Goals

It is our goal to pay of all debt by the end of 2010. Thereafter, we will attempt to live within our means, saving up for something we need/desire, without credit. This does seem a little unusual as almost everyone I know has a credit card or loan of some kind. This is sort of an experiment to see if we can do things the “old-fashioned” way, and prove wrong the many voices that say that this cannot be done, or can only be done with extreme sacrifice. I like a good challenge. Just tell me that it can’t be done, and I’m all over it!

Another goal is to save enough to purchase property outright. Originally, I thought 5 years might be a reasonable goal, but I’m starting to think that perhaps 7-10 might be more realistic. It all depends on how frugal we can really be, and, more importantly, how creative and resourceful we can be (although one might argue that being frugal = creative and resourceful).

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May 19, 2008

I realized that the above goals are a bit vague and that in order to reach our goals, we need to be more specific.  So, here I will attempt to lay out our vision for the next several years, in the form of a partial timeline.

End of 2008: All Credit Card debt has been eliminated; we’ve begun to contribute to our IRA’s again; we’ve begun putting small amounts of money into high yield savings account.  Nathan has a permanent job with an actual company that has benefits.

End of 2009: College Debt is paid off; continue to put money in IRA; increase amount going into savings account; invest in stocks/bonds.

End of 2010: Car is paid off; continue IRA deposits, increase savings account deposits.

After this, there is not much of a timeline.   We will continue with our IRA and savings account deposits.  We will also be looking around at various acreage which we can develop a small self-sustaining farm.  We’re fascinated with dome-homes, and would like to build one ourselves, possibly out of naturally occurring materials on our land.  Inspiration comes from “The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It.”  Neither of us have aspirations to live a wealthy life, rather, we want to life in a way that respects the earth and it’s inhabitants, and is free of many modern constraints that have a negative and disempowering effect on our lives.  While neither of us is quite willing to live communally, I think that we would be open to the prospect of living with another family or two (who have their own dwellings) and working our farm together as a co-operative effort.