Financial Goals

Rikki and I are pretty lax when it comes to our budget -- we pretty much buy what we want, when we want. We bought our house about 8 months ago and even with a big chunk going to the mortgage and the added utility bills, we still don't really budget. We bought brand new furniture and appliances, built an awesome deck, made some minor renovations, and started to decorate the place.  We did it all so fast, faster than we anticipated.

Fast forward to today and I'm wondering where all our expendable income went. We're doing fine, but our financial cushion just isn't looking as healthy as it once was. I'm sure that will all change when I go back to work, but it got me thinking about budgeting better and setting the path to our financial and life goals.

Here are some of our financial goals:

1. Be 100% debt free
2. Pay house off early
3. Retire early
4. Buy investment properties
5. Put more in our travel account
6. Invest more in stocks
7. Put more in the kids' college funds
8. Have a bigger emergency fund

Luckily, we're not completely off in these goals. We have at least taken the steps to set up these accounts, but we definitely could do better.  So starting today, we decided that we would be more mindful of our spending. We probably spend $50-$200 a day on random stuff (curse you, Target!) on top of our normal spending of gas, food, groceries, etc.  That seems crazy pants!

So today, I'm proud to report that we spent NOTHING! We'll see if we can keep this up. Stay tuned for the updates!

On a happier note, we took the kids to the park today and they were happy that they climbed the chain ladder.

Daddy pushing the girls on the swings

Olivia is always happy to be at the playground

Alexis celebrating her climb to the top

We had a pretty fun day without spending any money. I think this will be good for us!