1. Pay off house
2. continue to max IRA ((traditional and Roth)
3. Seek more opportunities to contribute to the community (I do a good bit at church now).

1. Build an emergency fund of 6 months (we’re currently at about 2)
2. Work on earning some money on the side.
3. Pay down my student loans (almost 60k)
4. Work towards building a significant nest egg for a down payment

Best of luck to both of us as we work towards our goals.

Without debt, I lose some motivation to save and make moeny ironically.

I also set intermediate fun savings goals for trips and musical gear, etc.

We don’t have any debts but our mortgage, and we’re comfortable with the overpayment we make on that so it’s not going to change. There is a chance he won’t get into the school we want, and we’ll have to put this all off an extra year.

Our plan is dependent on my son starting public school in September and everything else staying the same financially:

1) increase 401k contributions – my partner cut his back to 10% when our son was born 4 years ago and he’s looking forward to bumping it back to 20% this year when our daycare cost disappears.

2) more investment – we dabbled in single-stock picks this year with some bonus money, and I see that expanding every year

3) New house – our house is too big and too old. We need to finish up some home-improvement projects so we can get it on the market when the market picks up, and then either buy a newer, smaller house or (my dream) build one on an empty lot in the neighborhood.

4) less money conflict. We’re still experimenting with different ways to handle cash flow, bank accounts, and investments so we don’t have to struggle so much with each other. We have an agreement to put the emergency fund in a separate account from the “saving to spend on home improvements and other large items” account once we aren’t paying daycare anymore, in hopes it will make these discussions easier.

We give and we travel

Charity for us now is done by volunteering our time. We’re going to start incorporating adding an item or 2 per week to our grocery shopping to donate to a local food pantry. Hopefully overtime we’ll be able to donate cash as well.

1) Eliminate second mortgage debt.

2) Pay off student loans — this is a big topic of debate in the personal finance world. My interest rate is very low (just under 3%) but I make too much for any student loan interest tax deduction. At least FOR ME it feels right to pay it off as my next priority. This plan drives some people crazy who insist that it’s smarter to stretch that low-interest money out as long as possible. I have waffled on this plan many times.

3) Make taxable investments. (This part is somewhat daunting for me and my investing track record to date is poor.)

As for me, one my goals is to try to increase my 401k contributions 1 percentage points a year — but my first priorities are to be debt free and fund my first child’s college. It’s a great idea to make a list and stick with it!

OK, so other than the regular monthly expenses that a family of 5 incurs (utilities, groceries, gas, school supplies, clothing, etc, etc), here’s our list:

#1 – Give to church/charity – it really is the first line on our budget, even before the required monthly bills! And even when hit with a surprise $600 car repair bill, we did not reduce (or even delay) the amount we gave to church/charity.

#2 – Retirement savings – max ‘em out!

#3 – Prepay on mortgage – this is our only debt and our goal is to have this completely paid off before our first daughter goes to college. Then we can help out with college, if needed (on top of what we have already saved and are saving for them).

#4 – the EF is already at 9-12 months of expenses. Whether it’s 9 or 12 mos depends on whether we count stuff like retirement contributions and the extra principal payment on mortgage in our “expense” calculation, and we actually argue as to the appropriate amount that should be in there (I think it should be more, he thinks it’s already more than enough! So we’ve compromised at it’s current level). If it should fall below it’s current level, we would make it a priority to replenish it.

#5 – Vacations/family fun. This is not less important than the previous items, and we already budget a certain amount for this each month/year. But the more we have left over after the bills and the previous 4 items, the more of #5 we can do – like more eating out, movies, or even the last minute trip to Disney we took last year. And that’s important while the kids are still young! (as Suze Orman says “people first!”)

#6 – home repairs/maintenance/remodels. We have a list of repairs/maintenance on our 30 year old home a mile long. Last month we installed new gutters. This month, we get to cross off new windows from the list (And they came in $1000 under budget – yay!). Still on the list: kitchen remodel (but we already bought the new fridge last month), master bath remodel, and various other minor projects (can someone please help me paint? I’m so sick of painting! It was fun at first, but I’m over it now and there is still one kid’s room to go!).

yeah – that’s the big picture anyway..for now We don’t make much, but with God’s help we make it work

1. Fund 401k account – Currently contributing 7%, want to bump this up to 10% this year.
2. Build Emergency Fund – Currently @ 3.7 months, targeting 8-12 months
3. Pay off installment loan – This is our only debt. We’re currently paying extra, but after we build our Emergency Fund to 8 months I think we’re going to throw everything at this debt to pay it off in a couple years.
4. Save for college – Our son is due in May and we plan to start saving via a 529 right away. We won’t be able to put much in early on, but we want to make it automatic right away and also give the grandparents the option to contribute as well.
5. Save for a house – We’d like to purchase a house in the next five years so after we pay off the loan we will direct all of those funds to a house fund.