Welcome back to the Crasstalk Money Challenge! If you missed it the first time around, the challenge is essentially Super Squats for personal finances – pick a financial goal or several and tell us how you’re doing.
As with food-related diets, trying to achieve a financial goal can at first seem like depravation. Temptation seems to be everywhere, whether it be clothing, an item of bling, a vacation, or in some people’s cases, kitchen appliances.
Personal finance experts recommend that, similar to food-related diets, you set aside an amount for the occasional treat and reward yourself when you hit a milestone in reaching your goal. Of course, everyone has his or her own way to stick to their plan. For example, every time I get tempted I ask whether the item or experience will be worth it a year from now.
Updates on my goals:
- Pay off the student loan. The federal refund came, so I used most of that as extra payments to the loan in addition to the non-negotiable extra amount per month.
- Apartment fund. Saved up the usual $100 per month.
How are you doing with your financial goals? What do you do to stick to your goals when temptation strikes? Are there any particular issues you’d like to see addressed in future posts?
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