January Goals Update

Alright! I told y’all about my goals for the year here. Now it’s time to check in and do a goals update to see how things are going.

Why? Well, I’m glad you asked!

If I want to make sure that I actually achieve my goals for the year (which I very much want to do), I need to check in here and there to see how things are going and adjust my course as necessary.

So here we go!

The Official January Goals Update

Continue exercising 5-6 days a week – Success!

I exercised 27 out of 31 days in January, which means I took off one day a week on average. I worked really hard at the end of last year to make daily exercise a habit and I feel like it has finally stuck. I’ve even gotten my fella to join my most days which makes it more fun and add a little push to do it on days I really don’t feel like it.

Start making an income from home – Still a work in progress.

This one hasn’t happened yet, but I’m working on it. I’ve got so many ideas of things I’d like to try and ways I know I could make some money, but I run out of steam after work and don’t have enough time and energy to really get going. It’s frustrating because I want this to happen, but it’s just going a have to be a bit more slow and gradual than I would like.

Save $1000 for retirement – 10% accomplished!

We’re a little bit ahead of this goal which is awesome! I transferred $100 to our IRA at the beginning of January. If we can do that every month we will be able to beat this goal. But we’ve got some big changed coming this year that might hinder our progress, so I’m happy to be a little bit ahead. Yes, we should save more for retirement, but for me working 30-something hours a week and the fella working 10-15 hours while going to school full time, this is at least better than nothing!

Save $1000 for a trip to Europe – 10% accomplished!

We’re doing well on this one too. I’d really like to travel to Europe this year, so I’m really making this goal a priority and am hoping to beat this goal (by a lot) and make the trip happen in the fall!

Stick to our monthly budget – Success, I think.

We did pretty well this month sticking to our budget. We went out to eat one too many times, but we paid for it with money from selling some junk we didn’t need anymore. I have a hard time knowing what to do with out eating out part of the budget. That’s where we struggle the most every month. It’s not that we don’t have food at home to eat or the time to make it. We just like to go out to eat and sometimes nothing at home sounds good! I don’t want to spend more on going out to eat because it’s obviously not necessary and an easy area to cut back, but I also don’t want to go over our budget because of wishful thinking. I’m going to keep our eating out budget the same for February and see how it goes, but if we go over I think I’ll up the amount for March. Budgets need to be realistic, after all.

Follow me on Instagram (there’s a link in the right column) for more photo fun: aka food I make, things I order from Amazon, and pictures of Mozzie.

It’s been a pretty mild winter so far, but that still means below freezing temps and plenty of snow. We spent January cuddled under blankets and staying warm. We were able to bundle up and take Mozzie for a walk almost every day and I made some special foods for fun (like the cinnamon swirl french toast and smoked Gouda mac and cheese below). We had some family time with my fella’s family and had some friends over for dinner.

⇒ How are you doing on your goals so far? I’d love to read about your progress!

This post is linked up to Frugal Friday

This post is linked up to Mom’s Small Victories