Now Is The Time To Look At Our Finances Past And Future

With the year coming to an end it is a good time to look at our finances. How did we do this year? Did we accomplish our goals and follow our budget? Was it a good year or tough year. For us it was a tough year. We decided to move home to Minnesota.

Good because we are now near the children and grandchildren.
Bad because we lost income and the cost of moving from Texas to Minnesota was costly. Then in September I got sick and ended up in the hospital. I am thankful that we had insurance but we still have hospital/doctor bills to pay off.

Now is also the perfect time to sit down and look at where we want to be this next year. What are our goals and dreams.

This process starts first with looking at our monthly income and monthly expenses.
Our monthly income is fixed with retirement and pensions. Our other income is flexible with our Internet book business. We can only cut our costs so much increasing our income is the only answer.

If you need to increase your income to accomplish your goals there are ways to do this.
You can go to your boss and ask for a raise. Be ready with reasons why you should get this raise.

Maybe you can work over time or get a second job.

Another answer is to find a way to make extra money using a talent or skill you may have. I know some one who is handy with tools and makes bird feeders to sell on the side. We have for years bought and sold books on the Internet. This is where we will have to increase our income this next year.

Another way is to clean and sell the clutter to pay down debt. As debt goes down life gets so much better. I have so much stuff in our home that needs to be sold. Books, vintage paper and just waiting to be sold . Costume jewelry to be sold. I may try and re purpose some of it to sell.

By looking at our expenses we can determine what is important to us. We do not need or want a new car or fancy furniture.

What we would like to do is pay off our used car and my hospital bill. We want to travel and see the beauty around us. We have dreams. What are your dreams? Now is the time to start looking at where we have been and where we want to go next year.

Thanks for stopping by...Grace