Financial Shape in 2008

I've been meaning to join this party of MoneySavingMom's, but here we are in July and it's only my first post. Better late than never, right?

Our ultimate financial goad is HUGE. By the end of 2012, we hope to be 100% debt free. Our debts currently include a student loan and our mortgage, but those two debts are big!

As of this writing, we owe $83,053.39 and we want it gone.

We've been told not to pay off our mortgage because of the tax benefits. (We actually did not benefit this year- we itemized and the standard deduction actually ended up being better! Even if that were not true, we will save much more by not paying so much interest than we ever would in tax benefits.)

We've been told that we should be saving for retirement. (We are, and quite aggressively.)

We've been told that it will be impossible for people our age to pay off a house before we are 40. We don't care.

Even if we fall short of our goal of doing all of this by 2012, we will be ahead overall. We've just decided to ignore those who say that say it can't be done. We've done several things in our short five year marriage that "can't be done," so we're not so sure that the impossible, whatever it may be, is really so impossible.

These goals will not be achieved by the end of 2008, unless some previously unknown super rich relative leaves us all their money, but we are making decisions this year that will help us in that ultimate goal! This blog is a testament to those decisions.

Since I'm late to the party, allow me to outline a few of the decisions we've made in 2008 that is helping us meet our goal:

In January, I started keeping track of how much the library saves us. I'm still doing that, and will post on my progress soon. Let's just say that it's saving us a lot. I also challenged my assumptions, which is an exercise I continue to do on a regular basis.

In February, I thought about vet bills. Partly because of this kind of question, we have decided that we are not going to get any more pets while we are paying off our home. We're keeping our current three guinea pigs, rabbits, and dog because we love them so much, but we are done with adding to the menagerie until we can scream that we are debt free al la Dave Ramsey.

In March, we were on vacation, but I reran a piece that I find one of the most relevant parts of frugal living. You have to start with a goal of some sort- why are you saving all that money?

In April, I really enjoyed a series by Debt Free Revolution- she put her 14 year old son on his own grocery budget.

In May, I talked about how I freeze pretty much everything, even stuff that you supposedly can't freeze. I'm such a rebel. :) Doing this has saved me truckloads of cash over time.

In June, I considered work/life balance. This is one of the primary reasons my husband and I strive to get out of debt as soon as possible. We want to be able to say no to any work situation that we are not comfortable with. We only have one life on this Earth, and I don't really want to spend it chained to a desk.

This month, I'm cooking from the freezer as much as I can. You can join me every Thursday to see my creations, other's creations, and even post your own freezer finds!

I'll pop in next month with our debt's grand total. Go here to be inspired by other people who want to be in financial shape in 2008!