Financial Goals 2018

I want to hit the ground running on January 1, not carrying forward any 2017 expenses. I need to quickly get the last of my Christmas shopping done, which I use our credit card for to earn points, by December 10th, to close the statement. That gives us a clean slate to start the new year. 2018 will be expensive. While we won't close the books on 2017 for another three weeks, I roughly estimate we will have cash on hand in our fungible money market of $13,000, available for carry forward spending. We still have the car, appliance, home maintenance (not improvement) fund that we'll continue to feed $325 a month, separate from this account. We have funds set aside, not enough yet, but some, for DD2 college. We're increasing that target after she got a look at a Division I school as her first choice, for now. While she may not go there, I'd rather over prepare. 

There's other accounts, not part of the $13K such as DH's from his pre-marriage years and family gifts and small inheritance. I have a smaller separate account. We have a liberal six month emergency fund set aside. If worst case happened, both DH and I were out of income, we would scrape our monthly living expense way down from our current averages, but the fund includes 50% of everything I can think of that we spend in a year, not including targeted items like vacations, Roth, college, and home improvement.

Leaving all other accounts alone, we are starting with a balance of $13,000, cash. Pardon my layout, I can never get the spacing quite right on columns.

Financial goals

1. Fully fund the Roth                                              $13,000
2. Once in a lifetime family vacation                        $12,000
3. College Fund                                                       $12,000
4. College and Show Choir Road Trips                   $  1,500
5. Home Upgrades                                                  $  9,000                                                                                                                           $47,500

Woah, Nelly. that is a steep climb. Even knocking off the $13,000 starting balance, leaves us with $34,500, or on average $2,875 per month. $6,400 is made up with my two, three paycheck months, and the increase take home in November and December when I've maxed my 401K. That brings the typical monthly cash savings target to $2,341. It's a mountain, but doable on paper if DH stays within 10% of his earnings this year. What's life without a few challenges? We need to update our monthly household budget, making reductions in areas that we care less about such as in clothing, entertainment, and household, but keeping spending on things in line with our values. If I can crack the nut on how to bring in a little side cash, that would make our 2018 wants more affordable.

For tracking purposes, I'll share at months end the following:

• Cash savings increase
• Non cash or payments towards goal items
• Balance towards the goal 

As readers may recall, DH is almost all commission, plus various corporate bonus programs throughout the year. We have an up and down cycle of cash flow, borrow from savings to pay big bills, such as the Roth due in April, before we've saved new money. Some things, like the home improvements, cannot be put off any longer. While I can look for the best deals, these are becoming just the requirements of home ownership. Also, unless we have job loss, I am not going to do without the vacation. We have intentionally not done the anniversary party thing, scaling back Christmas and birthdays in our immediate family, and are happy to do so for the next couple years as well. Who else is starting to think about their 2018 fiscal goals?