I love to create goals for myself. I’ve created goals for my websites (number of subscribers, revenue, etc), my health (weight loss, miles walked, etc.), and my finances (debt repayment, emergency fund savings, etc.) Currently, I have a goal of saving $4000 before April 1, 2007 for my children’s Educational Savings Accounts. (The actual long-term goal is to save enough money for my children to attend a public university in Georgia. The short-term goal is the amount, in this case, $4000.) To achieve my goals (both the long-term and short-term goals), I need to create some plans. Again, I need a short-term plan, for the short-term goal, and a long-term plan for the long-term goal. (In reality, the long-term plan is simply a succession of short-term plans, strung together, one after the other, until the long-term goal is achieved.) The absolute keys to good goal creation or plan creation? Do things in the right order and be realistic.
One of the main reasons I was so attracted to Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps was the orderly fashion in which goals are attained. He calls this process the “Baby Steps”. I’ve taken this concept and molded it to fit my own personal situation. So many people try to solve all of their personal finance issues at one time. In the end, very little actual progress is made. Why? A military strategist might call this, “fighting a battle on multiple fronts”. To use another analogy, think of it like a wide-receiver in football. He must catch the ball BEFORE he can run with it. A MUST come BEFORE B. We all want to retire with money, send our children to college, live in nice homes and drive nice cars, but, it is almost impossible to focus on all of those goals SIMULTANEOUSLY. (Sure, we always want to be aware of the “big picture”, much like a receiver must know how much time is left on the clock or where the first down marker is, but we need to be able to FOCUS our energy at a particular point. Above all else, CATCH THE BALL!) Don’t try to master everything at one time. Are you in debt? Focus on paying off your debt. Better yet? Focus on paying off one debt. Even better yet? Focus on paying as much, this month, towards one, particular debt. See how that works? As you focus on A, you get closer and closer to B. Do this over and over, and you will make orderly progress towards all of your financial goals.

What about the second key? Be realistic. If you make $25,000 and have 3 kids, and $30,000 in credit card debt, don’t set a goal of being out of debt in 6 months. At the same time, don’t set a short-term goal of (fully funding my retirement, fully funding children’s college, buying a new car, etc.). On the other hand, if you make $100,000, and have $30,000 in credit card debt, don’t set a goal of being out of debt in 60 months. Set a goal of being out of debt in 6 months! Be realistic. Look at YOUR situation, not someone else’s. Most people are as unrealistic about setting personal finance goals as they are about setting weight loss goals. For a goal to mean anything, it must exist in the realm of possibility. That being said, it is perfectly o.k. to “reach for the stars”. One of my goals for 2007 is to save (in various accounts) SIXTY percent of my gross income. I realized as soon as I created this goal that, while it IS mathematically possible, it will not be easy (in the real world). But, it will remain as my goal, because it is “realistic” in the sense that I CAN achieve it, or come pretty close. It’s o.k. to create goals that require great sacrifice, hard work, and determination. You will shoot yourself in the foot, however, if you create goals that are “impossible” to reach.

So, there you have it. That’s how I create my goals, long- and short-term. Any input or questions? Leave a comment.

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I’m almost finished filing my taxes, and I’m ashamed to admit, I’ll be getting a pretty decent tax refund this year. I’ve suggested (for the better part of 2 years) that people adjust their withholdings so that they will have more money in each paycheck. I adjusted my allowances, but not enough! I could be getting back as much as 2000 dollars! Yikes. (Last year, I got back around 3000 dollars, so at least I’m moving in the right direction.) I’ll file as quickly as I can so that I can put this money to use. Uncle Sam, I want MY money back! (Oh yeah, I’m actually paying a considerable amount of tax. Some people don’t realize just how MUCH money we pay in taxes each year. Everyone likes it when they “get” something from the Government, but few realize the massive amount of taxes we actually pay. Between Social Security, State, Local, Property, Sales, Etc. Taxes… the amount is staggering!)

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Whenever I need to make some extra money, I’ll sell items using eBay. Of course, once I’ve sold an item, I have to ship it to the buyer. I only use USPS to ship items. There are no convenient FedEx or UPS shipping locations available locally. Here are some ways that I save time and money when shipping items.

USPS Calculate Postage page. Simple to use interface. Simply enter package information, origination zip, and destination zip.

Free Priority Shipping Boxes From eBay. Simply go to this page, select the type of boxes you need, and they’ll send them to you for FREE.

Shipping clothing? I sell a lot of children’s clothing, so I go to the local post office and ask for a stack of those “cloth-paper” Priority shipping envelops. I do not use the cardboard envelops. I’m referring to the “bag-like” shipping envelopes that are made of a “cloth-paper”. You know what I’m talking about. They are light, easy to use, and work perfectly for shipping clothing b/c they reduce overall shipping costs.

Shipping books? I use MEDIA MAIL. Media mail is awesome. It is a low-cost shipping method for shipping books and other “media”. Read more here. When using media mail, it’s important to let your buyer know. Media mail is a slower shipping method.

Need boxes? Don’t go buy them! Just drive behind your local grocery store or convenience store, and there will be tons of cardboard boxes, free for the taking. Can’t find any behind the store? Go inside and talk to a manager. They’ll be glad to let you have there old packing boxes. (”Dollar Store” type places are great sources for used boxes.)

Use Paypal? Paypal offers an awesome service. You can pay for and print shipping labels right from your computer. I NEVER go to the post office for postage.

Want to stay home? The post office will come and pick up your package… for FREE. More information can be found here.

Need to know how much something weighs? You don’t need some fancy postal scale. I have a little food scale, which will weigh anything under 5 pounds. I simply use it to weigh my packages. It works like a charm. Mine is digital, but you could even use an old-school analog scale. I always add 1 or 2 ounces to the readout, just to be on the safe side.

Have some tips of your own? Leave comments below…

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I want to say thanks to all of you who have taken advantage of the ING Direct Referral Program. Good luck reaching your savings goals! I’ve added a whole new batch of referrals! Details can be found at my original post:

Open ING Direct Savings Account With $25 Referral Bonus.

I’ve added six more referral links. You get $25, I get $10. We both rock!

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For those of you who use Amazon, but have yet to sign-up for Amazon Prime, you might want to take a look at this offer.

Join Amazon Prime Get $50 Grocery Coupon

Details:

Amazon Prime usually costs $79.00.

If you join via the above link, you will receive a $50.00 Grocery Coupon from Amazon.

Grocery Certificate must be redeemed within one year.

You can apply Grocery Certificate to multiple purchases throughout the year.

Amazon Prime Benefits:

Free Two-Day shipping, no minimum purchase.

$3.99 Overnight shipping, no minimum purchase.

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The above link is an affiliate link.  If you purchase the product mention, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  All proceeds go in my pocket!

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I was researching my state’s income tax rates, and I stumbled upon this very interesting site.  The Tax Foundation is a well organized, easy to navigate, tax information resource.  If you are interested in your state’s income, property, or sales taxes, you can find all of that information at The Tax Foundation.  It looks like they produce a blog and a podcast.  I’ve just discovered this resource and will probably spend some time exploring it.  One interesting article?  The Tax Foundation reports on which Congressional districts pay the highest federal income taxes.  This is a great resource for anyone looking to do research about taxes.

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