In 2009 we set financial goals for ourselves! This was the first year of our marriage that we wrote specific financial goals that we wanted to accomplish for the year. After setting the goals and achieving great financial progress we are happy that we took the time to give ourselves some financial direction for 2009!

On January 6, 2009 I posted our financial goals and today I’m happy to give an update on what we have accomplished in 2009!

1. Save 3 months living expenses by December 31. In July we reached this goal and had our 3 months of living expenses in our emergency fund! What a great feeling to accomplish this goal and we were very proud of the fact that it was achieved 5 months early!

2. Pay $3,000 towards our “small loan”. In March we reached this goal and in June we paid off the entire loan! We plan to never have any debt besides our home from this point forward!!

3. Make an extra principal payment every month. We set this goal to begin paying towards the loan but in January we decided to follow Dave Ramsey’s baby steps and pay off debt and fully fund the emergency fund before paying extra on our home! In July we began paying extra on our principal! We have made extra payments each month since then and are currently on track to have it paid off in 15 years (hopefully less!)

4. Keep all Miscellaneous spending (Medicine, Toiletries, Clothing, Gifts, Everything but food) under $100 a month. We set this goal initially in 2009 and have accomplished it but with a little change! In an effort to be able to apply more money towards debt and our emergency fund we actually cut our miscellaneous spending down to $75 a month! I am happy to say that we have been able to stick with this budget all year! It’s not always been easy but we only purchase the necessities and have almost no frivolous spending which I have absolutely no regrets about!!

5. Sell $500 worth of stuff from around our home by July 31. We failed on this goal! We were $221.54 short of it! We’ve listed stuff on Craigslist and had interest but had several buyers fall through! I also got tired of looking at some of the clutter and just went ahead an donated a lot of stuff to our church youth yardsale/Goodwill so I wouldn’t have to see it anymore! We are going to continue to try to sell some larger items that we no longer use from around our home in an effort to declutter and bring in a little extra cash!

As I’m reflecting on our goals for the year and realizing how much we have accomplished, I can honestly say I have no clue how it was done! Honestly the math just doesn’t add up but it’s amazing how God blesses us and has allowed us to do so much with so little.