Works 4 Me Wednesday: End of Year Re-Evaluations

It's the end of the year. This means so many things at our house. It means celebrating Christ's birth and our salvation. It means saying goodbye to all 2011 calendars in our home. It means a week off of work for me and organizing areas of my home that have been left un-touched for several months now.(Like the bathroom closet and laundry room shelves.) And it means re-evaluating. This is the time of year when my husband and I re-evaluate our budgets and goals. We choose one night for a special budgeting/goal setting date night. We kiss our little ones, read them a story, tuck them in, and head downstairs with our computers, Excel spreadsheets, calculators, dreams and wishes list, and last year's budget sheet.

We usually begin this date with a big bowl of ice cream and some salty snacks. We talk about what worked well during the past year in our budgeting. This past year I know I was proud of us for starting a college fund for both of our children with a set amount to be put into these each month. We were diligent in putting this amount aside each month and our children both now have a nice start to their college savings funds. We then move on to discussing what didn't work so well. After going over budget a few dollars each month in the category of food I know this is an area we will need to make adjustments to by re-allocating some money from another part of the budget.

Using our calculators and spreadsheets we re-allocate money in our budget. We tweak it until we feel that our budget is both realistic and goal-oriented. By goal-oriented I mean, does it allow us room to not only meet our monthly expenses, but also save for goals we've set. Those goals in 2011 included: setting up and contributing monthly to a college fund for each child, bumping up savings to include 6 months worth of income, paying for my husband's vehicle in full, and contributing monthly to my husband's 401K fund. I am happy to report that we met ALL of these goals!

We also keep a wish and dreams list at our house. This list includes home projects, family projects, vacations, and dreams we have for our family. Each year when we're looking at our financial goals and budgets we also sit with this list and cross off any items we finished in the past year and we re-evaluate what is on the list for 2012.

I don't know for 100% what our 2012 financial  or dream and wish goals will look like yet. But if you stay tuned I will share them after the new year....