Get Your Finances in Line in 2009 Update

Wow, it's been awhile since I did an update! In fact, the last update was in 2008!

The last time I posted on this topic, we were battening down the hatches. I had been laid off from my contract job and my husband was facing reduced hours at work. Our goals at that point were to keep saving at our current level despite the job situations and continue paying off our debt.

I'm happy to report that we were able to keep up those commitments. I have since found a new job and my husband went back to regular hours.

Our 2009 goals are big, but we think we can do it. This year, we want to:

1. Pay off the student loan. As of this writing, we owe $9,942. We think that we can pay it off by October if everything goes well. We've come this far using Dave Ramsey's "Gazelle Intensity" method, and we look forward to seeing it through.

2. We have an emergency fund in place, but we'd like to kick it up a notch. We could live at our current spending level for six months on our savings. We'd like to add to that during this year. We think that adding two more months worth is a reachable goal this year. It would be more but...

3. We need to think about replacing my husband's car. His '89 Honda has served us well, but it is really starting to show its age. We would like to replace it before it completely breaks down. He has been researching and test driving cars. We hope to buy a new to us car for him as soon as the student loan is gone, although we may wait. We keep going back and forth on this one.

4. We want to earn at least $1000 extra on the side this year without sacrificing a lot of time. When we set this goal, it seemed awfully high, but as of this writing we've earned nearly $400 through various side jobs. If we carry on at the rate we're going, I see no reason that we will not meet or exceed this goal.

How are you getting your finances in line in 2009?