3 Keys to Knocking Out Your Big Money Goals Together

In order to produce the podcast and keep content up free for you, I work with partners so this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more info.

Are you guys ready to knock out a big money goal together, but don't know where to start?

I'm going to show you three key steps to take so that you can reach your goal together and have some fun.

Knock Out Your Big Money Goals Together

Excited about your big goal for this year- maybe it's paying off those credit cards or saving up for a house.

But how do you go from dream to achieving them?

SMART Goals

The first key is making sure you have a SMART goal.

Last week, on the podcast we went into detail about creating SMART goals and how you can get your spouse on board.

The gist is this – when you create your goals for this year (maybe it's paying off some debt), your goal is:

• specific
• measurable
• attainable
• results oriented and relevant
• time-based

So we're not saying ‘we're paying off debt this year'. You're saying ‘we're paying off five thousand dollars of our credit card debt this year by December 31st.

When you have a smart goal, it makes it so much easier for you guys to backward and create a plan because it's time-based.

You can break your goal down month by month (or paycheck my paycheck) so you can reach your goal.

Create a Spending Plan

You guys need a spending plan or a budget.

No, we're not going to make this complicated; worrying about the pennies or going over spreadsheets over and over again.

We want to keep this budget simple so you only need it to do three things:

• Pay your bills (and other essentials). You don't have a roof over your head, it's hard to reach your goals.
• Make sure your budget takes care of the goal that you guys are trying to achieve. That's it. Focus on that one goal.
• Make sure you budget for some fun!   I'm not saying that you're blowing your budget and you're still going on like you've done before but include ways to reward yourselves when you achieve those goals.

We want this budget to be balanced and sustainable. If you feel like it's too restrictive, you're more than likely to quit.

Embrace Challenges Together

Want to keep things interesting with your goal? Embrace some challenges.

No, I'm not saying make things difficult. I'm saying make it fun.

Look for ways you can push yourself and try a new approach for 30 days.

My buddy Jessi Fearon did a #EraseFoodWaste challenge with her family last year. 

She did an amazing job – not only did she save her family some serious cash, but they also picked up some new and positive habits.

And that's the beauty of a monthly challenge. You try something out and if it works, you win and if it doesn't (and let's be honest, that happens sometimes!), it's not a big deal.

Do you want to up your game this year, but don't know where to start? Here are some fun money challenges you can do together.

Zero Day Challenge

The easiest challenge since you don't have to change your routine, but very powerful in helping you become aware of your finances.

All you have to do is track your spending on a daily basis. You can use pen and paper, whiteboard, or your phone.

The goal is to see how many $0 days you have.

David from Zero Day Finance did this so he could get his spending under control.

Thanks to this challenge, he was able to cut back on over $18,000 of expenses!

Uber Frugal Month

Liz from Frugalwoods created this email based challenge that will take you through how to rethink your money.

You guys can go through this challenge in a month and have those conversations and see where you can cut back and you might see that some expenses are necessary or bring you enough happiness that their justified expenses.

No Restaurant Month

If you two have a habit of blowing your budgets eating out, you might want to try the no restaurant challenge.

It's a straight-forward challenge Brad from Enemy of Debt has done that is focused on keeping spending in check for one category.

Eating out consists of buying any food from any place that could have been made at home. With this challenge, you'll really dig into meal planning and becoming a savvy grocery shopper.

You can see some big savings here and the best part it's just for one month. You may discover that you can skip out on many of the pricey lunches.

5 Days to $5K

Pressed for time? Want something that will give you big wins with your money? Try my 5 Days to $5K challenge!

 I take you through ways that you can find money in your budget, save when you are spending, and then also earn some income on the side.

I wanted something for couples that were getting started but they needed to have something that they could do in 20 minutes.

We used many these same tactics and strategies to help us pay off over $35,000 of debt and save for our house.

Thoughts on Working Together on Money Goals

So there you go – three tips to help you guys make the most out of this year and achieve your goals.

Do any of these challenges jump out at you? Go ahead and choose one of them and focus on that for 30 days. That's it!

I'd love to hear from you. How do you stay motivated with your big money goals?

This article was originally published in January 2018. It has been updated January 2019.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more info.