• About Me
  • Disclosure
  • Shop

Making Cents Matter

  • Home
  • Resource Library
  • Budget
    • Budgeting Tips
    • Our Monthly Budget
    • Meal Planning
    • Free Printables
  • Debt Free
    • Debt Free Tips
    • Our Debt Free Journey
    • Free Printables
  • Saving
    • Ways We Save
    • DIY
    • Free Printables
  • Recipes
    • Recipes
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch
      • Dinners
      • Instant Pot
      • Slow Cooker
      • Soups
    • Meal Planning
    • Preserving Food
  • Garden
    • Gardening Tips
    • Preserving Food
  • Shop

January 8, 2018 · Leave a Comment

2018 Goals, and a 2017 Review

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
Click here to read my disclosure policy.

Goals· Life

0shares

Welcome to 2018!  I hope the end of 2017 treated you well!  For me, this past December was an interesting one.

For the last half of the month, I had a hard time focusing on anything specific.  The kids were coming home with illness after illness, and when my sinus congestion started, I thought I caught whatever new germ was in town.  Within a few days of the congestion, I had a hard time breathing.  So I started taking my inhalers daily, and then the dizziness and disorientation started.  Both of which are side effects to my inhalers, but they’ve never left me that out of sorts.

Then two days before Christmas, I lost my voice.  The weirdest part about this whole experience is, my symptoms never went to full-blown “cold” symptoms.  They hung out in the realm of what I experience every May with allergies.  Except worse.  My allergy meds didn’t even touch these symptoms.  Needless to say, the last half of December became survival mode for me.

Thankfully I had a well-exam scheduled two days after Christmas.  While I was there, I was given a referral for an allergist.  I don’t go see him until February.

But in discussing this with my husband, I had wondered if our tree was causing this reaction.  He thought it was something else in the house, but went with me on my crazy hypothesis.  I mean, it wasn’t the first time we’ve had a live tree, but it was the first time this had happened.  So I can see where he thought me asking if the tree was guilty in my squeaky mouse voice did sound a little crazy.

We left the tree up until New Years Eve.  It gave us enough time to be festive, and see my family, but not feel like the Grinch taking the tree down the day after Christmas.

Wouldn’t you know it, but within hours… yes hours… after tearing down and removing the tree from the house, my symptoms started to clear up.  I was able to speak!  My congestion hung around for a little longer, and two days later I was able to breathe easier.  All that to say… I guess this year will be devoted to spending tons of time at the allergiest and finding out my new triggers.

 

All that craziness aside, I guess it’s a good thing I’ve never been one to figure out all my goals for the new year right before the new year happens.  For me, the end of the year is a time to frantically prepare for Christmas three ways, and to spend as much time with the kids and Hubs while we all have off.  It’s just the schedule I’ve been used to forever now, and it’s pretty hard to get my brain to switch out of that mode, so I work with it.

 

2018 Goals 2017 Review

 

2017 Review

Debt Paid

Throughout 2017, we have paid $15,464.26 in debt.  While it’s not the $23,000 I had hoped to pay, and it’s no where near our best year on debt payments since we started getting serious about our finances, I still think we’ve done a fantastic job.

If you remember back at the beginning of the year, I was fairly certain we wouldn’t make that amount since we were still unsure of what our income changes would be, and what our out of pocket portions on medical expenses would be.  Given that we had a really weird year medically, with two cases of Lyme’s disease between Hubs and Monkey, a prolonged Lyme’s preventative treatment for Lady Bug, along with some blood work, a few UrgiCenter visits for possible fractured fingers, and paying nearly $550 for Monkey’s methoacholine challenge… the fact that we were able to pay it all out of pocket and not add it to our debt makes me very happy.

When I look back on the year, we were able to achieve:

    • pay $3,481.49 medical expenses out of pocket — or in other words, did not add it to debt
    • saved $7,800 for birthdays, Christmas, and bills that don’t occur monthly — this by far is our best year in preparing ourselves for these types of expenses
    • started implementing a cash envelope system
    • cash flowed spring & fall soccer for all three kids
    • cash flowed a family camping trip to Hershey

Since we started getting serious about reducing our debt in 2014, we’ve paid off seven accounts and $81,544.28 in debt!

December 2017 Debt Update

Cash Flowed Activities

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to cash flow soccer and a camping trip as a family.  I know most people will say to hunker down and pay down debt as fast as you can, and while I do agree with that, our student loan debt isn’t something that will paid off within two years.

Before the changes to our medical expenses this year, we were on track to get all debt, except our mortgage, paid off within 8 years.  In 8 years, my oldest will be 20, and the youngest will be 13.  I want them to have memories of spending time as a family and taking family vacations, not memories of doing absolutely nothing beyond being hermits at home because we were focused on throwing all our money to Nelnet.

But now that our medical expenses have become more… well, expensive… I want the kids to be able to say that they went on a family vacation over the summer, even if it was a vacation on a budget.

This past summer we took a trip to Hershey.  It’s far enough away to be considered a vacation, yet it’s close enough that we’re not stuck in the car for more than a day.  While we were on our trip, I had a major sinus infection, Lady Bug had just finished her round of antibiotics for Lyme, and Hubs was showing some major illness symptoms, which later turned out to be Lyme.

Even through all that, our kids remember the fun they had, and have already been plotting what rides they’re going to go on, keep checking their height to see if they’re tall enough, and are thinking through what other places they want to go while we’re there.  They even ask to count the cash we have in the envelope while we stash the money aside each week.

As long as we are cash flowing activities and sticking to a specific budget for all activities, I don’t mind taking a detour on this.  While it may not be paying debt off the fastest that we can, it’s also teaching our kids to budget and be intentional with their money.

 

Garden

Last year my goal was to take it easy in the garden.  I can say with absolute certainty that it’s exactly what I did.  I can also say with the same amount of confidence that I felt like such a slacker!

The reason I didn’t want to go crazy on the garden is that I wanted to relax a bit, go through and use up what we had on hand, and basically make sure I didn’t have any major asthma issues by the end of summer/beginning of fall.  While I didn’t send myself into asthmatic stasis like I did two years ago, I did still get sick during our apple processing season.

 

My break came at a decent time.  We had some pretty weird weather that rocked our growing season.  Our of 32 pepper plants, I didn’t get a darn pepper.  Not one!  I also had issues with tomatoes.

 

2018 Goals

Debt

This year I am not going to set an amount I want to pay on debt because, surprise surprise, our income in changing yet again.  Instead, this year I want to aim for finishing off my credit card.  That’s the last of our consumer debt, and is the last debt in our way before paying off student loans.

As for our income changes, our health insurance coverage is staying the same this time, but the deductions coming out of Hubs’ check are doubling the current rate while the deductible remains at it’s new higher level.

Another change to our income comes in the form of removing a deduction.  For the last 5 years, Hubs has had $15 taken out of every paycheck for the company truck that he drives.  The company is now making employees responsible for personal miles driven on the vehicle, and driving to and from the office each day is considered personal mileage.  The only time it’s not personal mileage is if he’s driving from the house to a job site.

Then at the end of 2018, one of Hubs’ paychecks will have the amount he’s being “taxed” for personal use of his truck deducted from his paycheck.  This could mean a really shitty check on our end because we live 20 miles one way from the office.

 

Savings

Savings is something that has single-handedly helped our budget for the better.  And, income changes aside, it has also brought our debt repayment down a little.  But saving a little money each week, and keeping track on my 52 week savings tracker, has helped our budget immensely.  The money is already there and I don’t need to come up with it on the spot.

52 Week Savings Tracker

This year, we’ll still be setting aside money each week for our gifting account, and our main savings account.  Our gifting account is what I take money for birthdays, Christmas, any kids’ birthday parties we were invited to, as well as for Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners.

Our main savings account I treat as a lump sum savings for car repairs, non-monthly bills, prescriptions, and any medical/dental/vision out of pocket expenses we have.

As I mentioned before, I’m also starting a savings account to make up for Hubs’ truck deduction being taken annually rather than weekly.  To account for this change, I’m setting aside the $15 per week that they’re no longer taking out.  This way when his vehicle usage is deducted from his check, that money will make up for the difference in his income.  Since I’m unsure on mileage rates, we may have a surplus of money by the end of 2018.  If that’s the case, it’ll go to debt.  If I’ve under saved, I’ll pull the remainder from the month’s budget.  Either way, we’ll have to readjust that sinking fund as needed for 2019.

I’m also going to continue a savings account from 2017, and that is for having our septic tank pumped in June.  As of this posting, I have $100 set aside already; only $200 more to go.

The last thing I’m saving for will be the back to school rush, but that’s further down in it’s separate category.

 

 

Continue Using Our Cash Envelopes

Midway through 2017, I started using cash in an experiment to see if it helped us spend less money while we’re out.  At first, it was a bit of a struggle, because I had to be on top of how much I was spending and how much was left.  Thankfully I also had the kids with me when I started, and they would help add up what we were spending, and honestly didn’t ask as much for us to buy things.  They knew we were walking in the store with a specific amount, and we had to stick to it.

Cash Envelopes

Since starting cash envleopes, I’ve fine tuned what my categories are that I take out, as well as how much I take out each week.  In 2018, I’m planning on keeping up with this system, and continuing to fine tune it as I go along.

 

Cash Flow Activities

This spring, all three kids are planning on playing soccer again.  Since our spring registration comes out of the money we paid in the fall, I don’t have to worry about it for now, but I will start saving for the fall when signups come again.

As for any other activities that they want to be in, we’re getting to the point now that their interests are shifting to other sports and activities, but I’m personally limiting them to no more than one activity that is not school related.  This will not only help our budget, but it will also help my sanity by limiting how much overlapping I’ve got between their schedules.

 

Cash Flow Back To School

The beginning of our school year brought some major expenses that I hadn’t expected this year.  With all my kids in school now, I knew there were some expenses that remain the same year to year to year.  These include backpacks, replacement lunch pails, etc etc etc.  I had purposely started shopping in March to help keep our costs down and end our shopping early, and that didn’t happen.

What I wasn’t expecting is that even though their district had a much later than normal start, and every chance in the world to be prepared for the start of the school year, it simply didn’t happen.  Reconstruction on one of the buildings was behind schedule, and not finished despite our late start.  Malware had attacked the school system making it impossible for student schedules to be ready in time, or parents to be aware of what the required supply lists were.  They had even gone through and massively changed up the bus routes this year, thinking it would help reduce expenses, but wound up creating even more confusion.

I was sent on a wild goose chase for the first month of school for items that were considered necessary, like a specific calculator for Bookworm’s prealgebra class, a planner for Bookworm since the agendas the school had printed had errors and the reorders didn’t arrive in time.  We were waiting on busses that were routinely late with the new schedules, and were still going through scheduling changes for the first month.  I felt like everyone was literally flying by the seat of their pants for the first few weeks this year.

To help make up for some of the extra costs we experienced this year, I wound up having to reduce our debt payment in the late summer and early fall.

So this year, I will be setting aside $500, roughly what I spend on all three between required supplies, required classroom donations and last minute supply runs.  Since construction on the high school is finally done, I’m anticipating their school year to start normal time, in August this year, giving me 32 weeks to set aside $500.  This is can easily be achieved by setting aside $15 per week, or $30 every other week, and will save me from dipping into our monthly budget to cover the costs of any supplies that are needed for their school supplies.

 

Continued Organization

This was one of my goals for 2017, and it’s still a goal for 2018.  I think that in general it’s a good idea to be organized, and while I’m not expecting my house to have the same organizational flow as the dewey decimal system at the library, I do expect things to in our hosue to have a purpose and a use.

In the last year I’ve gotten better at keeping up with their extracurricular activities, and what is due when, but my system only works as good as it can.  There are days I don’t hear a peep from the kids as far as things they need for school, and next thing you know they’re reminding me the week of a big event in the true “oh yeah mom, by the way” fashion.

Last year, even up to the very end of the year, we did a phenomenal job at only bringing in things that have a use and are necessary.  This year I want to continue on with that.  While I don’t expect my house to be the epitome of minimalism, I do want everything in our house to have a purpose and a place.

 

Garden

This year I want to get back into some massive gardening.  I also want to get better at growing for fresh use rather than mainly for preserving.  I’m hoping that after visiting the allergiest in February, I’ll have somewhat of an idea what my new triggers are, and can get some better management into the later summer and early fall.

I also want to continue with the modified SFG planting we went back to last year.  While we had a really weird growing season weather wise, I know that if the weather cooperates with me, we’ll have another awesome harvest year.

As far as individual goals for our garden, rather than overall, this year I want to:

  • thin out our strawberry plants
  • transplant raspberry plants to the new best Hubs built last year
  • tend to the pollinator garden Hubs created around our fence perimeter
  • get better at, and stick to, a watering and fertilizing schedule
  • utelize our rabbit for her fertilizing capabilities

 

How I Plan On Staying On Top Of My 2018 Goals

After coming out of my allergy-induced brain fog, I set up my planner system for 2018 {post coming next week on my system}.  I’ve got a few different things going, but I am the type that needs things compartmentalized.  If I have everything in one place, it gets too cluttered for my brain to handle.  And this system has worked for me over the last 4 months, so that’s definitely got to count for something.  Right?

Besides writing all my goals out in my planner, and breaking some of them down into weekly increments, I would love to do quarterly check-ins.  Some things, like the garden, may be better broken down into monthly since we have a short, and busy, growing season.

 

What are some of your 2018 goals?  How do you intend to stay on track with them throughout the year?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Related Posts

  • July 15, 2020 Budget With MeJuly 15, 2020 Budget With Me
  • November Meal PlanNovember Meal Plan
  • 40+ Financial Habits To Develop40+ Financial Habits To Develop
  • Debt Free Progress: December 2015Debt Free Progress: December 2015
  • Instant Pot Hard Boiled EggsInstant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs
  • December 2017 Debt UpdateDecember 2017 Debt Update
0shares
Previous Post: « Chicken Sammies
Next Post: January 2018 Meal Plan »

Reader Interactions

Want access to our resource library? Sign up for our free email list!

* indicates required

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Post Categories





makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
.⁠
Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#budget #budgeting #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
.⁠
We always try to go with themed days, but some weeks are so hectic the theme is literally "fast". Thankfully that hasn't been the case lately.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#mealplanning #mealplan #budget #budgeting #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#makingcentsmatter #budgets #monthlyincome #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom
March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
.⁠
House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
.⁠
Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
.⁠
Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #savingmoney #payingoffdebt #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #monthlyincome #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom⁠
The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
.⁠
My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
.⁠
Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#parentingteens #parentingtweens #momlife #realife #budget #budgeting #savingmoney #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #makingcentsmatter
A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
.⁠
To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
.⁠
Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
.⁠
It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
.⁠
I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
.⁠
What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
.⁠
Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
.⁠
Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#wisdomteeth #personalfiannce #personalfinancetips #financialgoals #budgeting #budgets #savingsgoals #savings #cashbudget #zerobasedbudget #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #adulting #lifehappens #realife #realbudget #makingcentsmatter
It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
.⁠
Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
.⁠
Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
.⁠
Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
.⁠
How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#realbudget #monthlyincome #monthlybudget #budget #budgetupdate #budgeting #savingmoney #variablecategories #savingmoney #savings #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #cash #financialgoals #personalfinancetips #personalfinance #frugalliving #frugalblogger #budgetblogger #makingcentsmatter
Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
.⁠
What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
.⁠
Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#personalfinance #personalfinancetips #budgeting #budgettips #personalfinancemadeeasy #savingmoney #savings #sinkingfunds #cash #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogess #financialfreedom #makingcentsmatter
Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
.⁠
I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
.⁠
Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
.⁠
#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #budgetcategories #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom #expensetracking #budgetfail
Load More... Follow on Instagram


Copyright

I love it when you share our content! Please keep in mind that all content, images and text on this site are property of Making Cents Matter. Feel free to use no more than two photos on your own site, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Do not crop, edit, or remove any watermarks from any of my images without obtaining written permission from me first. Thank you!

Privacy Policy & Disclosures

MakingCentsMatter is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and other affiliated sites.

You can read more about our privacy policy and disclosures here.

Copyright © 2023 · Captivating Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in