Thursday, November 1, 2018

October goals recap

It's that time again, where I look back at the month & see how I did against my goals. As always, the months fly by, which is why I find the goal setting process so helpful. Without some intentionality, I find that I look back, and I'm disappointed I didn't accomplish more. That still can happen on plenty of months with goals, but I find it helps me stay on task.

My goals for October were as follows:

Financial:

  • Stay on track with our food budget, including both eating out & groceries. - We had a more expensive month than usual. There was one additional grocery shopping day, which always pushes us over. We were $45 over on groceries, which is actually not terrible given the extra Saturday (our grocery purchasing day). We were also over by $189 on dining out, but I'm okay with that. I treated for a brunch after our half marathon, but used some money my parents had gifted me to cover. So, net wash on that, and I was able to pay for a brunch that otherwise my mom would have covered. 
  • Come up with one way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis - I don't think I had an new methods this month. I'm always keeping at it, looking for opportunities. 
  • Earn another $200 in sidehustle money. Split this between college money for the kids, & an extra payment on our vacation house mortgage. - Crushed this, and made $490 in side hustle. 
  • Continue working on our 2019 budget, 2019 vacation plans, & income projections - this is critical as I try to narrow down work options. Decide on 2019 remodeling plans (if any). We've made some big headway on our alignment & prioritization, and will continue. I'm hoping to have more updates to share on this in the next month or so. 
  • Determine if we it makes sense to max our HSA & a Mega backdoor Roth, with our tax liability - we maxed our HSA & I finally sorted the process to get this done. Woo! We haven't done the Roth & need further investigation before we decide what to do on that. 
Family:

  • Have one family evening together: cooking dinner, board games, etc - We did have a great night making dinner & baking a cake with the kids. 
  • Have a date night with my husband, & plan our anniversary - Unfortunately, our plans changed & we didn't really get this time together. We need to find something else. 
  • Continue financial help (knowledge, not money) with sister & friend - nothing came up this month. 
  • Take the kids to Great America before the passes expire. This is a maybe, based on soccer schedules & other commitments. - Sam ended up going, but not Nick. 
  • Plan our trip to Hawaii - Mostly done, with the last few things getting sorted over the next two weekends. 

Fitness/health:
  • Complete another full round of 21 Day Fix - I took some time off after ankle/knee pain after my half, and ended the  month with 14/21 days. My goal for November is to do a workout every day. 
  • Eat 5.5 servings a day of fruit & veggies - I finished with 4.5 servings/day, and need to increase this. 
  • Lose 3 pounds - I've lost about 1/2 pound
  • Run 8 times & finish a half marathon - half marathon done!
  • Avoid dairy, as part of my efforts to solve my stomach issues - mostly staying on track with this, but a few moments of indulgence.

Work:
  • Work from home 2 days - yes, done. 
  • Work on my my "homework" from my coach - I've done a few things. My homework is always super useful, but time intensive & requires a lot of thought & stepping back, evaluating myself, etc. 

Personal/creative:

  • Plan sabbatical! - I've made some progress, and will continue as a I finalize dates. 
  • Make one new recipe - Yep, I tried a new dinner recipe. It was moderately successful. I also made freezer burritos for Sam's lunches, and they were great. 
  • Spend time with a friend - Yes, I had a girls weekend before our half marathon, & had a fabulous time
  • Volunteer at least 1x - Yes, I volunteered at the school book fair
  • Finish homework books for Sam & keep working on our homework routine - I didn't finish reading all of the books, but we've been making good progress on the homework front. 

Stepping back, it was a pretty good month! I'm super excited about our trip to Hawaii coming up in a few weeks. Can't wait to relax & enjoy our time together. 

What about you? How was your October? How did you do with your goals? 

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