Financial Goal Setting

Welcome back! Have you tracked your money? How do you you feel about it?  Are you on track? Or was it terrifying to see how much cash you burn through every day, week, and month? Are you investing anything? How about even just saving something for a rainy day? Do your credit cards and other loans eat up all your extra money?

I hate to be this way, but the easy part is almost over. Today, you get to do one more very fun thing, in fact it is my second favorite thing to do aside from making the last payment on my debts! (We'll get to that soon.) After you set these goals, you will have to decide if you want them bad enough to work for them and what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals.

Which brings us to the next point: today, you need to write down you financial goals. I want you to make S.M.A.R.T. goals:
Specific: be detailed in what you want to happen.
Measurable: you need a way to analyze if you are making good progress towards your goal.
Attainable: goals should be wide ranging, some very easy to reach to keep you positive, some at the very edge of possibility to give you something to work towards.
Relevant: you will only achieve your goals if they mean something to you, and for the purpose of this blog, financially aimed.
Time: again, these need to be wide ranging, short term (1 day- 3 months), mid term (6 months- 1 year), and long term (1 year +) .
Keeping in mind these parameters, use the Financial Goal Worksheet and write those goals down! *I have also attached my original goal sheet, so you have an example!

Happy Goal Setting!

Need help getting started? We will be happy to assist you in any step of your process!
The first call is FREE!

Tracking Your Spending

Too much month left at the end of your money? Eagerly awaiting midnight the day your automatic deposit is supposed to hit? Panic when your paycheck does not hit when it's supposed to? These are all very good signs that your money and more precisely your expenses is running you instead of you managing your money.

There is good news! The process to get back on track, create some savings, and start looking to the future.  The bad news is, while the process itself is simple, the will power it takes to this can be very daunting.  But stick with us here at Household Budgets and we can make this process feel at least a bit easier!  We are going to take the entire process and break it down into very small easy to achieve steps, and if you stick with us, before long, you won't even worry if your check has hit because you are at least a month ahead on your expenses!

How though are we going to accomplish this?  Well by starting at the most important question: WHERE HAS ALL MY MONEY GONE? For the next month we want you to keep EVERY receipt to every thing you purchase.  Do what you would normally do, spend how you would normally spend! See we aren't even asking you to change yet?! BUT at the end of the month you are going to print off  Expense Tracker Worksheet and fill in every expense you had over the course of the month.

You are going to input every single expense AND categorize it.  There can be many categories, but they all fall under three major umbrellas: Mandatory Expenses, Discretionary Expenses, and Frivolous Expenses.  This worksheet will help us design a budget, show us where we can make cuts to spending, and get you started toward your long term goals.  For now all you have to do is fill the worksheet in, it is even up to you to decide what monthly expenses are Mandatory, Discretionary, or Frivolous. It's as easy as that!

Need help getting started? We will be happy to assist you in any step of your process!
The first call is FREE!

About This Blog

This blog will be more than just budgeting.  There will be ways to save on your expenses, how to track your credit score, fun and fresh ways to save money for important things like college or retirement, and for fun things like vacations and toys. 

Why do I have the authority to talk about these things? Because like all the best of the best out there in their respective fields, I have the experience that comes from real life, the school of hard luck, and the ability to say I have never given up on my quest for financial stability and independence.

My goal with this little blog is to share with you all the tips, tricks, and lessons I have learned as I have built and paved my road to financial freedom. Until tomorrow!