Reaching Goals and Starting Over

In the last post, I shared with you that we had bought a new (used - 2006) van.  We are so thrilled to have made that purchase, and even more pleased with the fact that when we drove that van off the lot, it was 100% ours, with no strings attached.

However, (there's always a however...) the hard thing about reaching goals is that you have to start all over again on working towards your next goal.  It was so liberating to pay for the van with cash... and then a little bit overwhelming to see our savings accounts dip lower than they have in years.  Though we needed a new van, we also were hoping for a new house soon, and we sort of used a good chunk of our down payment fund for the van.

I remember going through this phase before, but never to this degree.  We've been reaching for goals before, but never have we gotten past a goal of over $10,000 and then started on our next goal.  It's a little scary and maybe even a little bit disappointing to look at our savings account and have that all-too-familiar feeling of loosing the battle.  However, (there it is again...) it's worth it!!!

Upon reaching our goal for a new vehicle, we have eliminated the risk of suddenly being without a vehicle in the event that our other van breaks down.  We've taken away the risk of having to search for and purchase a vehicle out of sheer necessity instead of making a slow and careful decision like we did.  We also feel so proud of ourselves every time we get into the van, and thankful that God has brought us this far in our journey to Financial Peace!

As far as a new house goes, I'm sure that everyone around me figures it will never happen.  I get all geared up and ready to go, but when it really comes down to it, we haven't found the right deal yet.  If it's a good price, it's just too much work to make it liveable.  If it's liveable, it's usually too expensive, in the wrong neighborhood, or we just don't want to lock into such a large mortgage.

Now that our son is just about out of kindergarten, schools also factor into our decision in a big way.  He's happy at his school, and in all honesty, we'd almost rather stay here until he's a little older and ready to embrace a change in schools.

We are also not offering childcare in our home anymore for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, the children that were in our home no longer need childcare, and secondly, we are making some personal decisions as a family that just don't work well with having other kids in our home.  This knocks out some of our income, and puts us back in a place where I start to wonder if I can bring in more money.  I go through this every time our income changes, every time I am not specifically bringing money into our home.

I know that God is bigger than all that, I know He will guide us and direct us in the ways that we should go.  I also know that He is able to bless us no matter what happens with income and expenses, and that's a solid foundation that I've stood on for most of my life.

Starting fresh again isn't great, but each time we do it, it seems to get a little bit easier.  It's not the shock that it once was.  Eliminating our entertainment and dining out budget in order to send more to our savings account is not nearly as hard as it once was.  Some days it's not fun, and my dear husband knows that some days I'd just rather throw in the towel on all this "saving for my future" stuff.  Sometimes I just want to do what I want to do NOW, and then figure out my future later. 

But that's when I take a deep breath and say no.  No, I'm not going to go with the flow, I'm not going to leave the plan, even though sometimes I wander off of it and have to pull myself back on track.  Someday, I'll be thankful I did.  I am already thankful!!  Whenever I look out our window and see the van in our driveway, I'm proud of ourselves.

We've been around this road before, and each time, the rewards get bigger.  At first, it was a matter of paying upfront for every regular expense in a month.  We were so proud.  Then we managed to stockpile enough into our savings account that when we ended up taking a $5000 hit when everything broke at the same time, it hurt, but we were fine.  And we were proud!  When we were able to give bigger donations to our church, without thinking twice, we were so proud! 

Each time we've started over, we've worked towards a greater reward, and for each goal that we've reached, we've felt even more proud of ourselves and ever so thankful to God than for the last one!

So here we are again, starting fresh, working towards an even bigger goal.  Eventually, we'll reach it.  And hopefully, one day we will be able to reach goals without giving everything we have.  When that day comes, we will be so happy that we gave up our entertainment to plan for our future.  (And there's no "however" after that one!!)