Depending on the ages of your family members, some of these steps might feel out of reach. Just focus on the ones that make sense for your crew!

Why are you setting goals? Do you want to get closer to each other? Do you want to create some financial security? Do you want more adventure? Do you need less adventure (aka more downtime on your calendar)? Talk about your whys together.

What kind of family are you? Outdoorsy, musical, crafty, sporty, game-loving, travel-seeking . . . Put some words out there to get an idea what each of you think are your family characteristics. Also, consider what you all value: rest, fun, new experiences, saving for something big, and the list goes on.

Your family goals need to work together. If one person wants to visit Italy and one wants to put $10,000 in savings, well, something’s got to give. Start by dreaming together (big and small), then work together to prioritize your goals as a family. That will involve some sacrifice and compromise, but in the end, you’ll all know what’s important and why.

In our section on How to Set and Reach Goals, we walked through the steps to turn dreams into written goals, and those written goals into reality! (Go back and look it over if you need to!)

Through it all, make sure you’re letting people talk and dream. Yes, you’ll have to bring things down to earth at some point—but stay kind and have fun in this process!

Our final tip here is to make sure you’re celebrating wins—big and small—as you go. These celebrations don’t have to bust your budget. In fact, they shouldn’t. But they should be a chance for you all to give some high fives and get motivated to keep going!

Family goals can range all over the place! Once your people start shouting out their ideas, there’ll be no shortage of options. Here are a few popular ones if you need a kick start.

To make any of your goals happen, you need to get them in the budget. And the best budgets are a team effort. So, start making financial plans together!

Taking a family vacation will mean saving up cash to pay for it! So, make sure you talk through both parts of this goal (the saving and spending).

If you want to grow as a family this year, start by talking more. But let’s face it, this can be hard. You spend all day making conversation at work and school, and you might have no ideas left in the evening. Thankfully Dr. John Delony’s Questions for Humans card packs can get the conversation started for you, so you just have to be ready to answer—and learn more about each other! 

This can have all kinds of meanings depending on how you defined your family’s characteristics. The point here is to enjoy time together more often. Be intentional and put time on the calendar. Family game nights, hikes, movie-at-home marathons—you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a lot of fun together.

Life gets busy. But time together around the dinner table—as much as you can—is worth the effort. Meal planning can help make this happen. Because when you meal plan, you look at that calendar and know what’s coming up, so you can figure if it’s a night for homemade lasagna with fresh-baked bread or frozen chicken fingers and fruit cups.

Whatever your goals are, get everyone on board and involved! Oh, and make sure you keep each other accountable and up-to-date on your progress. Like we said, teamwork makes the dream work. You got this—together!