Comments on: Why You Should Set Financial Goals

By: Crystal

Crystal — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:15:01 +0000

Great post on setting goals! I just sat down the other day and wrote out mine a little late I know. Seeing things on paper really wakes you up. There is no hiding from it. Setting goals helps to focus on areas that need the most attention and also helps you in planning to achieve your goals.

My 2010 goals.
http://savvymommablog.blogspot.com/2010/02/financial-and-personal-goals-for-2010.html

By: Loren

Loren — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:48:37 +0000

You have inspired me to not only write down my goals, but to start my own blog about our family’s journey on getting out of debt. I am the bookkeeper of the family and when I try to discuss finances with my husband he doesn’t seem interested. He wants us to be debt free, yet he doesn’t want to sit down and discuss budgets and such because I am the one who pays the bills and handles the finances. I’ve started my blog to hold myself accountable and honestly to have someone to “talk” to about our finances – even if I’m simply writing to myself. Thank you for your website, you’ve truly been an inspiration. Congratulations on reaching your goal of saving 100% for a home. That’s really something to be proud of.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:44:19 +0000

For the last few years we’ve been tracking our spending and budgeting, which has been a real eye-opener for us. It’s also good for bonding, for us anyway – we feel like nerds as we look forward to budgeting each month. The most positive thing about all of this is that we’ve both been able to set long-term goals with our savings, which makes it easier to save in the long run.

By: Lynne

Lynne — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:32:04 +0000

Hi Crystal,

I also would like to see the Mr. Linky again this year with everyone’s
financial goals and progress. It’s real encouraging to me when
I read how everyone is doing with their goals.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:16:12 +0000

Thanks Crystal for yet another inspiring post. My husband and I have a very clear present goal, to pay off our debt by May of 2011. He has gotten a small second job and I have gotten a small part-time job (15 hours) to pay off our credit card debt and have an emergency savings account. We are really striving for this and trusting the Lord that it will all be paid off so we will be free to do whatever He calls us to next. Thanks again for sharing, it reinforces what we are currently doing!

By: Domestic Me

Domestic Me — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:37:53 +0000

Thanks for your posts on finances. Your example has inspired both my husband and myself to sit down and look at our finances more closely. We’ve even decided to do the snowball payments recommended by Dave Ramsey and found that we can be debt-free (including our home) in six years.

Thanks to this post specifically, we now have a payment plan on our refrigerator for each month of the next 6 years so we can mark each month off and see where we are, how far we’ve come, and how much farther we have to go. Thank you!

By the way, I have given you an award and it will show on my blog tomorrow morning.

By: Frugal Coupon Living - Ashley

Frugal Coupon Living - Ashley — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:22:02 +0000

Love these posts Crystal. You have encouraged a lot of us to set and work toward achieving financial goals this year. I would love to see a linky too!

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:13:47 +0000

At our current rate, we’ll have our house paid off this spring. I’m curious–what will be your goal once you’ve got the house payment “made”? We need some goals, but I don’t have any ideas what comes next….Dave has lots of advice for the early part of the money map, but what do you do at the end??

By: Anna K.

Anna K. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:10:12 +0000

Congratulations on meeting your financial goal last year! What a wonderful example your family is, and I truly believe we can accomplish what we set out to do. Our goal this year is to get out of debt and start a healthy nest egg so that next year we can save up for a house.

If you knew how much we make as opposed to how much we owe, you’d think we couldn’t do it. But I believe by our hard work and the grace of God, we can. Thanks for the inspiration and best of luck to your family this year.

I love coming to this site.

By: Jessica-MomForHim

Jessica-MomForHim — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:02:51 +0000

My husband and I set our financial goal to finish paying off our mortgage this year, which would make us completely debt-free! (We’ve been here 8 years this summer). It’s a bit of a stretch, but we think we can do it without eliminating our savings (which we need in case hubby’s car dies–it’s on its last legs!). Only by God’s grace, which we don’t deserve.

By: Amara

Amara — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:45:56 +0000

Crystal,

I would LOVE it if you created another yearly series with a linky for others to measure their goals…

Your others were catchy and rhyming, but what rhymes with 10? The Love of Money is a Sin in 2010 doesn’t sound so hot. You probably have a much, much, MUCH better idea.

OH! And I think it would be fun to know YOUR goals now that the big one (the house) has been met.

Your new look here is so lovely, but will you still have your Amazon store?

So many questions.

One more thing…I think you need new outfits when you pose in front of the house that is 100% yours. AND I think the outfits need to match your blog. Just my two cents.

By: Chris from St. Mary's

Chris from St. Mary's — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:29:24 +0000

Setting financial goals has really helped me. I got out of debt right as my mother was diagnosed with cancer and right around that time I found Dave. I got through BS 3 in six months instead of a year, then Mom died. A few months later, the inheritance changed everything for 2009. Between that and the real estate market crashing, I was able to purchase a nice, modest condo with cash this fall and had money to furnish it (I had no furnishings). Now that that’s done and the one-year anniversary of her death has passed, I’m settling down with new financial goals, ones I wouldn’t have dreamed of a year ago. But I need them or else I will only be treading water.

By: The Working Home Keeper

The Working Home Keeper — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:21:35 +0000

My husband and I started making financial goals together when we began working the baby steps of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. Our big goal now is to pay off our mortgage and be completely debt free!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:02:12 +0000

Hi! Thank you for this post. It has inspired me to sit down with the hubby and go over and set some small financial goals, and thanks for making it seem ok if they are small and simple goals, becuase that is about all we can do right now too. I’ll admit, everytime you posted about saving 100% for your home purchase, I was feeling jealousy and regret. We bought our home 3 years ago in CA, before the market had drastically reduced, and it made me wish we would have waited to buy when we had more saved.

By: Jessica Bish

Jessica Bish — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:33:37 +0000

We have set goals for ourselves this year. Within 2 years we would like to have our house paid off and become debt free within 3 years. Once the mortgage is gone – the only thing left are student loans! Yippee!

By: TC

TC — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:57:58 +0000

My husband and I sat down the other day and wrote down our “snowball plan”. It is hanging on the wall!

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:54:29 +0000

Hey! I totally believe in setting goals too! We have set a goal to be debt-free in 9 years. I have been tracking this and if everything goes according to plan we are 8 months ahead of schedule! YEAH! And that is estimating low on some things. Thanks for the tip to break it down. I am going to try this. Thanks!

By: Cristi

Cristi — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:12:37 +0000

I am soooo on it! I am actually doing the program by Darren Hardy (Success Magazine) right now where you Design the Best 10 Years of Your Life! It has been so eye-opening! As I go through it, I see that it definitely gives you a sense of purpose and focus. So often we get sidetracked with things which makes it so easy to get off course! Before you know it, a couple of months or years have past and then you are stuck looking back like “what happened?”!

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:09:02 +0000

It really is amazing how setting up a budget and setting goals help you accomplish the goals you set! It has been an amazing year and a half. And as we start of the new year with new goals and a new budget to help us meet those goals, we are able to do more than we ever dreamed we could!!! I am so anxious for the rest of your story!!!

By: Catherine @ Frugal Homemaker Plus

Catherine @ Frugal Homemaker Plus — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:04:05 +0000

AMEN, Crystal. We have achieved many “impossible” goals by using the steps you outlined. I hope that this is an encouragement to people who feel like they will never reach their financial goals- it can be done!