Tuesday, January 10, 2012

10 day goal check

Inspired by the ever productive Carla, and My 1/2 Dozen Daily, I thought it would be helpful to do a status check on my January goals. We are ten days into the year, and here's how I'm doing!

  1. Lose 4 lbs in January, bringing my weight to 146. - I've been doing exceptionally well with eating and working out. I've been eating between 1400 & 1500 calories/day, and hitting the gym hard. However, my weight is up 1 pound. I'm frustrated, but I also know this is a temporary fluctuation. I'm doing all fo the right things, and eventually, the scale will reflect this. My jeans are also fitting better, and I can see a small difference in my face.
  2. Complete 900 minutes of cardio. Wow! That feels like a lot. :-) - I've completed 420 minutes of cardio so far, which means I'm 46% of my goal for January. On track.
  3. Find a training plan for my 1/2 marathon, and map out all workouts. - Completed! I've registered for two races, found a suitable training plan, and added all workouts to my calendar. Yeah!
  4. Spend $0 on clothes/shoes/makeup for myself & $0 for clothing/shoes for the kids. - On track. I've spent $0 (and actually, have returned things and added money back to the budget.)
  5. Complete 10 strength workouts. - I've completed 4 strength workouts. I'm sore as I type this. :-) On track.
  6. No artificial sugar in coffee or tea. Evaluate diet to see if I'm consuming other artificial sweetener. - I've completely eliminated sweetner of any kind in my coffee & tea. It's been a shock to the system, but I'm slowly adjusting ot the taste of my coffee with just milk. I also stopped drinking the flavored water at work (I used to mix with Crystal Light and/or flavored Talking Rain).
  7. Find an "extra" $650 in the budget for two tuition credits for each child. - I used $325 in Christmas money to fund one credit/child. Need to find the extra $325.
  8. Track all spending, stick to budget, and complete a monthly spending report. I'd like to also do a minimum of two weekly spending reports in January to check to see if we're on track, highlight any "red" areas, and adjust our spending accordingly. - On track. I'm going to send a biweekly spending report at the end of the week, so we can see how we're doing.
  9. Pay an extra $500 on our vacation mortgage, and $500 extra on our primary mortgage. - Done! I received (and subsequently sold) some employeer stock, as well as received dividends from another stock I own. I paid $1000 to our second (primary residence) mortgage, as it currently is at the highest rate.
  10. Have a date night with M. Need to look at the calendar & get this planned out. - Date night is scheduled for 1/21!
  11. Get together with two friends. - I've been in touch with several friends, but nothing official on the books yet.
  12. Determine guardians for the kids, which is the part of our wills that have caused us the most consternation. It's a very difficult decision, there are no easy answers, but it's just irresponsible to avoid the decision. - Ack. Still nothing. I am promising myself to have this conversation with M by the end of the week.

Overall, I'm feeling really good about my progress. How are you doing with your January goals? In big, huge news, we bought a new car with M's bonus. It will be delivered in the next few weeks. We paid cash for it, but our insurance will be going up. I need to decide how we will fund this (considering: selling my car, cutting other categories, etc). M's car is on its last legs, so we don't know if it makes sense to abandon my working car, or just keep it. Our cars vary in size (from a small car good for commuting to a very large SUV best for transporting things back & forth to our vacation house), so we're weighing all the factors.

6 comments:

  1. WOW! You are doing great! Not ready to give up the 1/2 tsp. sugar in my coffee just yet though - it is the only sweet I have.

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  2. You are doing AWESOME! As for #12, maybe the time just isn't right yet... Does it have to be set in stone? Can you change your mind after the fact?

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  3. Congrats! You are rocking the goals! Great work!

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  4. Great job!!! Wow you are getting in a lot of workout time, I on the other hand seem to be sitting at my sewing machine and dreaming up the next fattening meal I can make!! #12 is a hard one to do but SO important!!!! I lost my Mom at 3 years old, my sister was only 11 months, thankfully we still had our Dad who made the decision of where we needed to go until we were old enough to be with him. When we made our own plans for our girls years ago we went with who we knew would love them with all their hearts and could give them a home where God was king, thankfuly we never had to follow through, but letting the other family know why they were picked was WONDERFUL, they were a part of our girls life until they passed a few years back

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  5. Look like you are doing really well. Good for you with the artificial sweetner. Hope you have a great date night too.

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  6. Congrats on the new car!

    I wish I had the energy to work out, I just need to start! You are doing great!

    Doing wills can be very hard, and it's one of the easiest things to "put off". BUT don't. It's really important that you have that all figured out sooner, rather than later! :)!

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