Well, it's March so I figured it was time to give you an update on my financial goals for 2018. Back in late December, I shared three areas where we wanted/needed to start saving money. A few things have changed, but for the most part, I've given it my best effort.
Goal #1: Save up "cash money" for a new mattress. My goal was to save $3500 by the end of June. I haven't even begun to save for this mattress. Want to know why? We found out in January that we are expecting baby #2 and now our needs are hitting the back burner. We will be doing some things to our home to make room for baby and paying towards various medical bills over the next 6 months, so the mattress will just have to wait! The only kind of mattress we will be buying this year is a crib mattress.
Goal #2: Put away money each month for medical expenses. I have done very good on this goal. When I set up our family budget for 2018, I put a new line item into the spreadsheet and made sure I budgeted $50/month. I've taken Jackson to the doctor a time or two since the new year began. That $50/month has really come in handy and made me feel good about making this goal a priority.
Goal #3: Start saving for Jackson's college fund. Did I mention that there's another baby on the way? Yeah, there's that. Not only do we need to start saving for one college fund, but soon it will be two. I'm trying to save money to pay for labor and delivery costs. After that, I'll probably look back at this goal. That might not make sense to everyone, but for now it makes sense for our family. I don't want our children to be burdened by student loans, so it's most definitely still a goal, just one that I have yet to figure out.
So, I think that if I were to receive a "grade" on this "test" it would be about 33%... not so hot. But, I do have to say that when we set these goals, we didn't know about our little bundle of joy on the way. Had we known, the goals probably would have been different from the get-go. If nothing else, I'm very proud and grateful that I've had that extra $50 a month to pay for visits to the pediatrician.
Did you set any financial goals for the new year? Have you stayed the course or fallen off of the wagon? If it's the latter, don't lose faith. Stand up, dust yourself and jump right back on the horse. There will never be a good or convenient time to start working towards your financial goals. The best time to start is NOW!!!