Finish Line

As the end of Project Money draws near, I can’t believe how far I’ve come since we started. Day to day, I always felt like I could be doing something more or felt like I wasn’t doing enough and I wasn’t seeing any progress. Looking back and thinking through how I’ve changed, I can see how much work I’ve put in and how far it’s gotten me.

Thanks to Project Money, I’ve been able to:

• Drastically reduce my impulse spending. It only takes an extra minute to think about if I really need something.
• Replenish my short-term savings. My dog’s savings and my vacation fund are far above the goal I had originally set for myself.
• Stopped getting takeout. I very rarely get takeout now instead opting to stop at the grocery store to grab things to cook so I’ll also have leftovers.
• Pay off my private student loan. This felt amazing!
• Save for a down payment on a house. I have a separate account with money set aside just for this with more money in a high yield savings account growing.
• Save for retirement. I’m doing a year end evaluation to see how and if I want to change my contributions across my retirement accounts.
• Pay off my car. I’ll be cutting it close, but this was a big goal that I was able to achieve thanks to all the other changes I’ve made. Once I pay off my car, I can put that payment towards saving more for a house!

Even if I wasn’t feeling it every day, achieving every big thing on this list was made up of a bunch of little steps that got me there. So even if you feel like you’re not making leaps and bounds in your financial goals, know that every little bit counts and gets you closer!