I decided on a major goal. I think about it every night before I go to sleep.

I want to be completely financially free and independent. To me, this has some specific and clear criterium. Criteria? (*shakes puny fist at the English language*)

The first is to be completely debt free. My parents, however, managed to stay mostly consumer debt free their whole lives and have just gone through a second bankruptcy, so obviously there is more to being financially solid than simply not using credit cards. There are many personal finance bloggers that post their debts and information online, and I’m still debating if I should do that, especially since I’m using my real name.

After all of my debts are paid off, I want to be able to purchase a house. If possible, I want to buy a house cash and avoid having a mortgage all together, but if that’s not possible, I want to have as much down as possible, and a very small monthly payment, so that I can attack with the ferociousness of a small chihuahua going after a squeaky toy- a squeaky toy that tastes of bacon.

I’d like to have this mostly finished before hubs and I start having kids, as we both walked into our marriage with fairly substantial debt. I have student loans, he had medical debt and collections from his ex wife and his Evil Ex. We’ve managed to pay off all his medical debt, which was around 6k, last year, and clean up a lot of his credit… just in time for me to leave my job, my second job went belly up, so I got to spend a couple months eating into our savings.

I think financial security, for me, means that no one will be able to make me homeless or stop me from putting food on the table. I really love the people at Path to Freedom because they take a normal sized suburban lot and manage to grow most of their own food. I don’t think I’ll ever be as hardcore (or as organized) as they are, but the thought of my own house that no one can toss me out of, followed by my own garden so no matter what I’ve got food, is deeply appealing to me. There were a couple times growing up when we were evicted or my Dad had to go without food so there would be enough for us kids, and I never, ever, ever want to be in that sort of situation again.

I understand that is mostly emotional, and not completely rational. I don’t care. I want a house, and a huge garden, and I want that mostly in place before I start having kids so that I don’t end up having to pull wacky stunts to make ends meet when I’ve got little ones to take care of.

After that’s taken care of, it will just be a matter of throwing lots of money into wise places so that we will be able to retire early. Since I’m 25 now, if we are successful that will leave us mortgage free and ready to start having kids by the time I’m 30. Hopefully we’ll be able to do it a little faster than that, I’d rather be younger when carrying kids around and chasing after toddlers, but being financially secure before having kids is my top priority. Amusingly, between Hubs and our poly significant other, there are two kids running around who I feel I have responsibility for. Oddly enough, that does not bother me as much as I thought it would.

So, financial freedom means, to me, owning a house, having a garden, being free of debt, and being in a fiscal situation where I feel comfortable bringing more kids into the world.