How do you keep focused and motivated for your long term financial goals?

[Astrid]

Dh and I are in the midst of debt reduction. If it was not for the bad debt eg: credit cards, we would be living more comfortably right now, or at least be hammering our mortgage.

Based on current projections (as is just what we pay each month, no extra windfalls being paid) we will be out of it in 2015. Sure it was only 2014 when I first worked it out, but hey have to go with current figures.

It is depressing really, whilst I know we should feel good that we are taking control and doing something about it, it is such a long time away. Plus we want to build, so need to reduce our mortgage a lot before then as well. In fact we were looking at starting the process in 2014!

Anyone else done or going through something similar? How do you keep focussed? How do you keep the balance between the goal and living now? I know we could hit at out debt harder, but then what little lifestyle we do have would be gone.

[Liviam]

Fantastic thread!! We are sitting down this weekend to have this talk as we want a bigger house but have a big mortgage to get down before we can even consider it.

No idea how we are going to stay motivated so hopefully someone can help us out. We also need budget slashing tips too

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

We budget in 'fun' money. I find that if we're doing it really tight to pay back a debt, after a few months we get depressed and end up splurging on something we don't really need. Instead of doing that, we actually budget a certain amount per fortnight that can just be blown, whether it's going to the movies together or going out for dinner or buying some dvds. So we don't feel like we're doing it so tough, and we can mentally adjust to living like this for another few years.

[Astrid]

We have pocket money budgeted, plus a takeaway every now and then. Plus we use tax money to do the bigger things or to splurge if need be.

I find having our cashflow plotted out for a year + is helpful most of the time, but can still get depressing when budgeted expenses blow out.

[Starfish]

I have signed up with a budget management company. They have created a budget for me that I can stick to (mostly) and pay all my bills for me, so I don't have to worry about it. For me, I am useless with money (DH is even worse), so we figured that outsourcing was the best way to go.

[Astrid]

I could not do that Starfish, I like having control, plus I love any excuse to do stuff in a spreadsheet

Amy - One card is now paid off so I know should not be feeling as bad about how far away the light at the end of the tunnel is.

[Starfish]

I could not do that Starfish, I like having control, plus I love any excuse to do stuff in a spreadsheet

If you CAN control your spending, then I think you're halfway there. Good Luck.

[lady_neon]

Wish I knew the answer Astrid!

I guess I just focus on one debt at a time instead of looking too far ahead, and once one debt goes, the money that was budgeted to go to that can go to hammering the next debt. I thought I had the credit card (it was paid off completely!) under control until some car troubles last weekend. So, back to cracking that one. DH's HECS I would say should be gone in about 18 months, his car loan still has 3 years if we keep paying the minimum amount. Then there's the mortgage :| and we just got a tax bill

[Amy_jellybean]

Yep we are the same - we budget fun money into our weekly budget, though this gets saved and spent maybe once a fortnight. Plus we make fun things at home, eg we'll have a Mexican night at home with friends, we'll go to each others house for home made morning tea etc.

Our tax return should wipe our credit cards but we still have a car loan and personal loan as well as the mortgage. We pay an extra $100 a week on our mortgage, an extra $200 per month on our personal loan and the minimum on our car loan. As soon as our tax clears the credit cards they will be cut up and the money we were paying on them as well as any extra money left over at the end of the week will go on the personal loan.

For me, seeing the loan decrease is motivation for me, as well as knowing that if anything major happens and we need money urgently, we can redraw off of it.