2018 Goals

comicguy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Ok, I am not a big new years resolution person as I have found in the past that after a few weeks or a couple of months they seem to fall by the wayside. That being said I have set a number of goals and hoping that by putting them public it will give me some form of accountability. I know this is a sheer number of things to work on but I am of the mindset this year to tackle them and make progress!!

If other posters would like to post their goals for the year please post them here and then come back for semi/regular updates. Maybe we can be a support group for one another:wave:

I am going to use the SMART Goals method:
  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time bound

Goals for 2018

Financial Goals
Eliminate last 900 dollars of student loans

Increase DRIP stocks value to 5000
1/1 2507

Increase my 403b value to 75,000
1/1 60,000


Increase wife’s 403b value to 50,000
1/1 40,000


Decrease eating out budget to: (1 morning and 1 evening per week + a few special occasions) Currently eating out 4 mornings and 2-3 evenings per week - NO MORE!!!!!

Start bringing lunches to work regularly - no more eating at school cafeteria (food not great and it is 5 dollars for teachers)

Continue saving 50/ week for vacation
1/1 50/50

Cut Discretionary Spending by 20%

Eat out of pantry/freezer for January to use up as much as possible

Not buying any office supplies for personal use (have enough to stock a small business!!)

Life Goals
Declutter 2018 items in 2018

Lose 30 pounds (starting at 300 lbs)

Personal Goals
Read 20 books

Get the upstairs bathroom and spare bedroom fully remodeled (needs to be cleaned/organized, needs estimate, needs contractor start date, needs to be completed)

Start leaving work at work! (cut down conversations about idiot/lazy/incompetent coworkers)
 
Last edited:
Joining in! Happy 2018!

Lots going on this year for us.

My DD turns 18 in March, graduates HS in June and we are moving from WA to MA middle of June. DD will be going to college there and I have a new opportunity for my life as well.

We lost my DH almost 8 years ago and we are ready for our new journeys.

Financial goals:
CC#1 pay off in February
CC#2 huge chunk paid by June - Will re-evaluate remainder after move with new living expenses and job not sure what my $ situation will be at this time.

Thankfully DD is getting great merit awards for the colleges so far and will plan on working on campus as much as she can. Will be looking for scholarships and I should be able to cover remaining costs with $ from my DH life insurance and college savings account. Really want to have her get through college with little debt. She good with saving and knows she needs to do her part. Now she just needs to wait for last two colleges and pick!!

Sell condo
Find new Home

Continue to pay $100 month for our WDW trip at Thanksgiving (belated grad trip gift) airline using points.
$1,500 resort/tickets - $500 paid so far
Save for food/spending $ for WDW
$1,000 - $150.00 gift cards, $400 cash so far.

Continue to save for Christmas trip to Haiti $3,950 (included everything) $950 saved so far.


Personal goals:
Lose 10 more pounds - down 30 since September 2016
Continue to purge items before our move.

Need to get my first 6 month budget put together, get tax stuff together and make my many to-do lists tomorrow.

Good luck and happy 2018!
 
I feel like my finances have settled after an eventful 2017 (my divorce was finalized and I refinanced my house so money was moving in and out of accounts and payments were changing and nothing was normal for a good chunk of the year) so it's time to get cracking on some financial goals. Of course, I still need to fix my tax withholding, and see how the tax changes all play out for my actual take home pay but I think I'm at least in the ballpark. I like the idea of concrete, trackable goals. Trying to be realistic, with a bit of stretch.

So, savings goals for 2018:
  • Average $1000/month in long-term savings. (I'm ok if I use some of this to pay for house projects or other planned large expenditures, just want to shoot for this for my income minus day to day expenses)
  • Put at least $2400 in each kid's 529 accounts
  • Deposit $1000 of found money (interest, swagbucks, windfalls, etc into my vacation savings account--not counting tax refund)
 
I usually don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I have been thinking of some things to work on this year.

I want to make this a visitinf year, even if a visit is just a few days. I want to visit my mother and then father, who live across the country in different states as they are divorced but he is turning 90 and I feel like the window is short. It haunts me often at night that they will slip away before I can say goodbye, or have one last memory. Last we talked on the phone, I could barely understand him, and there are significant signs of memory loss. I want to go see my grandbaby and daughter. They also are out of state. Want to take the kids to go see my in-laws, their other grandparents. All this will cost a bundle, because we live Midwest and everyone is scattered between California, Alaska, PA, NJ, Florida. My mom could travel to see us and wants so we’ll see, we last visited 2 Christmases ago. I’m closer with my mom so there have been many more visits over the years.

Other than this, I would like to lose 20 pounds.

Well, that’s enough to keep me busy this year!
 


I want to read a little more this year. Hoping with the tax cuts to be able to save a lot more money.

I am not going to try and achieve to many goals. I hope to teach DH to be able to try and cook a little more.
 
Sell commercial property.
Finish second rental.
Find and start on third rental.
Eliminate food waste. I bet I throw away a third of our food.
Send lunches with DH every Monday for the week. He likes real food and has his own full sized fridge/freezer.
Break up with Burger King. It’s cheap and convenient and awful for us.
Finish all the small remodeling projects around the house that drives me nuts. The entire place was a gut job, and we are so close to being done.
Lose another 50 pounds.
Get my TA biz going and go on the two carnival cruises I have picked out.
 
Done today:

Packed Christmas dishes for move

Went through my closet (again) and dresser - bagged up for donating

Trashed 3 old plastic serving platters

Went through my wrapping paper box and cleaned out/trashed.
 


Ok, I am not a big new years resolution person as I have found in the past that after a few weeks or a couple of months they seem to fall by the wayside. That being said I have set a number of goals and hoping that by putting them public it will give me some form of accountability. I know this is a sheer number of things to work on but I am of the mindset this year to tackle them and make progress!!

If other posters would like to post their goals for the year please post them here and then come back for semi/regular updates. Maybe we can be a support group for one another:wave:

I am going to use the SMART Goals method:
  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time bound

Goals for 2018

Financial Goals
Eliminate last 900 dollars of student loans

Increase DRIP stocks value to 5000
1/1 2507

Increase my 403b value to 75,000
1/1 60,000


Increase wife’s 403b value to 50,000
1/1 40,000


Decrease eating out budget to: (1 morning and 1 evening per week + a few special occasions) Currently eating out 4 mornings and 2-3 evenings per week - NO MORE!!!!!

Start bringing lunches to work regularly - no more eating at school cafeteria (food not great and it is 5 dollars for teachers)

Continue saving 50/ week for vacation
1/1 50/2600

Cut Discretionary Spending by 20%

Eat out of pantry for January to use up as much as possible

Not buying any office supplies for personal use (have enough to stock a small business!!)

Life Goals
Declutter 2018 items in 2018

Lose 30 pounds (starting at 300 lbs)

Personal Goals
Read 20 books

Get the upstairs bathroom and spare bedroom fully remodeled (needs to be cleaned/organized, needs estimate, needs contractor start date, needs to be completed)

Start leaving work at work! (cut down conversations about idiot/lazy/incompetent coworkers)
I would print this out for a daily reminder.

I am only going to comment on eating out and changing your eating habits. See a dietician or nutritionist to learn to eat healthy. Then pick one day a week to grocery shop and then food prep. If you do not make these changes, you will fall right back to eating out. Good luck, it sure isn't easy.
 
I love the SMART goals method :flower1:

Our goals:

-Pay off H's final student loan
-Sell our townhome (tired of being a landlord, it didn't make sense to sell it at the time, and our tenant's lease is up in May)
-Have H complete his final certification for work (he will have all 4 after this and will be done)
-Turn our guest bedroom into an office/home gym of some kind (right now it has no purpose)
-Save up enough to start renovating our master bathroom by the end of 2018 (needed)
 
I want to make this a visitinf year, even if a visit is just a few days. I want to visit my mother and then father, who live across the country in different states as they are divorced but he is turning 90 and I feel like the window is short. It haunts me often at night that they will slip away before I can say goodbye, or have one last memory. Last we talked on the phone, I could barely understand him, and there are significant signs of memory loss.

One of the things I am most grateful I did was visit both of my parents the summers before their respective deaths. In both cases, no specific risk had been identified at the time of those summer visits but I just felt DD and I should go. We had a great few days in each case.

The next time I would see each of them they were in hospice, and within a few weeks of that, gone.

If you have the gut feeling that it's time to visit, follow it.
 
One of the things I am most grateful I did was visit both of my parents the summers before their respective deaths. In both cases, no specific risk had been identified at the time of those summer visits but I just felt DD and I should go. We had a great few days in each case.

The next time I would see each of them they were in hospice, and within a few weeks of that, gone.

If you have the gut feeling that it's time to visit, follow it.

Yes, I feel like I need to just by feeling. I am planning to do it this year, despite the cost. DH wants to have a week off for the family here from working hard all year and taking a week vacation, but I am also not letting the year slip away without family visits so I am making room in this budget. He feels well no one visits us, but I say we can turn that around and the other set of people say the same thing. So, I am going, and I am also going to see the in-laws with DH.

I wish my parents lived near each other, but they don't, divorced when I was young. I just have to factor in two different trips. Wish they were closer too, need to fly. But yes, I feel the need to.
 
Yes, I feel like I need to just by feeling. I am planning to do it this year, despite the cost. DH wants to have a week off for the family here from working hard all year and taking a week vacation, but I am also not letting the year slip away without family visits so I am making room in this budget. He feels well no one visits us, but I say we can turn that around and the other set of people say the same thing. So, I am going, and I am also going to see the in-laws with DH.

I wish my parents lived near each other, but they don't, divorced when I was young. I just have to factor in two different trips. Wish they were closer too, need to fly. But yes, I feel the need to.

I get you - my parents never divorced, but I lived half a country away from them and cost was always a factor that came into how often I visited - no way to deny it. We would always go at least once a year at Christmas, and in the decade proceeding their deaths had also done some trips together, but I just felt the need to add a visit those last years simply because "I didn't know how long they would be around". I think there is something you just clue into. So in both cases, I found a way to afford it (which honestly meant hitting savings). It was money well spent. The visits were fairly low key, just hanging out around the house with them for a few days, but we had some good laughs and conversation. And they knew they mattered to me.

I won't lie - when I was setting up the trips, I often stopped and wondered if I should be spending the money that way. It seemed like a lot of money for a visit of just a few days (I went for a half week or long weekend due to work constraints). But I'm glad I listened to that gut feeling though and went ahead with the trips. And even if nothing bad had happened so quickly afterwards, I now realize that they would still have been worth it because at their ages and general health, time was short no matter what!
 
Boo, I’ve already screwed up. Burger King is evil lol

But I did get a new client, and I am getting ready to cut baseboards. So I’m moving forward.

How is everyone else doing?
 
Week 1 update:

Goals for 2018

Financial Goals
Eliminate last 900 dollars of student loans

Increase DRIP stocks value to 5000
1/1 2507

Increase my 403b value to 75,000
1/1 60,000


Increase wife’s 403b value to 50,000
1/1 40,000


Decrease eating out budget to: (1 morning and 1 evening per week + a few special occasions) Currently eating out 4 mornings and 2-3 evenings per week - NO MORE!!!!!
1/1 - 1/7 1 breakfast and 1 dinner out

Start bringing lunches to work regularly - no more eating at school cafeteria (food not great and it is 5 dollars for teachers)
1/1 -1/7 Out of the 4 school days this week I was able to bring lunch all 4 days!!

Continue saving 50/ week for vacation
1/1 50/50
1/7 50/100

Cut Discretionary Spending by 20%

Eat out of pantry/freezer for January to use up as much as possible
1/1 - 1/7 used up 15 items from pantry and freezer

Not buying any office supplies for personal use (have enough to stock a small business!!)

Life Goals
Declutter 2018 items in 2018
1/1-1/7 23 items decluttered

Lose 30 pounds (starting at 300 lbs)

Personal Goals
Read 20 books
1/1 - 1/7 Book 1 completed

Get the upstairs bathroom and spare bedroom fully remodeled (needs to be cleaned/organized, needs estimate, needs contractor start date, needs to be completed)

Start leaving work at work! (cut down conversations about idiot/lazy/incompetent coworkers)
 
i'm in. I have several goals this year.

Financial:
1) Finish saving for DH college (he is going back to school to be a dental hygienist and will have to quit work in 2019 so I need to have my ducks in a row and refuse to add debt for this) - 19,000 (already have 5k and should have this done this year thanks to a nice tax refund)

2) Save for bathroom/closet remodel 18,000 (bought a foreclosed house and need this as we can't currently use our shower and our closet has no shelving) - goal is to have this saved by 2019

3) Complete a "no-spend/low-spend" month once a quarter for 2018 - Currently doing this for January

4) Save for a potential cruise.

Personal
1) Lose Weight - First goal is 40 pounds by our Memorial Day vacation.

2) Increase exercise - Get back into my Zumba routine of 4-5 days a week.

3) Clean out / Declutter house
 
I have this on my phone, but perhaps in a public forum I'll be more likely to follow through :)

1) no more McD's for breakfast (it is soo close and easy)
2) eat at home during the week (DH works out of town so he enjoys eating out on weekends when he's home but if I can eat at home during the week it will help)
3) gym 5X week--I was really getting back into in until the flu hit last week
4) less random spending (okay this doesn't conform to the SMART method at all but I know what I mean-not going to Target and coming out with 20 things vice 2; not getting an Amex offer and spending $50 unnecessary to get $10 back).
5) hoping 1, 2, and 3 will assist in getting BMI back to "healthy" window
 
Thanks to a gift from my mom I was able to

Paid off CC#1 $324
Big payment on CC#2 $2,500
Paid half of our remaining balance for WDW trip $500
$300 GC towards spending $ for trip
$200 set aside for trip to Portland next month
$500 towards Haiti trip
Set aside $ for upcoming eye appt and new glasses

Have taken out at least 50 items of donations and couple bags of trash.
3 more areas to declutter and will be done.
 
I haven't planned any of the family trips yet, but I have started the conversation about possibly something over Spring Break. I have to time everything because I only get so many vacation days a year from work, I think I'm sitting at 7 days available at the moment plus what I'll earn over the year need to verify when the next statement came in as I took some time off at home over Christmas as kids were out of school. I like to leave extra days available due to kids and in the event of a family emergency.

Money-wise, still have a few months left to pay for DDs school.

I have only had one Coca Cola since Jan 1st-yeah! And zero pints of Haagen Dazs another yeah. Two of my downfalls. I am making more of a switch to water and added flavoring, and also have some Sprite Zero which I won't overdo anyway since I don't really like it :sad2:

Starbucks-I'm doing good there, by not going! I didn't mention it in my goals, it's not a major problem but over December I was there quite a bit.......
Plus when I am sick or have sinus issues I much prefer a Macchiato or Mocha over home brew coffee because that just makes me sick for some reason when the sinus and migraines get going. I went through a two week streak where I wasn't drinking my coffee at home spurred on from feeling bad, so that had to get worked on. Plus the pumpkin breads, sigh. Easily there would go $8 for a coffee and a bread. Haven't been there yet in January. Have been having coffee at home and making myself oatmeal-especially since cholesterol is an issue I have to keep addressed, I am more happy with myself at the end of the week when I've just had breakfast at home! Also found some Walmart cappuccino pods for the Keurig that really aren't too bad. Anyway cheaper, faster, and healthier to eat at home for breakfast. Bring the Yeti cup to work with cappuccino or coffee and that's good enough to get through the morning.

Decrease eating out budget to: (1 morning and 1 evening per week + a few special occasions) Currently eating out 4 mornings and 2-3 evenings per week - NO MORE!!!!!
1/1 - 1/7 1 breakfast and 1 dinner out

Start bringing lunches to work regularly - no more eating at school cafeteria (food not great and it is 5 dollars for teachers)
1/1 -1/7 Out of the 4 school days this week I was able to bring lunch all 4 days!!

This is pretty good! It is so hard to break the eating out. I agree trying to reduce breakfast out and bring lunches is a definite saver.
 
Just finished 2 hall closets and dresser.

Able to fill up cleaning supplies, trashed couple expired items. Donating 7 items.

Organized water bottles. Yikes how did we get so many. Donating 6 bottles/travel cups.
 

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