Had a good mini vacation visiting family this weekend. Finished up my Christmas shopping. Really hoping my credit cards with Christmas and our recent home expenses will be completely paid off by next week's paycheck. The truck fund is so close, and we still have husband's bonus to decide what to do with. So thinking we will finish that up, and probably finish the Roth as well. No way the animal fund is going to be completed. Which I am okay with since I had the big fence expense this year.

Time to start thinking about next year's goals. I will make another entry soon with details.

Well the bad news is, my Neon blew a tire yesterday while on the way to the doctor. Like the tire exploded, and was smoking...

So I will be buying new tires sooner rather than later.

The good news is, my Cobalt is sold!

My niece is buying it, and she is going to make payments. I am keeping the car until it is paid off, so I told her just pay what she can. She hopes it have it paid off in 3 months. Until then, I still get to drive it and such, so no skin off my nose. Getting payments is better than it just sitting here.

I will be putting all of her payments straight towards the LOC. Want to get that baby paid down!

I just sent $50 to my EF for the first time in months! It feels great!

Money should be arriving by tomorrow from freelancing. So I will be able to pay the car in full on Wednesday!



It feels so good to see some progress finally. I also paid $100 towards the credit card.

Now each of my pay checks will be able to go towards our EF and paying down our LOC. Such good news! Want to get debt to a minimum and savings higher before quitting my job this winter.

Winter is quickly approaching and I'm about to go into full panic mode. There is so much to do to winterize, especially when you have a farm with animals. So I wanted to collect my thoughts, and make a list of what needs done, in order of importance BEFORE the snow and really cold hits.

Things completed

Repair goat house latch
Build new ramp
Clean out barn
Make buck pen
Fill propane tank

Put in storm windows
Put middle on horse shed
Side front of horse shed
Get hay cut and put away
Close in goat house windows
Insulate buck house
Warm solution for Juno
Get straw and put around outside of house
Make kitty bed
Finish living room/dining room archway
Find solution for leaky front door
Clean and check space heaters

Paint sunroom windows
Repair & paint sunroom door
Finish kitchen archway
Indoor goat manger
Move Kuzco in with goats

The mortgage payment finally hit putting us at:

$50,165.68

Whoot!

We are so close to hitting our goal of getting it under $50k. We may even hit it next month!

Going to buy the first part of the fencing materials tonight. I am already anxious about spending that much money, but I know it has to be done, and I am so looking forward to having all that space for my goaties to run.

Now that the trip is over I am not quite sure what I should be throwing my money at... I think it would be best just starting to pay down the LOC, especially since I am going to be adding so much more to it.

My car has 2 monthly payments left after next week, so once that is paid I will probably start contributing a little to my EF again too.

Animal Fund is no big deal. I will add to that after I sell goats, AND pay for the fence. I dont need that money, its just a cushion for vet bills and such. Our personal EF comes first.

My parents are paid in full! Hurray!

I also put back $200 for the next car payment. I will give him $500 next week.

We were denied from the snobby bank for the 2% HELOC. Our credit score was good, but they said we didnt have enough credit history established because we have paid back all our loans too quickly. *eye roll*

Well I am sorry I dont like being in debt...

They offered to refinance my house though? I was like, heck no. If you wont give me a loan for a couple thousand there is no way I am going to give you my business for our mortgage.

I walked right into the other nicer bank, and told our loan officer I wanted a LOC and he said, how much?

They are much nicer to work with, I should have went there in the first place. He approved me on the spot. There is a price to pay though. The interest rate is 6.5%. But its just a LOC not a HELOC so Im not taking away from my equity. And with the small amount we are borrowing, really its only a couple extra dollars a month.

I HATE taking out a loan. But I am also excited to get some much needed projects done on the house.

School is almost done, and then I will start drumming up some freelance jobs to help keep working on our goals. We have been on a stand still for a while now.

I received two of my extra checks.

I deposited them and paid down this months credit card bill. I also send $150 to my animal/goat fund & $250 to my Roth IRA.

I'm getting so close to meeting my Roth IRA goal! Whoot whoot! Only $350 to go. I should be able to knock that out within a couple weeks, or maybe sooner if some of my others checks come in.

If I get all my goals met before the year is out, I have a feeling I might be temped to add more money to my Roth. But we shall see how it plays out.

I am very busy at work right now, and these 3 side jobs are about to kill me. But at least I enjoy it. There is another small side job still being talked about right now as well.

I'm so happy to continue seeing progress on my goals, and our savings grow. It feels good!

First I want to share how I saved $20 yesterday!

Husband bought me a beautiful Carhartt coat for Christmas. But it did not fit quite right. So we went to return it yesterday and get a different one.

Well they were having a 20% off sale on all the coats!

So we were able to return the one he had bought for full price, and buy a new one for 20% off, score!

(I am not too happy about him spending nearly $100 on a coat anyway. But he refused to take it back, and said he got a big bonus and wanted to spoil me.)

Now back to my main point. lol

This year I need to come up with a lot of money that frankly just is not in the budget. So I am going to have to come up with several thousand some how.

I thought I would share some of the ways I plan to make money this year, maybe other people will get some ideas from it.

I breed goats and am expecting at least $2,000 of profit from them. It could be more, but you just never know.

I will be getting between $200 - $400 in grant money back from school.

I will be putting at least $500 from income tax return into savings, but it may be even more. Maybe up to $2,000 depending on how my savers credit works.

I will try to get a couple freelance web design jobs. They bring in $750 for a big job, or $50 for a little job. I hope to do at least 3 this year.

Husband will get another Christmas bonus next year, and some of that will go to savings. No idea how much it will be because it is dependent on the company's profits.

Ebay is always an option, although since we have a new house we really don't have too much extra junk. But I am going to try to dig up a few things.

All these little things add up. Plus it seems like every year extra money is found. Either by gifts, or side jobs, or just whatever.

I am hoping all of this will be enough to meet our goals this year!

So I have already listed my big goals for the 2014 year.
Now I want to share some of my little & personal goals. Not all of my goals have to do with money, but with just life in general.

My little goals are much more likely to change than my big goals, and some are sure to be added later on in the year. But this is what I came up with at the time. They are in no specific order.

1.) 3 new windows. $1,100

We put 2 in last year, 3 this year, and now I need 3 more to finish one corner of the house. The new windows look great, and certainly help with heating and cooling. So I want to get one corner of the house finished.

My parents have generously offered to pay for one of the three as a late Christmas present, but I do not want to count on that too much in case they change their minds or are unable to later on.
The total cost will be right around $1,100 for all three.

2.) Tar porch roof.

We put a new shingle roof on the house last year, but over the porch the slant is too low to shingle and it has tar. It does leak under heavy rain. So that needs to be fixed. I would love to talk to a professional to see if we can shingle it somehow. It's ugly as heck. But I'd be okay with just re taring it if we have to. No clue on cost.

3.) Put in a garden & more landscaping.

Last year and this year was mostly focused on the inside of the house. So we didn't do any gardening, and we only put in one landscape box and a couple little plants. This year I want to spend more time working on the outside of the house, and the yard. I also want to plant a garden, even if it is small. Husband has pet turtles and they eat a LOT of fresh vegetables and fruits that are expensive. So if we could grow some it would save a lot or money.

4.) Decorate the house.

The house has been rebuilt, but it is sooo bland. I want to start adding pictures, decor, rugs, anything to spruce it up.

5.) Spend more time on crafts & hobbies & books.

I am a workaholic. I also go to school. I am so busy that I meet myself coming and going. I do not get to spend much time doing fun things, or things I enjoy. Most times I am just happy if I can keep the house reasonably clean. This year I want to slow down a little. (as best as I can with my current job) I want to ride my horse, read books, do crafts & house projects that I enjoy.

6.) Put the trim up in the house.

Trim is really the last big project left to do inside the house at the current time. We have none of it up, and our house looks unfinished.

It is almost the end of the year!

Yikes! It is time to start thinking about next years goals.

My mind is filled with things we need and want. I know I have lots of little goals, that I will go over later, but I have narrowed a list down to 4 things that are my BIG goals for 2014.

1.) I want to put at LEAST $2,000 in a Roth IRA.

I am anxious to get started with our retirement savings. $2,000 seems so small, but at least it is a start.

2.) I want to get my EF to $4,500.

That is 3 months worth of bills, and I think that is a suitable number for us. Although some people need more, we have no outstanding debts, and we both have steady jobs. We will have $1,500 by Jan. so that means I need to come up with $3,000 more.

3.) $3,000 in Animal Fund.

This is a hard one. I have a goat breeding business that has taken a long time to take off. But we are to the point now, that cost is lower and profits are higher. I had to move my herd to my new house when I got married, leaving behind the thousands of dollars worth of fence that I had purchased over the years.

Last year I paid with savings to have two small fences put up, and a shelter so I could get my horse and herd moved. While they are safe, and the pen does work. They are in a small area, and not as healthy or happy.

I have a large pasture that is waiting to be fenced off so they can roam. I will do half at a time, and it is going to cost at least $2,000 for the first half. I would like to get that done ASAP.

I also need about $1,000 in reserve, that should cover all care and feed costs for the year.

I am expecting a lowball estimate of $2,000 of profit from goat sales this year. So that means I will still need to come up with another $1,000 out of the budget.

4.) Pay down Mortgage to below $50,000.

We are planning on refinancing sometime next year or early 2015. I need to build more equity in our home, so we can take out a future HELOC for remodeling. So I am setting a goal of getting the mortgage below $50,000 by the end of the year. Thats about $1,170 away. So it is possible that it will decrease that much with just normal payments. Lower would be even better of course.

That means I need to come up with a total of $9,170 extra this year to meet our BIG goals.

As I said there is a lot more little goals along the way though. And currently we can only save between $200 - $300 a month. So there is a lot of money that will have to be found to meet all these goals.