I have been sharing my personal finance goals for 2008 over the past couple of weeks. I only have four of them, and my third is budgeting for a year and fence. Last year  — September — I bought a new home. It’s very exciting. But at the same time, it is brand new, so there is no yard, and no fence. I would like a safe place for my son to play. So the big goal this summer is to put in a yard and a fence.

However, putting a yard and a fence in can be expensive, even if you do it yourself. So we will have to save up this winter so that we can pay for it in the spring and summer. We have made a family finance goal to set aside a certain amount of money each month. To help, my husband is taking an extra research job this summer and I will work a couple hours on Saturday (which is usually a day off for me).

This illustrates something important: If you want something, figure out how to pay for it rather than go into debt.