this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

BeThisWay from Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of the Time I Know You?  tagged me to come up with five midsummer goals that will help improve my financial situation.  I've thought on this for awhile and can only come up with three.

First off, and I totally don't like making goals that involve socking away a certain amount of money, I'd like to have another month's worth of expenses saved by the end of the year.  This being a three paycheck month, we'll be almost half way there (if not more) at month's end.  So hopefully we can gather up the other half before January.  I dislike such goals because expenses are so unpredictable at times.  I feel as if saying I want to save x amount of money each month is just setting us up for failure.  We strive to end up spending less than we earn each month and do well with that.  I guess that have a specific goal in the back of our heads can help us make smarter choices though.

Second, you know that menu I post on my sidebar each week?  You're not just imagining things, it did stay the same for a few weeks.  I just can't seem to take the time to menu plan, or really write out a grocery list for that matter.  I want to try a monthly meal plan.  Just a rough outline really.  I hate writing out a menu, but I do recognize that it helps me save money at the grocery store when I have a plan in mind and I love not having to think about what's for dinner each night.  Since it's something I don't like, I think just doing it once a month and then being done will be good.

And finally, I want to stay on top of our spending a little better, so I will designate two days a week to pay upcoming bills, make any necessary transfers, and balance accounts.

Thanks to BeThisWay for challenging me to do this.  It's been good to think about ways that my family can improve.

What are your midsummer goals?  Please share in the comments or write a post of your own (and leave me a link)