Financial Plans for 2011

I'm not going to call these my resolutions. Why? I'm notoriously horrible at keeping New Year's resolutions. And I want these to stick. So I'm psyching myself out by not calling them what they essentially are.

Here is what I want to see happen with our money in 2011.

• Pay down an additional $25,000 in debt. We paid down just under $19,000 last year and that was with some serious boo boos along the way (and yes...we really had that much). I really want to make it happen this year and be so much closer to being completely out of debt by the end of 2011. This will obviously be our main focus for the year.
• Maintain our $1500 starter emergency fund. This is similar to Dave Ramsey's suggestion of $1000, which was where we started, but we added $500 to it because we were given a gift of $500 when Abigail was born. I do not feel right spending "her" money but don't want a wad of cash around the house either. So I put it here.
• Continue tithing 10% each paycheck. This is something that we have been really good at and really bad at through various seasons of our lives. I want it to really stick even through the tough times.
• Gift an additional $200/month toward our Relentless campaign. Our church is moving mountains right now. And after discussion, Chip and I pledged to donate $200/month for two years plus an upfront gift of $200 (for a total of $5000) to our church's current capital campaign. We are basically saying that if God doesn't provide that we aren't obligated. But He will, so we will.
• Side hustle $3000 this year. I know. It really isn't much. But we're starting small and I don't want to totally overdo it. I'll talk more about these thoughts at a later time.

But this is what I've been thinking about. What do you think?

What about you? Do you have a plan for your finances for 2011? You should.

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