Money, money, money....

My W-2 this year came with the sticker shock of "I've never made this money in all my years of working combined". And then the inevitable question of "Where did it all go?" After some pondering, a good chunk of it went to purchasing two cars, paying for half of a master's degree (We thank Heavenly Father for Steve's talents and scholarshp so we didn't have to pay for all of it), and a caribbean vacation. And another good chunk of it is in our saving's account. So, all in all, we're in good shape, and very happy to be debt free, and very grateful for the generosity of our parents that has helped us to be so.

Anyway, with this pondering and the slight anxiety that comes from the many changes ahead in our life, I thought to myself the following things:

• This may be the last few months of our life that we have so few expenses.
• If we were a little more conscience about it, we could save a lot more than we have been.
• If things fit together perfectly, we may be in a position to purchase a house and take advantage of the tax credit. If that is the case, it would be nice to have a down payment and some left in the savings account.
• If we don't buy a house right away, we could have a nice amount of money to accrue interest on until we do.

So, after discussing it together. We are going to work at our savings habits and step them up quite a bit. We've actually never had a defined savings plan. We just kind of pay the bills and then the rest goes in. The problem is that sometimes we get carried away with the little purchases of eating out here and there or whatever. And in those things we can be much better.

So, I have 5 paychecks left in my working career. For those next paychecks, the goal is to save $1,100 out of each. This leaves us a few hundred out of my paycheck and Steve's income to pay our bills, buy food, etc. I think we should be able to do it pretty easily as long as we are conscious about what we are spending. We really live quite comfortably and don't think much about buying things here and there.

I think this will also help prepare us for life with many more financial obligations. I know many people who are always living from paycheck to paycheck.  I don't ever want to have that burden upon our family. So, I'm writing this down, not to brag about our blessings and financial situation, but to give me some motivation to stick to it and constantly monitor how we're doing.

Here's to saving more and spending less!