Call me Type A, but I love setting goals for the year.
After reaching some giant goals in the past (especially our #yearofno), now we feel like we can take on just about anything!
Did we make the kind of progress we needed to make in January?
Yes and no.
Our Goals for 2020: A February Update
We spent this month catching up on bills that had gotten away from us in 2019. Mostly because everything was so chaotic around our home all year.
It sure feels good to have most of the bills caught up and settled now.
And that leaves us free and clear to actually tackle our goals for 2020 going forward.
That said, we did make a little progress…
Home Goals 2020
We plan to pay for these things with a combination of bonus money and saving or earning whatever extra we can.
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Water
For the past couple of years, our biggest home goal has been to get a water supply at our place.
You can read about our strange water situation here.
We are hoping to catch water in a cistern for home use. We’ll also need a good filtration system.
So far we’ve struck out with the only company I found on my own that installs new cisterns in Ohio.
Last week I finally got a lead on a different company. Buuuuut I haven’t heard back from them yet.
sigh
In January we did have new gutters installed. They’re bigger, so they should catch more water when we are ready to start catching it.
More on this below in our “Money Goals” update.
Wood Stove
We didn’t get anywhere on this yet. We had planned to make a plan in the spring.
Truth be told, I’m already wondering if we’ve bitten off more than we can chew with this project. The water project is going to be big enough.
This happens most years, though. I tend to think big and chisel it down to something more manageable as we go through the year.
So we’ll see where this goes.
Painting
I love the look of a freshly painted room. But I stink at finding the time to paint.
We’ve done some work on the dining room. My Dad is helping me put up some faux shiplap and I’ll be painting in there soon.
Basement
The plan is to clean up the basement and water proof it a little better so we can create a family space. Especially for wintertime when we’re stuck inside.
We got some things cleaned up in January. Lots more work to do!
House Project
We have toyed with the idea of adding on to our small home for years. Nothing huge…but a second bathroom for our family of 8 sure would be nice!
Hubby started a new job a few months ago, and we still aren’t quite sure what his paychecks and bonuses will amount to. So we’ve decided to give it a full year, and make a decision about this project late this year.
I’m anxious to see how this one pans out!
Family
Vacation
Booked a beach house! Still a lot of planning to make this work.
Personal
My goal is to read 15 books this year.
In January I read Devil In the City of Angels (which was fascinating, though not an easy read).
I also read The Deal of a Lifetime. It was a very short read…but to be honest it wasn’t my favorite book.
I’m also going to work on keeping our home less cluttered this year.
I dropped a few bags of “stuff” off at the thrift store. And admittedly have more bags in the back of the van that need to go. 😉
Money Goals
Our 2020 money goal is to save $10,000 towards our water project. You wouldn’t believe how expensive it is to install a cistern. sigh
In January, we saved $15.
Uh, that’s not gonna get us anywhere, is it?
Like I said, most of our “extra” money went towards bills and people that we owed money to in January. So moving forward, we should be able to save a lot of that kind of money towards this goal.
This goal is huge, I know. And I have no idea if we’ll be able to accomplish it at all.
But I like to shoot for the stars, so why not try it?
Plan for February
In February we should have a bonus check from Hubby’s work.
And we have an extra paycheck (which kinda came in January but the bills didn’t work out right for us to have the extra money until February).
(By the way, if you have trouble with setting a budget, it might be because you’re budgeting monthly, but get paid bi-weekly. It just doesn’t work! Get my free bi-weekly budget sheets to use instead.)
Some of our tax refund money will pay off one of our car payments. (And may we never have two car payments again!) So we’ll start saving all of that payment money every month.
Those things will help us get closer!
That’s how our BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goals) look right now.
If you want to reach some big money goals yourself, try the 30 Day Money Challenge. It’ll set you on the right path…
How are your goals going?
I have recently started budgeting bi-weekly. It works so much better for me! I Our goals are to continue paying down debt and only do small projects we can pay cash for. So… maybe new carpet next year.🙂
Those are awesome goals that I can sooo relate to. Good luck!
$15 saved may not get you far with a goal of $10,000 but at least you’ve got a start. It could’ve gone the other way and you spent $15 (or lots more) from your emergency/reserve fund.
I’d call it a win and know that you have a plan going forward.
This is definitely the way to look at it! Thanks so much for encouraging me. 🙂 Hopefully things will look up from here.