2015 Goals Update #8

What a crazy month August has been! I got myself completely off track and then back on track only to get off track again. Ugh. Partly due to being very pregnant (I’ve totally reached that point in my pregnancy where I am just d-o-n-e being pregnant…) and mostly due to my nerves getting the best of me since FinCon is only in a couple of weeks and I have to speak….in front of people. [INSERT FREAK OUT]

Any who…I have some exciting news to share with y’all! 

Starting tomorrow, I’m hosting a 21 Days to a Better Budget series with several other bloggers that are nothing short of amazing! I’m super excited about this series as I truly believe that it will be super helpful and I love reading other people’s perspectives on common budgeting issues. So, make sure you check back tomorrow for the start of our new series! 🙂

Blogging

I swear, I’ve gotten so far behind with the blog. I’ve been struggling keeping up with the comments on social media and here on the blog, so if I haven’t responded to your comment, I truly am sorry! I’ve definitely let the comments get away from me and I’m hoping to get back on track before I head of to FinCon in a couple of weeks!

My affiliate income is way down this month due to several of the affiliate programs I’ve been a part of decided to switch platforms and no longer offer some of their products. 

My total income after expenses was….$1,204.72 which is still pretty awesome to me! 🙂

If you’re interested in how I work my affiliate sales, you can sign up here to grab my free Affiliate Marketing eBook!

Here are my blogging goals specifics:

• Finish creating my pinning schedule and strategy.  ( I seriously love using Boardbooster and if you’re not already using it, you can  sign up here for a FREE trial! 🙂 
• Create my Facebook sharing strategy. (I’m still working my way through Amy Porterfield’s Jumpstart Your Facebook Marketing Strategy and so far, I love it! )
• Keep pageviews at 200,000 and increase to 500,000 by the end of the year. (You can read how I more than doubled my pageviews here.) (My pvs in August were: 219,396.)
• Professional blog design. (Currently working with Pixel Me Designs) (Done)
• Find three brands to establish a working relationship with for underwritten posts. (Done!)
• Complete media kit by April 1^st. (Done) 
• Complete Business Plan by April 30th. (Done) 
• Finish my next book by my birthday (March 29^th) and publish by June on Amazon. (Done – Grab it here.*)
• Increase my minimum writing goal from 500 words per post to 700 words per post. (I managed to make this one happen consistently this month.)
• Keep editorial calendar with at least two weeks months of posts, written and scheduled & a month out with planned posts. (I got off track a little this month and found myself having to play catch up a lot. Thankfully, my friend Brittany from Equipping Godly Women came through for me last week with her amazing guest post! THANK YOU Brittany! 🙂 )
• Attend one blog conference. (Waiting on FinCon.)
• Research and implement better SEO tactics and improve search engine traffic on my site. (Done…for now. 🙂 )
• Bring Alexa Global rating below 100,000 and U.S. rating below 15,000. (Both my Global and US rankings went – not by much, but I’ll take what I can get! 🙂 Global is currently:196,115 and U.S. is currently: 39,019)

 
Personal

Preschool has been amazing for my boys. I love hearing about their days and seeing them grow in such incredible ways. Education is something that my hubs and I take seriously and having this opportunity has been such a blessing to our family. 

In my My Total Money Failure post, I shared some of the drama currently going on with this pregnancy. I’ll be 34 weeks this week, and I’ve officially hit the D-O-N-E stage of pregnancy – all you mamas out there know the stage I’m talking about. The one where you just don’t want to be pregnant anymore and want to feel somewhat normal again stage. :-/ Anyway, Charlotte seems to be doing fine right now, so hopefully she’ll continue to grow healthy and happy and will make her entrance by the end of September….a few weeks early. 😉 But my babies tend to go over so I’m not holding out too much hope there. 

This weekend (Labor Day weekend for all my U.S. readers) we’ll be heading back up to the mountains of North Carolina for my Daddy’s memorial service. We decided to have it at one of my Daddy’s favorite places – Davidson River, where he used to take me fishing as a little girl. I’m excited to see my extended family again and to see my brother (the U.S. Marine) again who has been in California for training since July! So, even though I know it will be an emotional weekend, I’m looking forward to celebrating my Daddy’s life in the way he would have wanted us to – burgers on the grill, the sound of rushing water, and ice cold beer in the cooler…well beer for everyone else. 🙂

Collin turned two this month! He’s our little Miracle Baby and if you don’t follow my email newsletter, click here to read the story of how Collin is our little miracle. 🙂 

Here are my personal goals specifics:

• Begin working out using the Tupler Technique to fix my diastasis. (I am following the workouts in Lose Your Mummy Tummy *) (I have had to stop doing these but I’m going to leave this on the list as I plan to pick it back up after I have Charlotte.)
• Work out three times a week for ten to fifteen minutes and then increase length of workouts to thirty minutes to an hour and to simultaneously increase the intensity. (Changed to the goal below)
• Spend 30 minutes every day in active play with the boys (walking the neighborhood, playing hide-n-seek, “monster”, or other games they want to play). (Due to crazy contractions, I won’t be doing a lot of this until after Charlotte arrives….)
• Write in gratitude journal every day. (I am using Money Saving Mom’s gratitude journal, Choose Gratitude * – amazing!) (Done.)
• Read daily Bible reading and journal about the scriptures read every day. (Done.)
• Schedule a paid date night and paid family night/event once a quarter. (My hubs and I had a pretty amazing at home date night a few weeks ago, but we haven’t planned anything “paid” yet as September is looking like it will be a crazy busy month for us.)
• Increase daily water intake to full eight glasses of water a day and continue detox regimen with lemon essential oil. (Totally fell off the wagon with this one this month…)
• Spend thirty minutes to one hour two times a week working with Conner on preschool learning activities. Spend same time working with Collin on tot school activities. (We’ll be shelving this for now since the boys will be attending preschool.)
• Drastically reduce the amount of personal time spent on Facebook, by leaving groups and un-liking pages that just clog up my newsfeed. Use the News Feed Eradicator extension for Chrome to keep me from being sucked into Facebook’s “should-have-left-it-in-high-school” drama. (I struggled hardcore this month making this happen but I did it! I hate how easy it is to get caught up in Facebook’s drama!)

Financial

It happened! I still can’t believe that we made it happen — my students loans are PAID OFF!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! I seriously cried when I saw the balance at zero. But as I mentioned in my We’re Rich post, we aren’t done yet with the debt monster….we still have the mortgage left. We’re in the process of figuring out our game plan for the mortgage and setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal for it, so once we do, I’ll update y’all! 🙂 

Here are our financial specifics:

• Pay off student loans by December 31^st. Total balance at the beginning of the year: $20,106.81 (DONE!!!!!!!! Hallelujah, praise Jesus!) 🙂
• Contribute the max allowed percentage to hubs’ 401(k) plan and continue contributing $30 a week to my Roth IRA. Will increase my contribution amount if goal of paying off student loans is met before the end of the year. We will be decreasing the amount contributed to our emergency fund in order to build up our retirement funds. (Done.)
• Go back to carrying cash only for all purchases. (We’re slowly getting better and better at this. My hubs is loving his cash budget so far, even though he likes to borrow money from his different envelopes, but other than that he’s doing pretty well with it. I’m still working on making sure I pull out enough cash for me to avoid using my debit card.)
• Plan and implement a spending freeze. (Still have not done this…..)
• Set aside $10 every week towards our Christmas fund for a debt-free Christmas (it will be our third one!). (Done! We have enough Swagbucks* earnings to pay for Christmas this year). 
• Complete Financial Peace University by September 30th. (Okay, so we didn’t even do this at all this month so I’m going to have to change the original completion date to something that is hopefully more realistic with my hubs’ insane-never-stay-the-same work schedule. New date is December 31st….)

Reading List 

Stand and Deliver * by Dale Carnegie – If you’re a public speaker or an aspiring one, you MUST read this book! My analytic brain did have a bit of challenge reading this; mostly due to the fact that it was written in more of “speaking” style than “textbook” style, but overall I learned so much from it and I can’t wait to use my new-found knowledge in a few weeks at Fincon! (***I actually bought this book as a used library book. So, make sure you check out your local library to see if they have this one for sale. You might be able to grab it up at a great price or just check it out for free from your library! 🙂 )

Death by a Honeybee * by Abigail Keam – I don’t normally fiction stories because I prefer non-fiction and I tend to get way too sucked in to stories. 🙂 However, I LOVED this book and I can’t wait to read the other stories in her series! Maybe it is because it’s set in one of my favorite states…where only the Bluegrass grows, Kentucky, but I just found myself totally immersed in this mystery story.  

Blogger’s Quick Guide to Working with a Team * by Rebecca Livermore – Rebecca is the former content manager for both Amy Porterfield and Michael Hyatt and I’m so honored that she asked me to review her book! It’s awesome! Seriously, I’ve been struggling with determining what areas of my business I need to hire help for and what areas to keep doing myself and this book has totally helped me figure that out. If you’re a blogger and struggling with what areas to hire help with and how to even get started, I highly recommend you read this one!

Drumroll Please!!! This was by far my favorite book —

Putting God First * by Brittany – I love Brittany and her blog, Equipping Godly Women and this book…goodness. It’s just what I needed! If you’re struggling with putting God first in your life and making Him a priority, I encourage you to read this book. I actually read some of it with my hubs and we both gained so much from it. It was a much needed reality check for sure. She’s actually giving away her book free for a limited time only, so make sure you grab it up now! You won’t regret it!

Have you grabbed my new book, Real Life on a Budget yet? If not you can grab it here. 🙂 

What big accomplishments have you mastered so far this year? Share them below – I’d love to cheer you on!

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