Goals for 2014

strandedinaber

These are great - thanks for posting the thread! Mine are (in order of importance):

1) Submit my PhD by end April 2014
2) Become debt free by 1st September 2014
3) Save for irregular expenditures rather than letting them throw off my budget every other month
4) Exercise at least twice a week for 45 minutes
5) Become an ethical consumer - buy local & fair trade wherever possible

yorkie18

Mine are:

Pay off my credit card (mine) and loan (shared with oh)
Be a happier person and try to be less emotional!
Read more
Study and work harder
Travel more

And most importantly for me, build up a good deposit once debts are cleared so that we can go another step up the housing ladder

Vikipollard

1. Save at least £1000 per month between us.
2. Pay the full 10% (£4000) overpayment on our mortgage.
3. Finish the bathroom renovation so it no longer looks like the bad old days in Beirut.
4. If (1) is being achieved, take a holiday abroad for the first time in years!
5. Stop stressing about spending the money saved in (1) to do (2) and (3). It's what's it's for!!!

SpecialBrew_2

'Fat and poor'? Yup. Me too, but I'm fifty in July and want to be wearing a different label by then - 'Slim and solvent' will do quite nicely I've decided that my main aim for next year is to cut excess - looking back over the years I can see that I've wasted tons of time and money that's really only gone on buying or building debts and waistline, not to mention rocky relationships and occasional feelings of inferiority and inadequacy.

Apart from a few wrinkles, somewhere beneath all the evidence of excess I am still much the same person I was before I embarked on a lifetime of spending money I didn't have, eating grub I didn't need and rolling bits of dried plant in paper before sticking it into my face and setting light to it. I'd like 'me' to have been unearthed again before I hit the big Five-Oh.

With that in mind, my major goals for next year are to...

• Quit smoking
• Build a £100 buffer between me and my overdraft in my current account
• Clear my debt and fund our holiday in June (including spending money) without resorting to credit
• Start to build some savings
• Lose six pounds a month until hitting target weight some time in June
• Complete a couple of unfinished software projects that could be making money instead of creating new software projects to add to the Unfinished Software Project List
• Self-publish three short fiction collections before 2015
• Set aside time each week for a family board game, as well as one-on-one chats every week with all my Important People (AKA The Kids )

It's a pretty typical list of 'dreamy January goals to forget by February', but as long as I can focus on cutting excess (including excess excuses!) and making the best use of time and money, there's no real reason why I should not see progress and be ticking them all off by next December

Anouchka

My goals for 2014

Work-related Goals

Try to take a more positive attitude towards my work (at least until I can find something more suitable).
Try not to feel stressed at work.
Reduce the number of hours I do in my main job (agency-type work) and seek/create alternative sources of income.

Financial Goals

Build up a savings pot.
Spend only what is essential during 2014.
Continue with the Make £10 a Day Challenge on here.
Shop smart especially re food, look for reductions/bargains and waste nothing.

Personal Goals

Cultivate friendships and have a social life.
Relax more and have more fun.
Read more books.
Resume learning Spanish.
Weight loss.
Improve fitness.
Continue to volunteer in my local charity shop.
Show gratitude and appreciation.
Be happy with what I have.

If I manage all that, 2014 should be a pretty good year!

tiny_courageous

Putting them down in writing makes them much harder to ignore!

Mine are:
1) Survive on maternity leave without getting into any more debt.
2) following on from that, get the debt down to sub 3k by the end of the year (currently 6k)
3) Lose 2 stone
4) Ebay 10 things a month
5) Only buy things I need
6) Do the £100 on clothes for the year challenge

xJOJOx_2

flamingo747 wrote: »

So basically we're all fat and poor?
(I hope everyone takes this as the joke it's intended to be!)

My goal is too put more weight on! How's that? I'm currently a size 6 and falling, whilst pregnant I got dietbetics and it never left. With the baby not being looking after myself as I should. I look like skin and bone, it's awful xx but I'm def skint x

KT2802

Great idea for a thread. I agree, writing it down makes me feel more like I need to stick to them! I have been thinking a lot today about what my goals are for the next year. My goals are -

1. Seriously start to tackle my debt using the snowballing calculator. By this time next year I want to have paid off all of my store cards and at least 1 of my credit cards. Aiming to reduce my debt by at least 50% (roughly get it to about £7000 or less).

2. Cut up all my cards and not get into anymore debt (starting this from now)

3. Save enough money to go on holiday next year (could be argued that I shouldn't be doing this but I would rather pay back my debts slightly slower and have a holiday)

4. Start to save for a house deposit (same as above but this is also very important to me)

5. Budget properly and save some money each month towards car repairs, presents etc. rather than using credit

6. Similar to above but I also want to give myself a small budget each month for small treats. If I deny myself any treats at all then the urge to splurge will take over I think. In general though, I really want to cut back on clothing and toiletry spends and use this money towards my debt instead. Time to start a new spreadsheet!!

My goals are mainly financial, although I also want to make more time to spend with friends and my partner, plus try and enjoy my job more.

EverTheOptimist

Hi all

Great thread.

I often have goals for the year and they go to pot in the first few weeks, as I guess most peoples do. So I will try harder with these.... They're written down therefore they are real now... I'm also going to have these written down in real life to keep me motivated

Goals for 2014

Pay off credit card - recent addition to my purse, but on 0% for 18 months.
Contribute to my weekly savings account as per challenge
Negotiate part time hours at work
Take little man for a walk in buggy at least 3 times per week
Be better organised with meal planning to stop wasting food.
Be better organised with housework - allocate one room per day on a rolling system
Declutter wardrobes and drawers in bedroom
Lose weight - at least 1 stone
Eat at least 3/5 fruit and veg per day
Reduce my misc spends
Read 4 books
No buying toiletries
Organise photos and albums
Be a nicer person.

debtogo_housetosavefor

Great thread!

I am all for the losing weight too, my goals for 2014 are:

Clear £1900 of debt (on credit cards and overdrafts) Clear £1700 on loan Lose 41lbs Save £1400 with scheme at work Save £2000 for ISA Have a summer holiday Save £20 a month for Christmas 2014

Not a lot to ask for is it?! I hope not.

Good luck everyone!
I will update and add to my signature xx