Tackling Debt, again.

I'm going to tell you guys something that I'm not too proud to admit. I've had a serious case of the "I Wants" lately. My shopping has been creeping out of control and has been taking focus away from my financial goals. Having a new jacket or shirt or shoes has started to take precedence over my debt payments. Clearly not the direction I want to be heading. I need to get my financial house in order and really focus on implementing action steps in order to reach my goals and attain financial freedom. In order to do that I decided to use an exercise similar to the one Jess from JessLC used to sort through her worries by modifying it just slightly.

There are tons of financial goals swirling around in my head right now including paying off student loans, saving for a wedding, and saving for retirement so I needed to narrow my focus. I chose to limit this exercise to the three most pressing right.

First I wrote out what those three financial goals were. 

Then, I wrote out the dollar amount of the goal (how much I owed or wanted to save) and what I was currently paying towards that goal.

Third, on the back of each card, I established action steps for achieving my goal and a target date for it's completion.

The way I determined my target date was by using the present value, expected future value (0 for my loans) the interest rate, and various payment amounts to derive the number of time periods different payments would achieve. I tried to use payment amounts that were realistic for me and my budget now so I did not take into account any future salary increases or other forms of income. My target dates are set by simply by me doing the minimum. Any extra amounts of money thrown at these goals would result in achieving my goal sooner (major incentive).

Fourth, I put them on the wall next to my desk, a place that makes it impossible to lose sight of them.

  The 5th step now will be to go back every few months and evaluate my progress and set new target dates depending on how well or not so well I'm doing.

That's it. That's how I spent my Saturday morning. I feel better though, more in control than I ever have been. Seeing the numbers written out in front of me and taking the time to do the math and see the results in months on how long it will take me completely kicked the crap out of the "I Wants". I'm totally focused on the prize... zero consumer debt and a healthy emergency fund.