September Goals Recap

 September, what a month! Wildfires, heat waves & plenty of other COVID fun. But, good progress was made in some areas, and I'm reminded that flexibility is key, now more than ever. 

Financial

• Stick to the budget - yes, with the exception of groceries. We continue to go over our grocery budget substantially. I need to give some thought to this, particularly for our 2021 budget planning & how we want to adapt. 
• Pay down our mortgage to the next milestone - absolutely squeaking in on this one, but yes. 
• No shoes/clothing purchases for me - nothing purchased
• Make $750 in side hustle - I "only" made $456 in September, thanks to a couple of cancellations at our vacation house due to the wildfires. We charge a very nominal fee to friends to cover expenses, and I apply all of it to our side hustle. 
• Work through freezer/pantry clean out (10 random items out) - used up two boxes of lasagna noodles (pantry), two containers of chicken broth (freezer) & made a dent in items in our fridge. I'll give it a passing grade. 
• Set up will/guardianship appointment - Just today I went ahead & got on the list for an appointment. I was so embarrassed to roll this over to October without progress, so the motivation of the goal & check in really helped! I should hear back about referrals in the next few days. 

Family

• Socially distanced & active family fun, regularly - this is mostly still happening, but I'd like to add in more tennis & walks. The weather & heat have been a bad combination, but we did make time to be in the pool and make dinner together, etc. 
• Off the computer by 7:30 each evening - mostly a pass, minus a few later nights, thanks to work
• Have a weekly half hour alone with M - We're still trying for this. COVID has made this such a challenge! :-) 
• Schedule a call with M's family - No, and I think I'll schedule this for the weekend
• Two hours a week language practice - I've been barely scraping up the Duolingo time, and need to get back into it. I was making good progress. 
• Compliment M every day - Still working at this one, and mostly remembering. 
• Complete one project/day - Yes! Lots of projects have been completed

Fitness/health

• Lose 2 lbs - Yes! I lost exactly two pounds. 
• Work out every day - I got in 36 workouts this month
• Track calories & aim for 1440/day - My calories are around 1650, so still a bit higher, but I'm seeing progress. 
• Complete 1400 minutes of cardio, 10 strength & 5 stretching workouts - 1530, 4, & 4. 
• Meditate 20 times - I meditated 8 times, this one sort of fell off of my daily to do list
• Run 15 times - I ran 9 times, which I'm reasonably happy with. The main reason I couldn't run much in September was due to the wildfire smoke. 

Personal

• Do something social at least 2x/month (virtual is okay) - I continue to do a virtual happy hour with friends weekly
• Volunteer - I donated money this month, but no volunteering
• Journal 25 times -28 times
• Improve myself
• Judge less - always a work in progress
• Listen more often - always a work in progress
• Reduce/eliminate swearing - always a work in progress
• One kind deed/day - while they were a bit irregularly spaced out (some days had several activities, and others had none,) overall I achieved this one & it's made me so much happier to focus on this
• Read one non-fiction book - No, but I have a book I need to read this month for work

All things told, I'm pretty happy with how I adapted to the month. It was a crazy work month, combined with lots of other factors, and I made the best of most of the challenges. I'm going to keep on keeping on! What about you? Did you set goals for the month? How did you do?