Wednesday, March 24, 2010

How many bones do you need to retire?


So, my people have a bunch of financial goals that they're trying to reach (primary goal, I presume, is to buy a lot of milkbones and toys). My dad is in the military and we're only in our current location until December, so they have decided to be hard chargers and reach as many of their big goals this year as possible. As a result, they have scaled their lifestyle back a bit and are trying to live beneath their means while still having fun. To date, they have gotten rid of cable, gotten rid of their iPhones, and scaled back their cell phone plan. Thank goodness there has not been a drop off in the number of blue toys or rawhides.

Their goals each month are:
1. Stay at or under monthly budget! This one has sometimes been a struggle in the past. They worked really hard to get rid of a lot of their debt and so they are really motivated to stick to this one.
2. Spend no more than $200/month on groceries. This includes household items, toiletries, and baby items (diapers, wipes, etc.).
3. Spend no more than $100/month on dining out.
4. Max out retirement accounts.
5. Pay off 30% of house. My people own a rental house and the mortgage on that is their only debt. They are working to pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible and are trying to make extra principle payments each month. By the end of 2010 they hope to have paid off 30% of what was left on the mortgage as of January 2010. As of right now, they have paid off 1% of it, which means they obviously need to step up their efforts since the year is 1/4 over!

I will be posting an update each month to let you know how many bones they've paid off, how many new toys I've gotten, and where they stand on each goal.

No comments:

Post a Comment