The Importance of Goal Setting

The whole point of starting this blog was so that I would hold myself accountable for the financial decisions that I make. I want to do this to avoid common personal finance pitfalls and to chart my progress toward my goals. I am a goal oriented person by nature and I love making a list and being able to check off task/goals accomplished (I know, I’m a nerd). So chipping away at my debt is the plan. This is not always easy because:

• I like living in style and don’t have a large budget (yet!) to accommodate my taste preferences;
• My loved ones-friends, family (as dear as they are to me) end up costing me money, i.e. family trips, baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays, outings, etc.;
• Like many others in my generation, instant gratification is sometimes much more appealing than the wait and be patient method of purchasing items you want.

So because I know it’s not always easy to achieve goals, here are my short term goals to be accomplished before 2008 ends:

• Save $1000 to go toward my emergency savings;
• Save $1000 to go toward my car fund;
• Pay down at least $2000 of my credit card debt;
• DO NOT take on any other debt of any kind (this means I have to find other ways to finance a graduate degree when I do decide to go back to school…).

There it’s written down, and I will work hard to achieve these goals. I hope to be writing very soon about moving in the positive direction toward these goals.