Goals

I have never been a planner. Ever. The few times I have even thought about trying to put together a plan for the next couple years it seems as though a curse gets thrown on me that makes the exact opposite happen. Take the horror stories of 2009-2010 for instance. Recently, with all of the exciting changes I have started to really try and think out the next 2 years. Financially it is important at this stage of my life. I have plans…big plans. Big plans involve a lot of money and if it were up to Zach we would concur the 3 most costly decisions you can make 1.get married 2.buy a home 3.have a baby all in one year. It took some tough love to show Zach that the chances of that happening are slim…or at least the chance of us being able to afford all that is slim.

I don’t quite think he realized just how much money is spent when you have a child, unfortunately there is no magical insurance that just foots the 15k bill for child birth. When I got pregnant in 2009 I was 19 working less than 25 hours a week and a full time college student. Needless to say parent’s medical insurance doesn’t quite feel like they should have to pay for children’s pregnancies and I ended up on Medicaid. It was an experience that allowed me to walk away without a penny to pay in medical bills. THAT to me was a onetime “oops pass.” It was embarrassing to even have to rely on it while pregnant, but it was that or end the pregnancy because unfortunately it is much cheaper to end a pregnancy than it is to carry out a pregnancy. I would NEVER EVER EVER consider having a second child, a PLANNED second child at that, and have the state Medicaid program pay for it. Not that I would qualify for the program at this stage anyways, but just the thought that parents are out there having multiple children sometimes even planned children and think it is wonderful to have the state pick up the bill is infuriating to me. BUTTTTTT let’s get me off that subject I can already feel my blood boiling.
Priority number one is saving up enough money to have a wedding. A lot of the saving involves paying down my current debt. Between a line of credit that I got qualified for to pay down my credit cards and nasty shopping habit to my school loans I have quite the amount of bills each month. I don’t unfortunately have any rich family members to wipe away my debt or loan me the money to get it wiped away on my credit so it is left up to big girl Ashley to budget. Priority two would be saving up enough to put a down payment on a home. Priority number one or at least the paying down debt part will be critical when it comes to buying a home because my DTI (debt to income) is disgusting. Until I get that paid down a mortgage loan is NOT in my near future. Lastly and after both 1 and 2 have been accomplished we will talk about giving Jocelyn a baby sister or brother. Much to Zach’s dismay unless we win the lottery or inherit a large chunk of money from a long lost relative all three of those will just flat out not happen by 2015.

There is a LOT of money spending in the next couple of years and I would really like to plan for it enough that it doesn't send me into an early grave. It is going to take a LOT of budgeting and a very tight spending plan is going to have to come into the picture and more importantly STAY in the picture. Luckily being a banker I have had lots of practice creating budgeting and savings plans for customers and one of the parts I love most about my job. I am GREAT at helping other people get out of debt and start saving for their life plans…just can’t quite seem to get myself on the same page.

First step is to get all of the monthly bills down on paper. What bills are due, when they are due, and how much is due each pay period. Zach and I get paid within one day of each other and are able to divide the bills up to paying them 2 times a month. That I have already had in an excel spread sheet for some time. We usually have a “big bills paycheck” and a “small bills pay check” (Rent and one car bill is due at the same time each month) the biggest struggle I have is whether to take the extra money and put it towards my credit card and line of credit or stick it in savings. Getting my debt paid down will help with the monthly bills but it will also put me in a situation where a lot of the wedding costs will have to just be put right back onto the line of credit or credit card and sticking all the money in savings lets us build up for the wedding but doesn't do anything to help alleviate the debt problem. There is a solution in the middle if I can stick to it.

The biggest thing that needs to be accomplished is figuring out between paying down debt and putting money into savings HOW MUCH can be saved up for the wedding. Until I can know and be confident in the wedding budget I won’t be able to start making any plans or putting any deposits down.

The idea I give to my customers and the plan I set them up on works. I've seen it work time and time again with my customers. The biggest problem is because it is something I came up with when it comes time to following it myself I tend to try to “change” my plan because well I CAN. Which results in the plan completely getting wiped away.

All the o so fun planning that needs to take place and the strict budget that needs to get put in place will all result in us getting to have the wedding we both want. So it will all be worth it in the end.

Some things I would like to accomplish or at least START in the next 3 years:
· Get married (duh!) July 2014 1 year 3 months away
· Buy our first home before interest rates are projected to go up in 2015
· Ok ok give Jocelyn a baby brother or sister start trying fall/winter 2014
· Enroll back in college even if it’s just 1-2 classes a semester Spring semester 2014
· Force Zach back into College classes spring semester 2014
· Get promoted into management before 2014
· Lose 15 pounds (yes I promise it’s there to lose) next 6-7 months
· Be unsecured debt free (credit cards/Line of credit/student loans)By summer 2015

THATS A LOT OF BUDGETING AND SAVING