2016 Budget Goals

Hi!

Have you all been sticking around to see our budget updates for the past year?  Have you now been waiting to hear what our goal is going to be for this next year since I told you it was changing?

Well you are in luck!  Today I will share.  :)

Let's recap a bit, shall we?  Our goal for 2015 was to eliminate as much debt as possible while still living a great life.  I am so happy to say that from February 2015 to January 2016 we were able to pay off/eliminate $65,473!  That is insane!  I am so proud of us!  We sold three cars, a boat, paid off two store credit cards, paid off our ever increasing vet bills for those two love bugs of ours, a personal loan and two credit cards!  I couldn't be more proud of my husband and I for working towards our goal each and every week to come up with this amazing number at the end of just 12 months!

Our budget goals for 2016, March 2016 - March 2017, is to completely eliminate our credit card debt!  Not going to lie to you on this one, we have let the credit card be the last thing we really work on because it is the highest amount of debt.

We are currently sitting at about $14K.  It hurts us to see that number each and every month and because of that, we are making this our main focus.

After getting our W2s in January we realized that we make a pretty penny.  A pretty penny more then we really realized and a pretty penny amount to where we shouldn't feel as broke as we do each and every week.

With that we decided to make paying off this stupid credit card our main focus for the year.  We know that it is going to be tough, but we managed through a tough year of finances last year and we are willing to make the sacrifices to get rid of this last major stresser in our financial lives.

Right now, if you don't include any interest, we are looking at needing to pay over $1000 each and every month for the next 12 months to get rid of this sucker.  That breaks down to, let's just say, $300 each week!  With a baby on the way and a very active toddler already in our house, oh yeah, and two dogs and a husband, we have major expenses that can't take the back burner while we plow out that number.

We have set a plan to use all of Ryan's bonus money and contest money and put it towards the credit card.  We have been very lucky in the past that Ryan has maxed out his contest earnings and bonus earnings each and every time.  If we can continue on that path I don't think we will have any problems reaching our goal.

Another helpful factor in reaching this goal is the fact that we just got our tax return back and just like last year we are using that to help us get ahead.  We have already put aside 4 months of car payments into an account so that when I am on maternity leave (thank you CA for giving us that time paid!) we don't have to worry about that.  I also just got a raise at work that will help increase our income each month which can help go towards these big payments we want to make.

By March 2017 we are hoping that we can have just our house and two car payments.  We want to live the best life possible with our boys and that is possible right now, but it is a little more difficult.  We want them to know financial responsibility all while not having to worry about whether or not we can afford to do certain things.

Wish us luck in this next hefty goal of ours and if you have any advice leave a comment below! :)

Budget Update - January

January's Budget Update will be short and sweet.

We are in the home stretch of our year of budgeting and although we aren't stopping, we are changing goals a bit in the next 12 months.  More on this later, promise.

January was a good month.  Not the best but definitely not the worst either.  We had big payments that we had to come up with in order to meet some deadlines, and luckily, we were able to meet them.

In January we were faced with making our first payment for Ryan's new truck along with my car and although we knew we could handle it, the due dates being 5 days apart was going to be sticky.

Overall, we made it through it all and were able to pay off $3,350!  This was a great month and every penny helps get us closer to our ultimate goal of having little to no debt.

We are working on our last month of this yearly challenge we have had with ourselves and it feels great.  2016's budget goal is focused on less things, but they are big.  Stick around to hear more about those!

Baby Hughes #2 - 24 Week Bumpdate

How far along are you? 24 Weeks.  I can't believe it has been 8 weeks since my last bumpdate!

How I'm feeling: I feeling okay.  I love being pregnant, but this second pregnancy is definitely taking a toll on my back and tailbone more so then Caleb's.

Total weight gain:  I have gained 6 pounds so far this pregnancy.  Up until 20 weeks I hadn't gained any weight, but obviously baby boy is now wanting to pack on some pounds.  My doctor wants me to keep about a 1 pound per week gain at this point.

How big is baby? Baby is size of a cantaloupe today!  

Maternity clothes: Oh yes!  And I am ready for the weather to start getting warmer because I have very few items to wear with this big ol' belly during the cold.

Sleep:  Sleep is getting more difficult.  Baby E lays super low at night and is not liking me on my tummy anymore.  I am trying to sleep on my side mostly but still find myself being woken up out of no where and I assume it is him telling me to change positions :)

Best moment this week: We had an appointment on Tuesday and got to hear his heartbeat again.  He is tumbling up a storm constantly and I love feeling him move around.

Movement: This little boy is not a kicker or a jabber at all like his brother.  This little boy is a tumbler!  All he does is somersaults over and over again.  He is starting to become more active during the day, but he does the majority of his commotion at night when I lay down.  He must know it is bedtime and is trying to get all good and snuggled up. :)

Food cravings: Soda still, but I am trying to be really good about this.  Fruit, give me all the fruit!

Food aversions: I don't really dislike anything more then usual at this point.

Belly button in or out:  Still in but getting more shallow by the day.

What I am thankful for: I am thankful that this baby is still growing big and strong.  I am thankful for a supportive husband who continues to be my rock through the tough emotional moments.

What I'm looking forward to: I am looking forward to seeing our little guy again tomorrow.  We are going back for another anatomy scan to get some more pictures done and as long as I get to see my little boy moving around, I could care less. :)

Budget Update - December

So I know this is far overdue, but better late then never, especially since I can't wait to look back on these someday and see how hard we worked to get ourselves out of debt.

December was bound to be a smaller debt payoff month for us.  We knew that Ryan was going to be missing his regular paychecks for two weeks due to working for the Army.  Then with Christmas approaching, we just knew it wasn't going to be the best month.

Our plan was simple: pay the bills as normal and don't use the credit card or put ourselves in a pinch due to presents.  We managed to keep this going the entire month and did an awesome Christmas without harming our progress that we had made so far.

With Ryan missing those paychecks (we got paid, just not the two weeks before Christmas) I knew that planning would be especially key for this month.  I scheduled things as much as possible and kept up-to-date on our spreadsheet daily!

I am so excited to say that even with these obstacles stated above we still managed to pay off $3,170 this month!

I am so incredibly proud of us!!!

Progress so far:

February 2015: $5,108

March 2015: $2,829

April 2015: $8,673

May 2015: $13,879

June 2015: $3,140

July 2015: $2,829

August 2015: $2,340

September 2015: $2,870

October 2015: $4,845

November 2015: $12,440

December 2015: $3,170

Almost one year done and I am so impressed with what we have been able to accomplish!