Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mid-April goal check

Still in shock over the Boston Marathon bombings. How could someone take such a wonderful and positive event and turn it into something so horrific?

I've been home with the stomach flu that last couple of days, so I've done nothing. I think I slept 16 hours yesterday. Today I actually managed to get out of bed, so that's improvement at least. :-) I'm hoping by tomorrow, I'll be able to eat something other than crackers. Small steps.

Here's what I set out to accomplish for April, and my progress so far.

For the financial challenge:
  1. Cut $100 off of our fixed expenses. We've done a great job reviewing all of our utility bills (we bucket this for cable, internet, cell phones, etc), but there's always more to do. - We managed to cut our cable bill by $40/month. Still looking for the rest of the $100. 
  2. Make $500 towards my girls trip. - I've made $3.81, so . . . not so much. ;-) I hit my eBay limits on most categories, so I have to wait a bit to be able to list more.
  3. Cut eating out back to $150 for the month. - Fail. We're at $190 for the month. We had a few fun dates when my parents had the kids, so it was worth it. ;-)
  4. Cut the groceries back to $550, and really focus on meal planning and reducing food waste. We've gotten sloppy.- Yes! We're at $172, thanks in large part to our Costco rebate.
  5. Keep the house spending to $100. We've been buying a lot of miscellaneous things for the house, & I put postage charges (eBay) in this category, so I'd like to include those charges & still keep this to $100. - My eBay costs are just over $100 so far. I do deduct it from my "travel fund" and only count my net profits towards my earnings, but I still have to categorize my monthly expenses.
Other April goals:

  1. Lose 2 lbs, bringing my weight to 142. - I've lost another pound, so I'm at 143!
  2. Complete the following workouts:
    1. 1200 minutes of cardio - I'm at 625, so on track, although the stomach flu has slowed me down a bit.
    2. 12 strength workouts - I'm at 4 strength workouts, so need to ramp this up.
    3. 10 stretching workouts - I'm at 3 for the month, so need to focus on my core exercises.
    4. Try one new to me workout - I was hoping to meet a friend on Friday for a new to us workout, but she's out of town. We'll see if I can squeeze this in.
  3. Run 100 miles in April. - I'm at 33 for the month. Not sure if I can hit 100.
  4. Run a 10K - Run is scheduled for a few weeks out!
  5. Finalize summer break plans & book all camps/childcare - I'm all ready to fax my last registration forms!
  6. Buy one tuition credit for each kid.- Haven't done this yet. And, we have some unexpected car repairs, so this may not happen in April.
  7. Pay an extra $1000 on the mortgage. - On track!
  8. File & pay for our taxes. Gulp. - Done!
  9. One date night with M. - Yes!
  10. Two get togethers with friends. - Nothing so far. I had something planned when the boys were with my parents, but my friend had to cancel.
  11. Clean out my closet & dressers. - Slowly working on this!
  12. Book last plane ticket for girls trip. - Done!
  13. Tackle one additional drawer or closet in the garage - sort, inventory & donate. - We made quite a bit of progress in the garage when the boys were out of town. Check!
  14. Read 2 books. - I read one while I was sick, small victory! ;-)
  15. Plan fun weekend with my nephew (for his spring break) - We had a great time on "cooking" weekend, and he described it as the highlight of his spring break!

How about you? How are you doing on your April goals?

4 comments:

  1. I hope you feel better soon!

    Do you have a Nook or Kindle or i-pad? All my reading anymore gets done on the pads because I have it when I am waiting anywhere.

    You have done fabulously on your goals so far - your list overwhelms me at times! ;)

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  2. I need to get back to reading, I am so behind. I've downloaded some free books from Kindle to my computer, but the last thing I want to do after sitting in front of a computer for 8hrs at work is sit and do more computer reading! (Trying hard to justify getting a kindle--so vain!). Feel better!

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  3. You're doing really well this month - despite being poorly! Hope you feel better soon.

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