July Goals Recap

July was a great month. We spent the 4th of July on the Oregon coast with my parents, M & I had a long weekend in Las Vegas, and the kids went to sleepaway camp. Everyone had a great time. We also hosted a few pool parties, met friends for dinner, & I took care of a few lingering health care chores.

Here's how I did against my goals for the month:

1) Financial:

• Stick to the budget - For the first month in a LONG time, we were under on groceries! We hosted family at our vacation house, but brought many leftovers home with us. I did a good job integrating those items into the menu, but the biggest wins were when the boys were at camp. M & I were on vacation part of the time, but also tried to eat up leftovers & things around the house. M is not a fan of a skimpy fridge (it freaks him out), so this was a big victory all around. We were also under on childcare (zero spent), but were over on gas (driving back from Oregon), & dining out (had an expensive meal out with friends). 
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis. - for this one, it's a longer term project, but I'm investigating how to change our yard to make it a) easier to maintain and b) much less water consuming. There are rebates and other options available, but our yard has upward of 100 plants in it (previous owners) & is really high maintenance, so we need to give this one some thought & invest the time to plan. 
• Make $500 in side hustle - I made $333. I have a few bigger ticket eBay items listed that haven't sold, but am happy with the $333. That represents 11 individual sales, so not a small amount of work. I also applied $618 over payment onto our mortgage, which makes me happy. 
• Sell 5 items - I sold 11 items. 
• Use up 5 freezer items from our house, & 5 from our vacation house. I crushed this, although more came out of our own house than our vacation house:
• 1/4 of a pizza (vh)
• salami (vh)
• Taco meat
• 2 bananas
• Carnitas
• Carnitas sauce
• Tri tip
• 3 packages of sausage
• Taquitos
• Chicken chowder
• 3 lonely kebabs
• Last of a pizza kit (crust + sauce)
• Chicken taco soup
• A huge bag of bananas (maybe 10?)

2) Family - spend more time together as a family

• Do one fun activity/month with the kids - hosted two pool parties, and went kite flying on the beach
• Off the computer by 7:45 each evening. Did okay on this one.
• Have two dates with M, plus figure out our trip when the boys are at camp - Yes! Went to dinner with friends, met for lunch 2x, & went to Las Vegas so M could play in a tournament. 
• Continue meal prepping - yes
• Plan & book our holidays - yes, & was able to use a discount code before it expired.
• Get a plan together for Sam next year. - We have a second tutoring session & a doctor's appointment where we expect to chat about a formal plan. 
• Deep clean the entire house - waiting on the doors to get installed, as I know they will generate a ton of dust.
• Complete two projects at the beach house - replaced our patio set, got a new fridge, ordered a fire pit. Other renovations are ongoing with a contractor. 
• Finalize house projects & budget/schedule for work at our house - ordered & hung a new chandelier. Still need to deal with drapes, install the second chandelier, doors are being installed next week, and order trim. 

3) Fitness/health - yikes.

• Run 12 times - I ran 4 times. It's been really hot here, so I've struggled to get into a running groove. 
• Track calories (1400/day) - Nope. Lots of vacation days put me at 1714. :-( 
• Work out 35 times - 29 workouts
• Meditate 10 times - 8 meditations

4) Personal/creative

• Do something social - met friends for dinner, had lunch with another friend, met a friend for a hike, joined a workout place with a friend & went several times. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x - haven't found anything flexible yet.
• Journal 15 times - I journaled 17 times. 
• Read one non-fiction book - nope
• Tackle (& complete) four projects from my sabbatical list: - YES!
• 2006 photo book
• Wedding photo book
• Sorted long lost reward from Bing
• Dealt with a gift card that I wasn't able to use, and had to be home to sign for. 
• Called about homeowners insurance
• Renegotiated car insurance
• Met with my primary care physician
• Had an eye exam
• Set up appts for: skin care check, ophthalmologist, & rhuematologist

How do I feel about July? There were a lot of great wins on there, & while I feel like I worked out pretty hard, I also apparently ate too well. ;-) Must get back into reduced carbs & sugar, so I can see more progress on the scale. 

I'm looking forward to August, but also nervous about my looming return to work. It feels like a last hurrah for me to get things done. What about you? How do you feel about your July goals? Any big wins?