Interesting year! We weathered the continual threats of government shutdowns (and absent paycheck for our one-income family), a FEMA insurance fiasco and a new financial struggle just two weeks ago (our HVAC system went kaput, giving us a new BIG debt for the pile). Somehow, I’ve come out of it with renewed energy and excitement about our financial goals. While I was frustrated with the timing of the HVAC thing, because we have a debt payoff plan in place (and on paper), I knew how we’d handle it. It only changes our plan for debt payoff (other than the house) by two months this year; look for more details in my 2012 Financial Goals post later this week.
Here’s the final review of the 2011 Financial Goals I shared with you during the year:
1) Pay off one whole debt {NO}
We’ve ignored this debt all year; since it’s a small amount sitting at 0% interest, we’re ignoring Dave Ramsey’s suggestion to pay it off first and putting our money towards #4 below.
2) Increase our Emergency Fund {NO}
Once we saw there was no government shutdown in December, we sent another large payment to #4 so we could keep on track to pay it off by February. Our emergency fund is quite small now, but we have several thousand and a backup plan in case anything “emergency” happens between now and the debt payoff.
3) Contribute to a retirement plan {NO}
We’re still doing the minimum at my husband’s government plan and will increase this as soon as our debt is gone. This has been pushed off two more months because of the HVAC replacement, so it will be first or second on the list for 2013.
4) Pay down our second mortgage {YES!!}
This has been our BIG GOAL, and we’re still on track to pay it off in February. Once it’s gone, we can re-finance our regular mortgage to a 15-year fixed, dropping the current 7.375% interest rate to 3.5% or so. It will reduce our monthly payment and allow us to put more towards debt payoff. More details later this week.
5) Pay for two family vacations (using the “extra” 2 bi-weekly paychecks) {YES}
Done. And I still don’t regret it. We needed to take a fun trip (Disney) and a family trip (reunion), and since we’ve already explained to the kids that there will be NO vacation in 2012, at least they have their memories of these two trips to enjoy. They know that we can take another vacation once all the debt is paid, and that it will be a big celebration to do so.
I love how you are flexible within reason! Thanks for sharring!
Wow! I think vacations can be really helpful for the whole family. I view the extra biweekly checks as extra, too.
Since your #4 goal should be paid off next month, I think it’s reasonable that you’re ignoring the debt with 0% interest for now. I recently wrote about how I think it’s important to know the expert’s rules before breaking them, and I think you’re doing pretty darn good!