New Year, Clean Slate

Seriously 2021, please, please, be kind.

Now that the calendar has officially flipped over, it’s time to see how I did with the goals I set for myself at the beginning of 2020 and set some new benchmarks for the new year.

And in typical fashion, things didn’t go as planned.

In case you don’t remember, my 2020 goals were:

1) Get renovation related debt below $5,000. Hm. Ok, so kind of? This one is tricky. The problem is my renovation debt kept ballooning on me so I ultimately decided to refinance my mortgage for a lower rate and combine it all. So not really, but maybe I should get some credit here because I was making good progress when I stopped keeping track of this because the number wasn’t realistic anymore? No? Fine, that’s not how it works. First failed goal.

2) Accumulate savings of $3,000. This one I actually followed through on! As of yesterday, I had $3,500 smackaroos saved amongst my savings and investment account. I’ll be honest, I did so well in this category because I bought some stock right when the pandemic first hit and things plummeted. 

3) Pay off that pesky smaller student loan. So technically I did do this. I paid off my smallest student loan and I paid it off a few years early. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I added more student loan debt along the way. The upside here is that I really think I’m done with student loans (I know I’ve said that in the past but this time I really mean it!)

4) Get my total debt balances below $160,000. Ha! My grand total is currently dangerously close to $185,000. Things didn’t work out the way I had imagined here and my renovation overages certainly didn’t help. But I think I should be on the right track now. But still, this one was a massive failure.

Well, that’s depressing. At least I met my savings goal.

But since I know what went wrong this year, I’m hoping I can learn from my mistakes and meet my goals for this upcoming year.

Again I’m trying to find the balance between pushing myself and setting realistic goals. It’s not easy. After two years of failure I really want to see some results.

Now for the unveiling! Here’s my 2021 list:

1) Accumulate savings of $4,500. Adding $1,000 to my savings might be a little lofty. But I did just that in 2020. I don’t think that capital gains will help me as much this year but it’s time I actually start actively saving.

2) Get my most recent student loan under $1,000. The loan I took out for the Fall semester is hovering around $2,300 right now. I’d like to get it to under $1,000 before the end of the year. 

4) Get my total debt balances below $175,000. I’m not happy that my debt balances are north of $180,000. Paying off nearly $10,000 in debt this year will be a challenge but I’m up for it. I’d really like to see some real progress.

That’s a wrap folks. Another year and another blah attempt at meeting my goals. Hopefully next year I’m writing a much happier version of this post.

But that’s the good thing about the New Year, the slate is clean. There’s another chance to make good on promises.

How’d you do with your 2020 goals? Did the pandemic throw a wrench in your plans? Have you set new goals for 2021? Tell me about them!

Happy New Year!!