Focus on Finances Check In | A New Financial Challenge

creating new financial goals, focus on finances, realistic financial goals, meredith rines, merelynne

We’ve made it! Half-way through February.  Can you believe it? I really don’t know where 2018 is going.  I swear it was just New Year’s Eve and I was crashing before 1:00 am even with people at our house.  This momma needs her sleep!  

Not too long ago (about 2 weeks, if we’re counting) I introduced you to our this year’s Focus on Finances challenge.  Basically I pick the shortest month to set some hard financial goals for our family.  It’s never easy, but it’s always worth it.

The bottom line is, this year is rough.  We set a pretty big goal for ourselves of saving an additional $500 this month.  So far, we’re not even half-way there.  But that’s okay.  

I am not in panic mode.

Here’s the deal – I get paid at the end of the month (31st) and the middle of the month (16th).  The end of the month paycheck goes towards all of our bills and expenses between the 1st and 16th.  Then the second paycheck covers the remaining part of the month.

The first half of the month is always a bit tight.  That’s when we’re replenishing a lot we’ve ran out of, most of our bills hit during that time and this month we ended up needing to get a few things around the house and for our dogs.  Luckily I created sinking funds for those areas, but I really hate pulling from a savings account when we have the money sitting there.

The next part of the month should be a lot smoother.  I don’t see any big purchases we’ll need to make coming up.  knock on wood.  The only expense I am anticipating is our Amazon subscribe and save order, but this month it’s a smaller order.

I am pretty positive that next part of the month will be good at us reaching our goal or at least coming pretty darn close.

How are you doing on your big goal for this month?  Are you half-way there yet?  What setbacks have you faced?

Let me know in the comments!

Just remember – do not get discouraged if you’re not close to reaching your goal.  This month isn’t about successes and failures.  It’s about pushing ourselves and our budgets to see what small sacrifices we can make every day to help our financial situations.

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Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP®, a budget and financial strategist helping families pay off debt and live the life they've always wanted.