Why Resolution Re-Evaluation?
It’s the final day of 2018 and the perfect time to discuss and reflect on those resolutions we made back in January and how we’ve fared over the past 12 months. Resolution re-evaluation is a quick way to check on our progress for the year and to easily look forward to creating goals for 2019.
In place of a resolution, Justin and I set a goal for ourselves (in December 2017) to pay off our debt completely. The entire process wasn’t intended to take place over just one year, but we’d set up a schedule with specific debts we planned to have eliminated before entering 2019.
Tip 1: Do you need help putting together your goals for the upcoming year? If so, check out my 5-Day Achieve Your Goals Course (It’s FREE!)
Our Budget Successes
We started the year by really honing in on our budget and inventorying every expense each month. We made decisions to cut items that we didn’t necessarily need and reduced our food budget by quite a bit each month. The savings allowed us to pay off a couple credit cards in those first few months and we haven’t placed any expenses back on those cards since. That’s a huge win for us!
Each month, we’ve managed to stick to our budget, only going over slightly on food a couple of times. As the girls get a little older, I think I will have to readjust the food budget just slightly, because they seem to be consuming a lot more. Either way, we were able to divert funds from our “miscellaneous” buffer category in our budget to cover those additional food expenses.
In August, Justin started a new job (closer to home) which allowed us not only to save on transportation but for him to have an increase in pay. With that, I was able to quit my full-time out of the home job and work on the blog full-time. The transition in income was pretty much even across the board due to Justin’s pay raise and that was a huge win for us in keeping our budget intact.
Another major success involved completing a No Spend Challenge in October. We managed to get our Emergency Fund fully funded AND place some money into a fund for a large purchase we want to make in 2019. It was hard but turned out to be totally worth it in the end!
Budget Curveballs
Of course, no great success comes without at least a few speed bumps along the way.
Emergency Expenses
Our budget faced a lot of curveballs this year, and we effectively wiped out the emergency fund a total of three times for our cat’s major surgery, car repairs that couldn’t wait, and a plumbing issue that would have left us without a kitchen sink. Each time, we carefully looked at our budget and made sure we couldn’t pull the money from another category before tapping into our Emergency Fund.
I am happy to report that each time we’ve drained the emergency fund we have been able to put aside enough money to replace what we removed. (And we didn’t have to use credit cards and accumulate interest on those amounts!)
Budget Squeeze
Additionally, we had a family member move in with us for a good portion of the year and that squeezed our budget in ways we hadn’t anticipated. At times it was tempting to put necessities on the credit cards, just to keep some of our savings intact, but we made smart decisions by staying away from them and have learned a lot from the experience (more on that at a later date!!).
Student Loans
Finally, Justin’s student loan payments came due this past month, so we’ve had to readjust the budget once again to cover the minimum payment of nearly $500 per month. That’s been a hard pill to swallow, but we are continuing to look at cuts we can make to continue to pay down that debt.
Lessons We Learned
Quite honestly, I’ve learned so much this year when it comes to our finances (and goals in general), but I thought I’d share just two of the biggest lessons.
Lesson 1: The reward of budgeting becomes more apparent the longer you do it.
Seriously, budgeting doesn’t start off being something easy to do. As we’ve made changes in our financial situations over the years, it always seems to come with a struggle between what we are used to and what we know we should be doing. The truth is that the longer we budget our money, the more we recognize why a budget is worth it.
This year, thanks to the budget we so carefully planned, we had enough money to cover back to school expenses when the time came, replace a pair of tennis shoes that got destroyed, take an impromptu vacation, and put money into savings each and every month. All these things and so many more would not have been possible without a budget.
Even though we still rely heavily on the monthly income that arrives in our bank account, we are no longer scrambling wondering when payday will be or how we will manage if a check clears before money is deposited. The budget itself has been tailored to address each and every need and sometimes feels like it runs itself.
If you are just starting out in budgeting or tracking your finances, I’d just like to encourage you to hang in there. Give it a year and see how much of a difference the simple act of tracking your expenses makes in the lives of you and your family. I bet it will be a big one!
Lesson 2: What used to be an “emergency” no longer feels that way due to careful planning.
The second major lesson I learned this year was that emergencies don’t feel like emergencies if you have a plan in place to take care of them. We had three “major” emergencies this year that each wiped out our emergency fund.
The beauty is that, when our cat needed emergency surgery, there was no concern about taking her to the vet and having the procedure completed. Did it feel a little frustrating that we had to spend our hard earned (and saved) money? Yes, a bit, and yet it was a relief not to worry about whether we would have to sacrifice her health because we couldn’t afford it.
The same was true about the plumbing and car maintenance issues that arose. It wasn’t fun to pay out the money to cover those expenses, but it was a relief to know that we could and were able to continue on with the rest of our activities for the month despite that “emergency”.
If you don’t have an emergency fund in place just yet, I highly recommend that you take the time to start one. It might not seem like a big deal right now, but when you’ve had one for a while and are able to cover an “emergency situation” with it, you’ll understand exactly what I’m saying about the peace and lack of frustration that comes with having one.
The Final Word on 2018 Resolution Re-Evaluation
While I’d love to say that we were completely successful in meeting all of our debt payoff goals for 2018, it’s just not the truth, and yet we made some great progress. Ultimately, it comes down to knowing that this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, and will continue to take training and focus to get to the finish line.
So, here’s to a year filled with failures, successes, and lessons learned. May we take them with us as we head into 2019, excited to complete this race we started!
Tip: If you are struggling (or have struggled in the past) with your goals and would like a more personal approach, I have a few more openings for Personal or Group Accountability Sessions. Find more information HERE.
