price tag. Where I struggled was with my spending. I never understood that this little amount of money I was receiving wasn't supposed to be water in my hands. Every month it just slipped away. My husband often reminds me that he came across some of my check registers after we married. He was shocked to see on several occasions I managed to drain my checking account to a negative 5 or 10 cents. That is how serious I was at spending all my funds. My husband was my second safety net. The man is amazing with his finances. Where I am a spender. He is a saver. He has taught me so much about finances. He has also bailed me out a few times. I had already started to figure out that I needed to shift my thoughts on money. However, it didn't become clear until my father passed away last year, and I was confronted with my parents finances. My mom's finances were at a critical state, and she didn't have anything to back it up. It was a wake up call. I was over 8,000 dollars in debt, and I had no savings. I still spent like that college girl. It all needed to stop! I needed to correct the financial course I was on. So in one year, I managed to pay off 8,000 in debt (disclaimer: due to my oldest having a medical emergency, I am currently paying off a 1,000 in debt). I was also able to save over $18,000 towards my daughters' college funds (I wish I had started this sooner). So what does that mean for 2020? It means that I have to get busy and work to meet some of my financial goals. I am a spender y'all. I need to go into my finances knowing my weakness and plan for my spending as much as I plan for my savings. I have learned how to budget, and it feels amazing knowing where I will spend my money. So here goes 2020 goals:
1) Debt Free by June!
2) Fully Fund Emergency Savings in the first quarter of the year.
3) Double Emergency Savings by end of the year.
4) Start a savings fund for traveling.
5) Save 40,000 towards Hana's College (2,500 a month)
6) Save 12,000 towards Noora's College (We have a few more years to get her fully funded)
7) Refine my budget and really work to have more NO SPEND Days!
8) Pay with vacations with CASH!
These are my immediate 8 goals. I will be gaining more knowledge about retirement this year and really have that set for a goal in 2021. I can't fix it all in one year but you have to start somewhere. What is one thing you would like to tackle this year in regards to our finances?