I extrapolated out my new paycheck prediction, and I concluded that we could pay off the credit card this year and have $7000 of budget surplus to use for other purposes.

Of course I need about $1500 to accomplish my other two 2010 goals of paying off the stove and saving $700 for Xmas, so that leaves $5500.

Still, that means we can get some other stuff done this year. I asked NT what he thought we should do, and he said he didn't have any plans because he assumed we wouldn't have any extra money.

Well, now we do! I'll probably look into consulting with lawyers and financial planners, and NT is going to see about getting a new sofa (as AS probably won't have any spare time to finish the reupholstery anytime soon), screening in the balcony, decorating and furnishing AA's nursery, or other home-improvement things that he can think of. The surplus will be coming in gradually throughout the year, so we just need to decide what order we want to do things. I just want to accomplish my three goals above by the end of the year (November-December), so we can do some of the other things first.

I think this surplus should be used to get things in order, legally and around the house, so there hopefully aren't any gaping pressing needs next year. That way 2011 can be spent attacking AS's student loans, increasing retirement, contributing regularly to charities and nonprofits, and saving up for a second baby. At this point we have a pretty big surplus every month, but it's not enough to do everything at once, so we have to be strategic and just tackle a couple things at a time.

My $7K surplus this year is just a guess, but it's an educated and I think fairly conservative estimate. There may be more because of AS's and NT's plans for bringing in extra income through some side hustles.