Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Despite what you might think about the rash of posts this week, I haven’t had a lot to say. I’ve been ignoring my finances, just trying too keep my head down low and appreciate the silence in the office at work. I’ve been working pretty late into the evening and I appreciate the quiet while I’m coding.

There hasn’t been much scrutiny I’ve placed on my expenses, except the budget review. All I know is that I’m not going to travel as much next year and I’m going to keep fixing my teeth.

Things I’ve planned for next year:

1) Finish the dental work.

2) Take only 2 or 3 flying trips. One to go camping and one to visit family. I reserve the right to take one more trip beyond that, destination unknown. Since I haven’t received any more save the date cards, I think I can get away perhaps with just driving to the one I did get.

3) Fork over my bonus to help my parents put new windows on the house. The windows are drafty and rattle in my old bedroom. The rising price of gas hasn’t been good on the family business.

4) Keep adding to my Emergency Fund. I had ambitions of saving another $4K in it in 2007, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Read the next point to find out why. I hope to add about $2K in 2007.

5) Halve my credit card debt. That means taking it from $18K down to $9K. This represents over 10% of my salary. Coupled with my 10-12% savings in my 401k, the maxed out $5K for Medical FSA, and a little automated savings with every paycheck, I’m saving over 30% of my income. (I consider paying down debt to be a form of saving.)

I don’t have a target net worth number. I am still a neophyte at savings, even in my early 30’s. I’m still curbing my spending habits and questioning why I buy what I am buying. I think my goals reflect that. I’d love to say that I’ve changed my spending habits a lot since starting this blog, but I don’t think so. I consider myself still in the category of a young saver since I’m still trying to jumpstart my savings and move towards maxing out my 401K to a 20% contribution.

I don’t think I’m going to need any new clothing next year except for one or two pairs of more stylish shoes, a new skirt, and perhaps a new stylish party shirt. My friends are probably sick of the shirts I have because I wear them all the time. (I hate looking at party photos. You start realizing you’ve worn the same clothes for the last 3 years. Timelessly fashionable, but eventually you can’t tell which party is which by the clothes you’re wearing.)

After reviewing my budget again, I realize that some of these goals are a little unrealistic. If I am lucky and don’t have an emergency, I’ll be able to save another $2k, but I’ve really kind of screwed myself by saving extra money in my FSA, a necessary evil. I also don’t really think I will be able to halve my credit card balance, but definitely knock it down by quite a bit. Absolute fixed number not yet revealed to me on my spreadsheet pages.

So the question for SingleMa, is did you arrive at your lofty financial goals before or after looking at your budget?