One of my September goals is to start our baby registry, and I think we’re going to tackle it this weekend! The plan is to use a universal service like MyRegistry, Babylist, or Amazon (we used Amazon for our wedding registry) so we can add things from places like West Elm, The Land of Nod, or Etsy. We’ve already had a preliminary outing to look at strollers, but there are lots of other things we’d like to touch and feel, so research trips to Target and/or Buy Buy Baby are part of this weekend’s game plan.

20 weeks!

Other preparations? I have about a bajillion (that’s an approximation) registry guides pinned (here, here, here, here, and here to start). We took a guided tour through the baby section of Target with our new parent friends. We’ve watched other friends and siblings use, complain about, and praise everything from wraps to high chairs for several years.

We’ve got some good background, but before we head out, I would love to turn to y’all for any advice you might like to offer, too! If you could recommend just three products for our registry, what would they be? Or, if you’ve used one of the registries we’re considering (Babylist, Amazon, MyRegistry), would you recommend it? I know not all of my readers are in the parenting stage (my impression is about half of you are!), so even if your glowing recommendation comes secondhand (maybe from something your sister-in-law raves about), that’s okay with me. Can’t wait to hear from you, and wish us luck!!

Affiliate links are used in this post!

Well, I was on a good streak there for awhile where I was checking off 100% of my monthly goals… but not this month. I’m not sure if my apparent response – to double my usual number of goals for September — is the correct one, but I’m going for it! Lots to do, and one of my favorite months to do it in!

The view from one of our favorite running routes!

Revisiting my goals for August:
Frame and hang our two new pieces from Framed & Matted Love them! More about this soon but you can see one here.
Finally paint the tray I primed about a year ago (No progress here… moving to September)
Make progress on goal no. 37 Made progress here, including a new storage solution and some weeding out!
Post an updated house tour here after our tour appears on Southern Weddings (Not yet – have to finish photographing a few of our less-finished spaces. Moving this to September!)
Do some sort of exercise every single day this month (I probably missed about 10 days. While working out 2/3 of the days in a month is good, it’s also my norm, so I didn’t really get at the heart of this goal!)

September goals:
— Paint my tray
— Post an updated house tour
— Start a registry for Baby Thomas
— Run my first ever 5k!!
— Make nursery plans so that we are ready to paint when my parents come in October
— Celebrate our third anniversary!
— Volunteer and shop at my church’s awesome kids consignment sale (if you are local and want to go, here is the info!)
— Finish organizing our upstairs closets
— Visit my younger sister in Nashville! Figure out how we are going to eat twenty meals in 2.5 days!

If you’ve posted your goals somewhere, I’d love to see – or just drop them in the comments!

The weather has been just a tad bit cooler here the past few days, which has me thinking ahead to my fall wardrobe! Normally I wouldn’t switch things up too much, but I think I’ll need some different pieces due to a changing shape over the next few months. For right now, the plan is to supplement with drape-y, longer tops that can be worn over leggings (not something I currently have a lot of). I also bought a belly band and wore it for the first time today, so hopefully that will stay me for awhile with my current pants. Here are a few of the pieces that have caught my eye:

First row: heather gray hi-lo tee ($17), striped cardigan sweater ($25), and tab sleeve tunic ($42)

Second row: Monaco blouse ($69) and lace-trim top ($31)

Third row: striped sweater dress ($54), Poet blouse ($25), and high/low cardigan ($54)

Any recommendations along this line, friends? I’m all ears!

Friends, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on my last post!! It meant so much to me, and I loved reading all of your comments. I will be back with more about how we shared the news with our families soon, but first I wanted to turn to a different subject: our car fund! I mentioned it briefly in last year’s big paying off debt post, but since it has been our biggest financial goal for 2015, I figured it was time to write about it!

In my debt post, I mentioned that we were planning to pay off our two car loans in mid-2014. We did (hooray!). For a little back story, we purchased both of our cars in 2011. Both of the loans were about the same – about $250 each per month at about 2.5% interest. Though I generally try to avoid debt whenever possible, I am grateful that loans exist and that we were able to get them to help us secure reliable cars.

After tackling our other financial goals throughout our first few years on our own (I talk about them more here, but they went in the general order of emergency fund –> wedding –> house down payment –> student loans), it was pretty quick work to finish off our car loans. And even though, as I said, I am so grateful that car loans exist and that we were able to get them the first time around, John and I are committed to never taking one out again. We believe this is possible, and I believe the same is totally within your reach, too!!

Establishing a car fund is what I would call a “second level” financial goal. Since it’s a saving goal rather than a paying off debt goal, it only makes sense to tackle it after you’ve paid off any credit card or educational debt, and obviously after you’ve paid off any car loans. The mechanism is simple: as soon as you’re done paying off your car, you begin putting the exact same amount of money as your payment (or more!) into your own account. Continue doing this until you’ve amassed the amount you plan to spend to replace your vehicle.

Here are a few other questions you might have if you’d like to do this yourself:

How much money should I save each month? As I noted above, the easiest way to transition into this is to simply transfer the same amount you were paying on your loan (if you had one) into your own account. However, depending on how soon you’d like to replace your car, how nice of a car you’re planning to get the next time around, and how risky you’d like to be with your investment (more on that below), you may want to beef up that amount. Right now, we are contributing $1,000/month to our car fund.

What sort of account should I use? A simple savings account, like you’d get at your local bank or credit union, is definitely an option. If you’re not looking to purchase for 3+ years, you might look into opening an investment account through a low-cost brokerage firm like Fidelity, Scottrade, or Charles Schwab. This exposes you to more risk but gives you the potential for a higher return via additional investment options. Whatever type you choose, I’d recommend stashing the money in an account that’s separate from everything else – general savings, emergency fund, etc. – so that the purpose is clear and you’re not tempted to touch it.

What should I invest the money in? I am NOT a financial advisor, so I’m definitely not going to advise you on this! It’s all about deciding how comfortable you are with risk and choosing accordingly. It’s also important to think about your time horizon – it might not make the most sense to invest money you’d like to use in five years entirely in stocks. Asset allocation mutual funds might be a good vehicle to look into because they have pre-assembled stock and bond mixes from which to choose.

The beauty of this system is that even though your budget looks the same despite paying off your loan – the same amount is still going out every month – you’re now paying yourself, and EARNING interest instead of PAYING interest! A much better arrangement! And how good will it feel to walk into a car dealership one day and pay cash for your chosen vehicle? I can’t WAIT!

Friends, I would love to hear: how long have you had your car, or how long do you plan to keep it? We’re planning for our two to last for at least ten years, but mine is on year nine and still going strong, so I have high hopes we’ll be able to keep it for longer!