GgggggOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLL

So goals...they're pretty epic!      

                                       

Our first goals in our budget were actually for Christmas. After our first Christmas with YNAB and the madness that reigns during the season here, we knew Whack-A-Mole'ing the heck out of everything was NOT the best approach. We needed perspective and control! Not just in gift-giving, we love going to concerts and events around that time of year and ... we are *THAT* house on our street. 

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Hi, I'm MissusTea,  I have an addiction  to outdoor Christmas decorations and lights. My husband has actually taken to calling me 'Griswold' at Christmastime.

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I can live with this shortcoming!

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Well, our Christmas category building and the setting of goals was SUPER helpful. It removed all the guesswork and over spending, thus the nerves, guilt and questioning. We were free to shop for Christmas throughout the year and I was free to find some fab vintage blow molds and decorations while exercising my passion for thrifting and garage sale'ing. We divided our Christmas into sub-categories and averaged our expenses and decided upon a monthly goal amount to tuck away into our Christmas fund, to be spent or saved. It looked something like this in October 2018 (there's no redheaded boy emoji yet);

We ended 2018 under budget for Christmas. We stuck to meeting those goal amounts every month of the year, we made purchases over the year, we went to the symphony, Christmas markets, bought all the goodies (oh, marzipan how I love you!), celebrated a beautiful holiday without holding back - without one iota of stress or insecurity.

Since it worked so well, we thought to chuck it out the window this year! Just kidding. This year we're likely spending the holiday season in Australia, maybe Tasmania and New Zealand too. It's a 20+ hour plane ride from where we live. We're going to be celebrating a wedding and making the best possible use of time in a part of the world we never really figured we'd be travelling too! So our beautifully crafted Christmas categories are all tucked away, hidden for the year. As a family we decided, Australia and all its kangaroos have taken control of our Christmas goals - pretty insane gift right!?!. We have 12 months to fund and plan this adventure. We're all pretty down with spending Christmas snuggling a koala, hitting the beach or drinking at The Green Dragon in the Shire.

This is a big goal for a big trip, but it can't override the goals we've been working with all along - we will continue to squirrel away savings for the inevitable new car (Goal is $100/month), we are challenging ourselves to reduce our clothing expenses - with two fast growing kids both already in adult size shoes this could be miraculous,  we will continue to prioritize our retirement savings goal (Goal is 20% of our monthly income), we will continue to keep our monthly grocery money below or at it's goal amount.

Goals provide focus, positive competition, and true success. Whether it's tucking away $5.85 (that's Canadian $) per month to know you've got the next year of your YNAB subscription covered or heading to Middle-Earth for the adventure of a lifetime, goals secure our perspective and priorities!