My Focus For February

In order to achieve my 52 goals, I decided to work with focus areas; one theme for one month. Last month, I choose 'Home'. Since that was still a little general, I decided to be a bit more specific for February. My theme for February will be Money. And more specifically:

- Finish 2011 businesswise (Goal 37)

- Earn more extra money to contribute to my saving goals

Wishlist of totals after February:
Mortgage: €3000 (Goal 1)
Emergency Fund: €500 (Goal 6)
Emergency fund joint account: €600 (Goal 51)
Emergency fund business account: €3000 (Goal 52)

- Stick to the groceries budget of €160 a month (Goal 28)

I've also added tickers for Goals 51 and 52 to my goal page, in order to visualise my progress.

What's your plan for February?

2012 - 2016 : My 5 Year Plan

Having goals helps to achieve something. If you never set goals, you are lucky if you get somewhere halfway. While I've created many (52) goals for 2012, I did not really think about the longterm. However, Michelle from Making Sense of Cents inspired me to think about a 5 year plan, and so far, I've come up with this:

2012
• Pay off €10,000 in mortgage debt
• Create a small emergency fund of €1,000
• Build towards an emergency fund of €21,000 (€3,000)
• Focus on renovating and decluttering
• Finish the rest of my 52 goals

2013
• Finish renovating
• Build towards an emergency fund of €21,000 (total €10,000)
• Pay off €11,000 in mortgage debt
• Save €1,500 for retirement

2014
• Pay off €16,000 in mortgage debt
• Complete emergency fund of €21,000
• Save €3,000 for retirement

2015
• Pay off €16,000 in mortgage debt
• Save €5,000 for retirement

2016
• Pay off €16,000 in mortgage debt
• Save €6,000 for retirement

And somewhere along the way:
• Take another great holiday to the US (costs approx. €3,000 per person)
• New car for BFF (costs approx. €8,000 + trade in of old car)
• Get a greenhouse (I've seen a real beauty, but it is €1,100...)
• Work less, earn more

I plan on checking this 5 Year plan every year, so I can adjust it. If we haven't finished renovating in 2014, or finish early, it impacts other financial goals.

Do you have a 5-year plan?

New mortgage payment!!

Usually I don't really like the blue envelopes from the tax collecting office, but this time, they brought good news. I received about €5,000. Had to pay another €1,000, but it still left me with €4,000 extra. So I put €500 in the renovation fund, used €885 for paying my health insurance at once for the entire year (had never done that before, so I also did not save for it. I will save up for it this year) and I put €2,500 towards the mortgage! I had just a little over €400 on the mortgage account, so I had to take about €2,100 from the tax return. What was left, will be used for my retirement.

Or at least be stored in my retirement account, since this was not the final return, and I might have to pay some of it back.

What would you have done with this money?

Making holiday plans

Having expensive holidays does not really help reaching my goals, but I'm really dying to get away. We went to the US a few years ago and it was really great, so we would like to do that again. All-in costs: about €3,000 a person. The last time, we rented a car and drove around. We didn't make reservations beforehand, so we would be as flexible as possible. We spent most money on the car, the flight and some shopping.

So, what should I do: start saving for a holiday and loosen a bit on my other goals? Trying to do both? Any tips/suggestions?

Bye bye pedi's and facial treatments

Usually, I visit the beautician and pedicure once every six weeks. But since I have to make some choices, I've decided to limit that to 2 and 5 times a year. It saves me about €200, which will come in handy, since other things have become more expensive.

Would you skip something like this, or would you try to save money on other things?

Saturday = houseworkday

Since I've started my frugal journey, Saturday has turned into my houseworkday. Since the electricity is cheaper at night and during weekends, I save my laundry until then, bake cakes, and do other things that require electricity. We also use Saturdays for renovating our home. Savings might be tiny, but I like focussing on 'home' for one day. On Sunday's, I prefer doing nothing (well, no work, no mandatory things, etc. I love organizing, reading, etc.), so there's one busy day, followed by a day to relax.

Yesterday, I focussed on:
- Home
- Baking
- Money

For today, my focus will be on:
- Reading a Bible-part (it's been too long)
- Reading blogs + book (latter is for my 52 goals)
- Organizing (also part of the goals, since I want to get rid of some stuff)

What does your weekends look like?

52 Goals for 2012

Why settle for 3 goals, when you can have one for every week? Before you all think I'm some kind of goal-maniac: I am. Sorry. But up until I started blogging, I never really followed through on any of my goals, at least, not if I could help it. Since I started blogging, the support I got made me WANT to achieve my goals. For me, 2012 shows a new beginning. Therefore, I came up with 52 Goals for 2012, one for every week. Some can be done in a few minutes, for others I'll need the entire year.

I was so keen to start, that I finished some of the goals already last month. However, there is still a lot to do. I'll write more about my plan of action (which is quite solid this time! I think.) in the next few days.

What are your goals for this year? And what is your plan of action?

Replace goals with focus

Instead of focussing on separate goals, I want to try a new approach this year. Usually, I set a number of goals, I reach them (or not), and nothing really changes. Since that would indicate that my list of goals only gets longer, without ever seeing real progress, I decided to find myself a new approach. And what day is better to start with this, than the first of January?

This year, instead of fixed goals, I will find a theme or focus for every month. I do have a list of 52 goals (which is currently only available in Dutch, but will get here as well), but I am not going to attach those goals to a specific month.

For January, my focus is on HOME.

That means that I will try to stick to the groceries budget as best as possible by cooking from scratch, finding creative ways to deal with leftovers, waste less, enjoy myself at home, declutter and do some minor repairs. In order to do this, I will immerse myself in blogs and stories about people who do or have done the same. I have noticed that this keeps me motivated.

If my focus stays on HOME the entire month, I will probably have accumulated some money for paying off the mortgage and the emergency fund, read some books, found nice and cheap ways to entertain myself and taken important steps to make our house a home, which means I may be able to strike off about 5 or 6 goals. Not bad, for a first month!

What do you prefer: using a goal or focus? And why?

Get your money straight in 2012

Financially, 2012 will be a tough year. That means that it is extra important to get your money straight that year. As far as I'm concerned, it is even my New Year's Resolution. I want to:

- build an emergency fund (as we have one now of approximately 1 day)
- pay off a small part of the mortgage
- accumulate more savings on my business account, so I can pay my salary for a few months, even if I earn nothing at all

If you also want to get your money straight in 2012, here are some tips:

1. Start fresh
Even if you feel like you are very frugal and don't have anything to save, there are probably still some things you can save money on. Create a budget and stick to it. And review the budget every month; if you can make do with less, do it.

2. Start now
You might think it is too late or too soon to start thinking about your financial future. It is not. Start now, every day wasted makes it harder in the end.

3. Make more money
Try to earn money by blogging, take on extra shifts, rent out a room in your house: try to earn more and spend less, so there is more money to accomplish your financial goals!

What are your (financial) plans for 2012?