Its easy during the holidays to let your financial goals slip, but there's always that New Year's Eve to remind us that its time to renew goals and make resolutions for the New Year. I spent the last two weeks with my father across the pond. It gave me a unique perspective to be not only in another country, but also in a fairly poor area. Christmas presents tend to be simpler and the emphasis in on spending time together is more relaxed and enjoyable. Its a great time for self reflection.
For the upcoming year my New Year's Resolutions include:
- Cutting back on the amount of money going out
- Eliminate NSF fees. This is just a stupid fee after all.
- Cut back ATM Withdrawal fees to a maximum $5/month for emergencies only. Better planning and sticking to my budget should eliminate the need to use other bank's ATMs. The only problem I see is while traveling.
- Cut back on meals out. Another area where better planning will help. I need to work on that menu planning thing.
- Pay off Visa #2. This will take a bit of work since my budget is pretty tight right now, but if I make sure that the snowflake money goes to it instead of getting used before it makes it to the bank. This will save about $1,000 in interest fees in the next year.
- Contact credit card companies about lowering interest rates.
- Increase Savings
- Continue putting $25 per paycheck to IRA
- Build Emergency Savings to $1,000
- Create savings for new tires for the car
- Increase Income
- Look for other employment opportunities with additional compensation
- Invest more time in compensation for hobbies (photography, knitting...)
- Look for other income possibilities
I'm sure I'll have other goals throughout the year, but this seems like a good start.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
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