2026 Goals
I think I finally have everything written down and finalized. I need to input some more details (like balances) once we get to January, but for now I want to get my list down.
Financial
• Pay off all credit cards
• Increase 401k contributions
• Build EF to $3000
• Replace DH car
• Pay 6 month car insurance policy at once instead of monthly
• Sinking Fund set up
- Holidays
- Birthdays
- Camper
- Donations
- Yearly expenses
Personal
• Meal plan and prep
• Half marathon training for Feb, October, and November
• Read more
• Attend more craft shows as a vendor
Home
• Finish bedroom makeovers
• Downstairs bathroom makeover
• Front and side porches
• Back yard fence
• Garden beds
• Purge unused items
Travel
• Long weekend trips (3-4 days)
• 2 or 3 week long trips (5-17 days)
Okay, so for some explanation on some things. Most financial things will start getting accomplished faster now that I'm back to working more hours. I'm trying to pick up as many hours as I can this month to get us back to good standing on some things. DH's car replacement will come from the money he gets from his dad's house selling. It's currently contingent, so let's hope it goes thru this time.
Personal goals are pretty self explanatory. Home goals are a continuation on some of this year's. We got the younger two rooms switched, but I still need to paint our son's room. And the oldest daughter wants to do something different with hers. The color she picked when we moved in 2 years ago is really dark and we want to brighten and make it more fun as she's moving into the tween years. The side deck situation will probably happen first. That's the door we use most often and it's literally concrete steps into the door. It's tight and steep and slick when it rains/snows. We found a place that has a prefab porch for $700 we just need to dig the footers, so that will be towards the top of my list once the credit cards are done.
Travel, we're trying to focus on long weekend trips that we can take around middle daughters gymnastics meets. She has several around the state and if we need a hotel for one night anyway, we might as well try for 2 nights and do some fun things while we're there. We can get into children's, art, and science museums for free with the variety of passes we have. A camper is also high on my list this year since my oldest is a 4th grader and has the national park pass for free and next year my middle kiddo gets it for free. There's TONS of camping around and most are pretty inexpensive so I want to make that a priority for how we vacation the next couple years. Being able to shop and then cook in the camper/fire will save us a ton over hotel living and eating out, even if we did get better about packing food/shopping when we get there for cold foods and microwave meals. I do want to make sure we make it to PA in the spring or so because my grandma seems to be doing not as well as we hoped and I want to be able to see her before she passes, but again, they have AMAZING campgrounds there if we're able to get the camper purchased before we plan the trip. The only other trip we really want to take is to the beach and for that we will definitely get a hotel or rental house/condo.
Can't wait to get 2026 going and actually knock out some of these things! I had a huge mental shift over the last couple months and I'm really trying to get our family into a better position and DH is happy to chug along with me with achieve our goals.
I know it's only December first, but there's already been talks of 2026 goals in the 2025 Debt Dumpers Thread. So as 2025 comes to a close, I figured I'd go ahead and get the Debt Dumpers 2026 thread going. Please continue to post your 2025 recaps on the 2025 board, but as you're working on your goals for 2026 post them here!
