Financial Freedom

I've been thinking about this blog post for some time now. In this day and age, and with the economy the way it is, everyone is looking for financial freedom, and I'm no exception. Some of the people who read this post know Cathy and I personally, and some don't. Some of you know Cathy and my financial situation better then others. There is a lot of things that Cathy and I would like to do with our lives, and a lot of things other people want us to do.

I want to address where Cathy and my lives are going. To this I really have to say we don't know. Most people don't want to hear this, but its the truth of the matter. I know some people out there really say we should purchase our own home. This is something we would love to do, but financially right now we can't do it right now. Another thing people want us to do is start a family and have children. This is something that we've talked about briefly, but haven't really decided on. But again we know this isn't something we could do with our finances the way they are now.

Now some are probably wondering what our finances are like, well that is something I'm not going to directly tell. I feel that the exact numbers are something that should be private, so I've devised a way to display this with out showing numbers, and that is with a bar graph. I'm going to use one to show what percentage of our goal is paid off, and a second one to show what percentage of our savings goal we've met. I've then decided to post blog posts on a regular basis(hopefully monthly) that will show our progress. One thing anyone who follows these posts may notice is the fact that our savings bar will go up and down. Although we are putting money into the savings, we will pull out from savings when needed to pay bills. Here is what the bars will look like:

Bill Goal:

0%

Savings Goal:

0%

As we approach our goals these bars will fill up, until they are eventually full meaning we are debt free. Now do we have a goal to get out of debt? I think I've set one. For those who read this that don't know I'm currently 35 years old. If we are to start a family I feel we need to do this with in the next five years. This being said I would like to get our bills paid off and reach our savings goal with in the next three years. This then gives us two years to look into buying a house, and starting a family.

Now you may be wondering where you come in on this. I don't want to look for hand outs from people, but I would like to look for help. The way the economy is many people have turned to our government for help, and although it is great that they are there for the people who need it. But we shouldn't have to do this. We should look out for our friends and neighbors. If you know someone in need help them out, if that someone is me, then please get in touch with me. If you have an odd job that needs done, and don't live too far away, I can make arrangements to meet up with you and do the work.

If there is someone else in your life that you wish to help, then please help them. If you wish to help me, then please contact me. You may be wondering though if I plan to help anyone else, and I do. There are several things I am thinking. First, we are helping out by donating old coats to the needy. I know this may not seem like much, but for those who need a coat for warmth it is. Also once we get our bills paid off, and money saved up, we then will look for friends and neighbors that we can then help our ourselves.

So if you are now wondering are we anywhere near our goal, I'll give you an updated bar graph for this blog post:

Bill Goal:

5.63%

Savings Goal:

5.03%

So we are slowly on our way to our goal, and god willing with your help, we will reach that goal faster. If you can, and wish to help, please contact me. You can contact me either through the area where you saw the link for this blog post, or directly by email. my blogging email is: mikesmeandering@gmail.com.