Monday, April 2, 2018

March Goals Recap

It's time to check in & see how I did with our March goals!

Financial:

  • Keep dining out to $150 - We finished the month with $130, so win!
  • Stay in budget for a long weekend I'm having with my Mom & Sister - Stayed within the budget, and kept the spending under $170. Goal was $150, so I'll call this a pass. 
  • Pay for plans on house remodel, so we can get a finalized budget & timeline, and make prioritization - We've done the first, and have a meeting for the second. 
  • Come up with one way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis - We've decided to invest in a rain water solution, to help with plant watering! Given California's drought, I'm loving this plan for the environmental impact, in addition to the cost savings. 
  • Earn another $400 in sidehustle money. Split this between college money for the kids, & an extra payment on our vacation house mortgage. - I made $416 on this! There was a comment a few posts back asking for more details. For my sidehustle, it's typically selling things we no longer need/want in a few ways (eBay, Facebook swap, Craigslist, etc). This was an unusually high month, as I had an old watch + a bike that Nick had outgrown. I also counted the $25 in Swagbucks that I converted into an Amazon gift card. 
  • Solve final tax issue & finalize paperwork -  handed off our final information, & just waiting for the documents to come back from the accountant. I sent a follow up email today to try & get the final forms to sign. 
Family:

  • Have one family evening together: cooking dinner, board games, etc - We've had a few fun evenings, particularly for my son's birthday. We made pizza & then played games together. 
  • Have a date night with my husband - Well, we made dinner & had wine together, but no evening out. It was still fabulous. 
  • Continue financial help (knowledge, not money) with sister & friend - Haven't done much this month so need to get this going again this month.
  • Determine timing & budget for adults only vacation - We have timing sorted, and a budget in place. 

Fitness/health:
  • Complete another full round of 21 Day Fix - Yes, and I'm definitely getting stronger!
  • Eat 5.5 servings a day of fruit & veggies - I'm at 4.9, so still working on getting to this.
  • Lose 4 pounds - Not 4 lbs, but I did lose a pound. Given how crazy March was, I'll be happy with the (extremely) slow & steady approach. 
  • Run at least 8 times - I got a couple of huge blisters on a run, so waited a bit to heal, & it's been hard to run (schedule wise) over the past week. So, I finished with 3/8. Really need to focus on this in April.
Work:
  • Work from home 1 day - Yes, I actually managed two days. 
  • Take two classes that I need for a work opportunity - Haven't started. Things have been crazy at work. 

Personal/creative:

  • Make one new recipe - Yes, I made a chicken fried rice recipe with fridge leftovers. 
  • Spend time with a friend - I had a mom/daughter weekend, so counting this. :-) 
  • Volunteer at least 1x - Signed up for a couple of things that happen in April.
  • Write for at least 4 hours on personal stuff - March was crazy, and this didn't happen
  • Summarize my findings from completing my Dream Bio, and plan to turn at least one of those findings into action. - Nope, and need to give this one more thought. 

Overall, March turned out to be significantly crazier than I expected. A long weekend with my family overlapped with a couple of big work weeks, and what I thought would be the "calmed down" work week was anything but. Also, Michael was out of town for 10 days, meaning I was juggling everything, which created some additional logistical challenges. I'm making progress in most areas, but there are some clear areas where I'm just prioritizing other things. And, that's okay. For everything, there is a season. :-)

I'm happy that I'm finally starting to see a bit of progress with the weight loss. Not necessarily on the scale, but my clothes are definitely fitting better, and I can see more muscle tone & strength training progress, so I'll gladly take that!

What about you? How did things go with your March goals? 

2 comments:

  1. We had a crazier March than expected too. No real goals...did stay under our grocery budget by a few bucks. Did eat down our freezer, likely can defrost it in May now. Congrats, even 1 lb is a victory. After leftovers today (ribs, potato salad and pie) I am going to go high protein low carb until we go to Italy and France (which will be high carb lol). I have been keeping up with my 11000 steps, tiring but I am burning more calories. No weight loss but it will happen at some point. I know I am more toned than last year when I was doing half as many steps in a day

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  2. Again, you have so many successes! White young kids it is hard and you seem to manage life very well. have a great week!

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