\ 5 FINANCIAL GOALS FOR 2024 - Berry Budgets

5 FINANCIAL GOALS FOR 2024

 

I am determined to make 2024 a year of financial and minimalistic focus, so I've set myself five goals to keep my mind focussed on the journey. 

1. £1,000 EMERGENCY FUND IN PREMIUM BONDS

I am an absolute pain for not keeping my emergency fund topped up, it just pains me that money is readily available and not being paid off the debt and I feel so guilty about it. So to combat this, I'm going to stick my emergency fund in Premium Bonds. I know that these take a few days to withdraw, however I would be able to pay on my credit card and then clear it again without worrying...and with an added chance to win a little bit of money back too. I currently have £50 in there which is next to nothing but I'm aiming to build this up over the next few months whilst also paying the debt off on the side. I'm hoping my work bonus in February's pay will allow me to complete my emergency fund and then that's something ticked off the list relatively early into the year. 

2. OVERPAY THE MORTGAGE £100 PER MONTH

If you follow the Dave Ramsey baby steps, I know this is technically in the wrong order and this should come as part of BS6, however we are currently on a 40 year mortgage, due to remortgage next June. We want to pay down as much as possible to reduce this term. £100 for us is doable, it allows us to focus on the debt whilst also just doing that little bit extra towards our mortgage. If we continued to pay that for all of our term, we would be mortgage free 7 years early, saving £64k in interest! 

3. CLEAR THREE DEBTS

In total, we have one family loan and five credit cards between us. We do both have PCP car finance too but we're not counting that at the moment, so the aim is to clear three of the smallest debts over this year. That includes: 

  • A family loan - £1,990
  • Virgin CC (1) - £2,005
  • Barclaycard - £2,940
This should be doable, and we aim to have all three of these paid off by October all being well. They are all on 0% interest so there won't be any additional fees hitting these amounts. These will be paid off using salaries, bonuses and side-hustle gains. 

4. MINIMUM £10K TO DEBT

I feel like this is blended a little with goal number 3, but that totals just under £7k. With minimums on all cards and extra payments once all three are paid off, I am confident we can hit the £10k mark. We should be able to achieve this goal in November which would be a wonderful Christmas present and would see us reducing our overall debt by 64% and push us nicely into being debt free in 2025!

5. SELL 200 ITEMS

This one is a toughy and will arguably be the hardest to achieve. As I mentioned in the intro, I'm not only on a journey to financial freedom, but also to a clear house and a clear mind. I've spent my entire life being an absolute hoarder, whether that's clothes that I thought I'd eventually 'skinny into' or unwanted gifts that I've felt guilty about not liking. Now is the time to declutter the past and try and make some pennies on the way. I will be using Vinted, Facebook Marketplace, car boots and most probably eBay to earn some pennies to put towards the debt. 



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