January Goals - Recap

It's that time again! Time to set new goals for the month, and check to see how the previous month went. More on the February goals shortly. :-)

Financial

• Set up meeting with financial planner - Hmmm, kind of? We have someone selected, but now are thinking about going with a hybrid solution on a referral from a coworker. We will get something sorted soon!
• Max out 2015 401K with bonus money - Yes!! Done. :-) 
• Figure out boys college accounts (potentially the Utah 529 plan) - I've put the 2015 contributions in, and we need to investigate switching for 2016 & beyond. Waiting for guidance from the financial planner.
• Stick to our budget - Mostly? A more detailed post on this is coming!
• Fund our yearly budget categories with remaining bonus money - Yes, all of the money is saved, and put away for either taxes, or yearly bonus stuff. Should know more about the taxes soon.
• Start gathering stuff for our accountant - Yes! I have a big inventory/matrix, and a few missing documents that I'm tracking down. 

Family

• Plan two fun family outings - Yes! We did the movies a couple of times. We wanted to ski, but the weather has been way too warm for skiing. 
• Figure out February week off. Looking at skiing. - This is planned!
• Get my youngest to try two new foods. - Yes! He has a tracker that he's using, and I think he's tried six new foods in January. Which, is huge for him. I don't think he's liked any of it, but so excited that he's finally trying new things. :-) 

Fitness/health

• Lose 2 pounds - Let's see. I did actually almost lose it in the first few weeks. I had a very difficult week when our team was in town & I had three dinners out & no chances to work out. I did end up losing one pound, and feel like I'm in much better shape than I was at the end of the year. I can tell the difference in the way my jeans are starting to fit. :-) 
• Track my food/exercise - Yes!
• Run 20 miles - Yes - 35 miles!
• Complete 700 minutes of cardio - I wasn't tracking this very carefully earlier in the month, but I finished at 665 minutes. Bummer, because one more workout would have done the trick!
• Complete 8 strength workouts & 8 stretching workouts - Well, thanks to my pushups challenge, I completed 20 strength workouts, but only one stretching workout. Must work on a better balance in February. (Literally & figuratively :-))

Work/career

• Better consolidate my evening meetings - I've definitely been making progress. I have some new people on my team, and some folks have switched managers, so still need to add all of those meetings to my calendar. It's a work in progress for sure!
• Find 2 days/week that I can work out during the day - Yes! I'm so happy that I made it a priority, and it's now on my calendar for Monday & Wednesday mornings. 

Giving back

• Look into volunteering at the school once in January - I didn't actually volunteer in January, but I did find a flexible volunteering option at the boys school, and signed up for monthly slots on the calendar. I also found out that my employer gives me 20 hours off/year for volunteering, and reimburses the volunteering agency $10/hour for my time. I'm VERY excited about getting to spend time at the boys school, doing something good/giving back, and that I get non-vacation hours to spend on it!! 
• Set up charitable contribution increase - Done!

House

• Sort through our three hall closets (aka, where junk goes to die). Declutter, organize, etc. - Yes!!! I did way more than this & cleaned out a bunch of junk. Woohoo! I also managed to find three items to sell on eBay & made $255, plus sold some old skis for $75. 

Personal/creative

• Plan/book date night with M - Yes!
• Do something social with a friend. Maybe a hike. - I had a bunch of social work stuff this month, which doesn't count as "friend time", but took up a bunch of my personal time. 
• Read 5 books. - I think I read 4, but I honestly lost track. 
• Try a new recipe (with a focus on something that my youngest will actually eat) - I did make a great tilapia recipe (and roasted carrots), but my youngest ended up at a sleepover, so he didn't try them. But, recipes were tried. :-) 

Okay, that's it! I feel really pretty good about January. How about you? How was your month?

For the rest of the day, I have big plans to: run, do yoga, complete my strength challenges, make muffins, watch the Superbowl, & potentially returning/exchanging a workout top. Wild & crazy first day of February! :-) What are you up to today?