It’s the end of June, so it’s time for me to share the progress of our 2012 Financial Goals. I like to share our goals with my readers because it helps me stay accountable (knowing I have to report back motivates me) and I always want you to see that you can do it too. Sit down with your accounts, bills, and partner and make a plan to tackle your debt and dig yourself out of that hole. Then your money will be yours to do with what you choose. For us, that means retirement and education funds (that’s our 2013 goal!), and hopefully a vacation as well. But I’m jumping ahead of myself here! Back to the 2012 plan:

1) Pay off our second mortgage by February 20th. DONE!

Technically it wasn’t the 20th, but it was by March 1st–so I’m letting it count! This is the momentum that pushes the whole debt-free train forward. With this paid off, we are no longer upside-down on our house, so we can refinance (see below). This is where we’ve pushed all our extra money in the last six months, and now it’s done!

2) Refinance our mortgage by the end of March. LATE BUT DONE!

Wow, this took way longer than I thought. We turned all our paperwork in and then waited and waited. We just closed on the new mortgage last Monday, so right now I’m shuffling money around to cover that big check and waiting to get a refund from the current lender of our escrow and taxes, quite a lot to not have in the bank! We’ll get the money back, but it makes things very tight through July. The good news is, we dropped 2% in interest and now have a fixed rate. Whoo hoo!

3) Continue the Debt Payoff towards our three remaining debts and pay off by the end of December. ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO!

We have paid off our HVAC and are now down to a 0% car loan (due June 2013) and the law school student loans. This is where my husband and I differ; I want the psychological high of paying off the car loan (it’s so small) just to have it crossed off the list, but since it doesn’t charge interest, we should pay the student loan first. I need to look at our numbers again once we get our mortgage check back and see how quickly we can pay it all off. Our original goal was by the end of 2012, but the HVAC expense hit us hard.

We continue to celebrate our progress whenever we can. This time, when we paid off the HVAC loan, everyone got to pick out a video game as a treat. It was $50 out of our budget to thank everyone for their hard work and diligence (especially the kids, who have been great about all the “no’s” to entertainment, eating out and other expenses).

How are your 2012 financial goals coming along?

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Why do I share our yearly financial goals with my readers? Two reasons, actually. 1–it helps me stay accountable. Knowing I have to “report” to you makes me stay on schedule and get it done, and I really appreciate the cheerleading and sympathy when you follow along. 2–I want you to see that’s it’s doable. You can set annual financial goals for your family, and you can achieve them!

In January, I shared our specific 2012 Financial Goals, and at the end of each quarter I’ll review our progress and see how you’re doing on your goals. Let’s jump into this quarter’s review:

1) Pay off our second mortgage by February 20th. DONE!

Technically it wasn’t the 20th, but it was by March 1st–so I’m letting it count! This is the momentum that pushes the whole debt-free train forward. With this paid off, we are no longer upside-down on our house, so we can refinance (see below). This is where we’ve pushed all our extra money in the last six months, and now it’s done!

2) Refinance our mortgage by the end of March. ONGOING

Not happening! I was naive and thought you just filled out paperwork and it just “happened.” Ha! Turns out it can take months. But I’ve done the paperwork, am using two different brokers to compare rates and benefits, and our goal is to re-fi and get back about $400-500/month to help complete #3 even faster. With our current mortgage at 6%, we should see decent savings by getting a 3.25-4% interest rate.

 3) Continue the Debt Payoff towards our three remaining debts and pay off by the end of December. ONGOING

Even with my huge calculation error, it looks like we can get this done close to our deadline, barring emergencies of course. I’m just putting my head down and pushing along. We’re using the huge mortgage payment from #1 to pay off these three loans, and when one is paid off, the payments just snowball into towards the next one. At this rate, the HVAC should be paid off by the end of April, then we’ll tackle the student loan. The car loan is at 0%, so it’s last on the list. I explained how we prioritized the debts in this post.

Celebrating our progress has been very motivating. When we paid off that second mortgage, we asked the kids what they wanted to do, and they said “eat at a restaurant!” It was an inexpensive way to thank them for all their encouragement and get them motivated for the next goal. We’re already planning another mini-celebration when the next debt is paid; it’s a way to avoid budget fatigue and keep our spirits up.

How are your 2012 financial goals coming along?

I think Dory’s “Just Keep Swimming” is going to be my motto for 2012. It’s not even the middle of January and I’m already feeling discouraged about our 2012 Financial Goals. Yesterday, I was going over our plan to pay down all of our debt this year and found a huge error. Big. Like $16,000 big. How on earth did I screw up that bad in my calculations? I’m beating myself up for two reasons–one, because I consider myself smart but obviously did not add or subtract correctly–and two, because mentally I’m geared up, ready to be debt-free by the end of the year and this is a huge obstacle.

Right now my mind is reeling with thoughts:

• It’s impossible. Don’t even try. Just stretch it out another 6 or 8 months into 2013. (hate this option)
• You can do this. Just earn $1500 a month and still be done in December. (seems impossible–how to find a job, work while maintaining family life, etc.)
• We need to cut more, and spend even less. (not sure how, plus hubby doesn’t like this option)
• This whole thing is stupid. What’s the point of eating beans & rice and sacrificing if you can’t reach the goal. Just go spend some money and make yourself feel better.

Yesterday I was anxious and frustrated. Today I’m going to get through the rest of my day and try not to worry about it. This weekend we’ll look at it with fresh eyes and come up with a plan.

What do you do when you need to just keep swimming?

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This week, I’m writing all about the fiascos of Verizon, Bank of America and Netflix over at Savings.com. Did you know how much power you have as a consumer? I share four ways I wield my consumer power, and you should too!

 
If you have similar experiences with stores and companies, please share them in the Comments on that post.