2018 Goals - Final Wrap Up

I can't believe it, but it's the last day of the year! I'm looking forward to setting a fresh new set of goals for 2019, & refining my focus for the year ahead.

1) Financial:

• Build/follow a 2018 "interim budget" (until I leave my job) & a 2018 "post-job budget", after. - I didn't end up leaving my job in 2018, but I do have a revised budget for when I eventually leave my job. To be honest, we've made so many tweaks to date to lower our expenses, the budget looks pretty similar from a spending perspective. 
• Save another $125K before I quit - I would have been at $110K, but we opted to put $200K into paying off our vacation house, so I'm now under for the year. Additionally, we paid for air conditioning & solar this year, so I'm feeling very happy about our progress.
• Every month, come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis. - We weren't consistent on the monthly cadence, but I'm considering it an overall win: 
• I started using a handkerchief instead of kleenex. However, my plan to get more (for the rest of the family) fell through. I now have an old sheet saved, & I'd like to sew these in 2019.
• We installed solar! This is the biggest win in this category. ;-)
• We paid off our vacation house! No more mortgage payments.
• I found a recipe for my favorite store hummus, avoiding the need to buy. 
• We discussed a rainwater solution (didn't implement) & cancelling Amazon Prime also didn't implement), so those are opportunities for 2019.
• We can charge our electric car for free at work, and thus haven't needed to install a charger at our house. 
• We replaced our battery powered outdoor lights with solar powered
• We bought flasks for everyone, and have both kept them for months (a win with the kids), but have used them to replace water out while traveling. We also gifted them to my dad & nephew on a long car trip, and now everyone wants one. They are awesome, and keep water cold for 12+ hours. We bought ours at Costco. 
• Model out a 3, 5 & 10 year financial plan - We actually spent quite a bit of time modeling out what it would take to pay off our primary residence. There's always more work to do here, but I feel reasonably good with what we have to date. I'm sure life with throw more curve balls at us, either way. :-) 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Do a minimum of one fun activity/month with the kids. This can be family puzzle night, cooking dinner together, board games, going out somewhere, etc. - This happened. Not sure it happened every month, but definitely had months where we had more than one activity as well, so considering this a win. We also had lots of fun time together over the Thanksgiving & Christmas breaks. So many rounds of Yahtzee! 
• Be more present with the kids & M - play games, minimize computer time, exercise together, etc. - I'd still like to shave another hour of computer time (work, etc) off of my day, but overall, this has gone well.
• Have two dates with M per month (one lunch, one evening) - Yes, although it was realistically one per month + a weekend getaway. 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. - Nope. I've lost a few pounds for the year, but nowhere near 20 lbs. 

• Make running a consistent part of my life. Build & follow a training plan, & run a half marathon. - Yes! I ran the half marathon. I wasn't as consistent as I'd like, but I'll take it. 

• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - I'm at about 4.12, so close but not quite.
• Get back to more actively tracking my calories, at least until I start to see a consistent weight drop - I do this regularly. 
• Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio - Nailed it! Already over 10,000 minutes. 
• Complete 100 strength workouts. - Yes! Last one on the agenda for today. 
• Complete 75 stretching workouts. Make yoga a consistent part of my life. - I'm at 40, which is an uptick from previous years, but nowhere near 75. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress (until I leave) - It's still hard, but I've made some big strides here. Knowing the end is in sight has been really helpful for my perspective. 

• Determine an end date for my job. Tentatively scheduled for end of June. And then, quit my job. Really. Do. This. - Well, when I advised my manager of my plan to leave, they offered me a sabbatical. So, I'll be taking that instead & then determining if I'm coming back part time, or at all. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Learn how to cut my own hair - Nope. I got two haircuts for the year & . . . paid! 
• Learn how to make yogurt - Yes! Well, I made it once, and it went fine, but now my stomach rejects yogurt, so I haven't been buying or making it.
• Make time for my friends. Do something social at least once per month. - While I haven't achieved once/month & have actually spent less time on small interactions (walking, meeting friends for lunches), I've done a few get togethers over longer weekends, etc. I did a girls trip in April & July. I also have a few friend lunches scheduled over the upcoming months, but this is an area where I can do better. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - I've been pretty sporadic on this one, and need to find a flexible volunteering role. 
• Complete a Dream Bio (stolen from Frugalwoods) - Done.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about my progress this year. There is always plenty of room for improvement, but we had a lot of wins this year! How about you? How did you do with your goals this year?