1. Pay Off Car - The Car only has about $8500 left on it, so we should be able to knock this out before May.
2. Pay of Canadian Credit Cards - $4500 left on the RBC Visa, and $16000 left on the MBNA Mastercard. It's being paid off with at least $500 to the Visa and $1000 and MC every month WITHOUT help from J's extra funds, this will be gone before May.
3. Save $5000 - Currently we are at $3600. Although this may be reduced with the purchase of the home. I thought I would stay conservative with the amount, if we do more, yay! If not, I'm happy at $5000 :)
4. Buy House - This is in progress. We are currently under contract for a short sale. The bank has done their BPO appraisal (a 3rd party broker appraisal) and we're waiting to hear the results of it. Hopefully we'll know soon enough if the bank will accept the offer.
5. Have J Involved in Finances - This is a BIG one. J has made mention that he wants to be more informed and involved, but it's hard for him to comprehend a lot of what goes on. When he gets back from Afghanistan, this will be one of the first things that we will discuss. Plus, if anything ever happened to me, I'd at least like for him to know what do to and how to handle it.
6. Eat Out Less - We eat out. A LOT. We need to eat at home more. And I think with a new, bigger kitchen with space to store everything and make nice meals this will be a reality. Especially if we are going to have a larger housing bill.
7. Have a Christmas Budget - I've never done one, but we need one. I'm going to set up a Custom Club account at NFCU for this and have it ready to go for November, so that shopping can be done.
8. Contribute More to 401(k) - J currently contributes 6% (matched by his employer) and I contribute 3% (matched by my employer). I know, I know I should be maxing it out, but I was trying to get as much as I can in my take home pay. Once we have paid of the car and the two Canadian cards, this will be maxed.
9. Blog At Least 3 Times a Week - I've kind of been lacking in this department. I'd really like to get back into it more, and keep you informed of what's going on.
10. Be More Organized! - I am not. At All. With a bigger house, and more room to BE organized, I'm actually looking forward to being able to put things away, and not just stored away, such as books, and my paperwork. Having a bigger desk for our home office. Having a man cave for J's video games and movies, and having a family room, as a family room, etc.
11. Stay Away From CREDIT! - It is so easy to just pull the credit card out and pay with that, even with all of the extra funds coming in. They need to be removed from our wallets and any big purchases need to be budgeted for with the funds available.
12. Start A Family :) - Once we get the house, and J comes home (obviously! :P) this is one of our goals we have been waiting for, once we were able to pay off debt and afford to buy our own home. Since we are so close to this, we want to start a family as soon as possible :)