Friday, October 21, 2016

A few milestones achieved, and TGIF

So very happy it's Friday. I've had more lupus related aches & pains this week, and I'm looking forward to working from home today. The boys don't have school, so I'm taking them to a sports camp. Hopefully it will wear them out. ;-)

We have a long, soccer filled weekend (shocking ;-)), and it's our 11th anniversary on Saturday! We're going to dinner with the boys, and then next weekend will have our two night getaway. Can't wait.

Do you ever feel like you aren't making any progress, and then you step back to actually measure the results & you realize you're doing better than you thought? It's very much a marathon, and I want to see quick progress that isn't happening. ;-) But, I AM actually making progress, despite how it can feel. Now, on to the milestones.

Milestone One:

I've had a goal of paying $100,000 off of our mortgage on our vacation house, & achieved that goal yesterday. Woohoo! This has been a long slog to pay off that much, of course. It wasn't in one shot, sadly. :-) We don't actually aggressively pay this off (it's at a 3.5% interest rate), but I still like to see the balance go down. We've owned the house for seven years, as context. Remaining on the loan is $232,004. My next goal is to get below $200,000. I like having these smaller milestones along the way. See above with the marathon. ;-)

Milestone Two:

I've achieved my savings goal for leaving my job! I am pretty shocked that I achieved this well before January, when I'm expecting a large cash bonus. This is great news, as I can divert my bonus towards maxing my 401K (already the plan), saving for 2016 taxes owed, and then either make additional payments towards our mortgage, or save additional cash. I flip back & forth between the latter two. I currently have around 5 years of expenses saved (my part of the household expenses - my budgeting assumes M will continue to pay the expenses his paycheck covers), so I'm leaning towards continuing the mortgage pay down. As far as my work plans, I'm trying to decide between leaving in January or March. Right now, it looks like staying until March will yield and extra $20K, so probably worth it. The dates are also dependent upon our relocation plans (more on that in another post), so I'll adjust as we go along.

HAPPY FRIDAY! So happy with both of these milestones. And, for you, what's a milestone that you've recently achieved? Brag so we can all celebrate with you. :-) 

12 comments:

  1. Those are both great milestones! Plus you can start counting down the end date for your job which mentally is fabulous! Definitely little bite sized chunk goals is the way to goal with that debt. Sounds like you are doing really other well other than feeling the pits. I am ok but the rain is getting me down. We had the first sun since October 5th yesterday so I pushed the dog into the yard and ripped out all my flowers. It was nice to get the sun but it went away far too fast and today is stormy, rainy and thundering. Might have to get the SAD light out.

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    1. Oh yes, I am definitely beginning to count down the days. :-) In fact, 154 days, or 22 weeks, if I last until March. Not that I'm counting or anything.

      My sister is near Portland & has been saying the same thing about the weather. It's making me a little nervous to move back. It's one thing when you've grown up your entire life like that (me), but once you've lived in the sunshine for a few years, I worry that the transition is going to be a big challenge.

      Hope you get more sun this weekend!!

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  2. So true that we can't often see the progress in small glimpses, but need the bigger picture. Congratualtions on reaching those milestones, and I know wyou will make the decsions that are best for you and your family.

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    1. Thank you! It's so hard to assess progress in daily intervals - it's much easier with a bit of perspective.

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  3. You might not be able to see how gigantic your progress is, but from the outside looking in, it is massive. Snails pace or immediate doesn't matter. Just smile and enjoy your results!

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    1. Aww, thank you! Treated myself today to an iced tea & breakfast sandwich at Starbucks. I had a gift card, & decided to celebrate my milestones. I've never thought about it, but when you don't do something all of the time (i used to be a Starbucks regular, but now rarely go), it really is a treat!

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  4. Congrats on your milestones! And, happy anniversary! Sorry about your lupus flare up...as someone with MS, I can completely relate! Enjoy your busy weekend! =)

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  5. Fabulous progress! You really knocked it out of the park - how great to have the freedom to make those decisions.

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    1. Thank you! Agree, it feels so different to have the flexibility to drive my own decisions in this regard. Woohoo! :-)

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    1. Thank you!! It's so nice to see the progress. :-)

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