If you’re new here, every month I share how I’m doing with my goals for the year. This includes personal, blogging/business, and of course financial goals. This post holds me accountable to the goals I set every year, but more importantly, it helps my readers to see that having financial goals in place are the key to succeeding with money. If you need help setting financial goals, make sure you read this post here on the steps to setting financial goals.
Blogging
Contribute 25% of income to business emergency fund. – (Done this month. )
Attend 2 Conferences –
- FinCon16 – T-Minus 3 weeks!!!!
- I’ve decided to only attend FinCon this year – I really wanted to attend Business Boutique again but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me this year.
Have signed contract with literary agent by December 31st. I have decided that it’s in my and my family’s best interest to not pursue this one this year. As much as I’d like to be traditionally published, it doesn’t make sense for the stage of life I’m in currently.
Release one eCourse by October 1st. DONE!!! Real Life Money Plan actually released yesterday! Click here to see it! 🙂
Have an average of 500,000 PVS a month by December 31st.
- PVS for August 2016: 137,148 ….ugh. Well they’re at least going up sightly…..
Make One Media Appearance – TV or Radio – You can listen to the episode that I was on here – I’m towards the end of the show.
Speak at at least one event
Increase Facebook followers to 10,000 by July 31st. I’m super close to meeting this goal number! So, even though it wasn’t within the timeframe that I wanted, I’m still happy. 🙂
Increase email subscribers to 15,000 by August 1st.
- Current number: 15,422 (I didn’t meet this by Aug 1st but hey, I made it by Sept 1st! 😉 )
If you’re interested in learning more about blogging and seeing my income reports from the blog, sign up here and I’ll send out once-a-month blogging advice with my income report. 🙂
Read at least 5 books on business/blogging
What I want to read:
- Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis
Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy…Create a Mass of Raving Fans…and Take Any Business to the Next LevelLaunch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your DreamsThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change- Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
- See You at the Top
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
- The Compound Effect
- Blog at Home Mom: Balancing Blogging and Motherhood
- Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Me and my mama with my crew….
Personal
Continue using the Tupler Techniques every day. (These are found in the book, Lose Your Mummy Tummy) – I have been failing at doing these consistently.
Complete P90X by December 31st – Still have not started this! I’m trying to convince my hubs to do these with me. 🙂
Read at least 2 books just for me.
- The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World- The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
- My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Losing and Leaving Friends
Marriage Goals
Write one love note to Pat a month. Totally forgot to do this again this month….
Plan at least one date night every 6 months.
Read at least 3 books on Marriage:
- 52 Ways to Wow Your Husband
- 31 Days to a Happy Husband
- The 4 Seasons of Marriage: Secrets to a Lasting Marriage
- The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
100 Ways to Love Your Husband: A Life-Long Journey of Learning to Love
Mothering Goals
Spend at least 30 minutes every day playing with my children. I was very inconsistent with this one….
Write in Motherhood gratitude journal every day. (Done.)
Plan a date night with my boys once every 6 months.
Read one new book every month with boys. (We read two! Peter Pan and some Dinosaur one….I don’t remember the title. 🙂 )
Read at least 1 book on Parenting/Motherhood.
- The 5 Love Languages of Children
- Raising Your Spirited Child
- Making Children Mind without Losing Yours
Love Rebel: Reclaiming Motherhood
Spiritual Goals
Complete 1 Bible Study. (Done) – I’m actually doing my 3rd one with the women’s group at church.
Volunteer once at our church. (Done. I’m helping with the nursery while my women’s group meets.)
Read Bible Daily through Blessed is She. (Done. )
Read at least 2 books on Christianity.
- 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration
- How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholics
- Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux
- The Temperament God Gave You: The Classic Key to Knowing Yourself, Getting Along with Others, and Growing Closer to the Lord
- Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children: Short Stories for Catholic Children with a Moral and a Prayer following each Anecdote.
- The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time
Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids- Chiara Corbella Petrillo
Financial Goals
BIG UPDATE********** Okay, so now that I have your attention, I have a few big updates. The first is that we made it! We completed our 3-month emergency fund [INSERT HAPPY DANCE]. 🙂
The second is that my husband quit his job…without having another job lined up. I’m just happy he’s free of that toxic company. Now, I know it sounds scary that there is no other job waiting in the wing and trust me, my type-A-self has been a little nervous about it, but you know what? I’m not stressed about. And in my opinion, that’s the true definition of financial freedom. 🙂
3- Month fully-fund emergency fund by December 31st – goal is $10,500.
- Current Balance: $10,635.72 <— WE.DID.IT!!!!!
New goal:
- Save $4,000 for a new roof by December 31st…..let’s see if we make it happen! (Because we don’t have anything saved yet towards this goal…)
Pay mortgage principal down by $10,000 by December 31st.
- Owed on mortgage as of December 2015 is: $33,835.25
- Current Balance: $30,145.51
Read at least 1 Financial book:
What I Want to Read:
- The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year
- Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After
- The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke
- Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World: A book to encourage, educate, inform, and inspire.
- Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future
What I read:
The Recovering Spender by Lauren Greutman – if you’re a spender, read this book. Honestly, it was written for you and if you’re a saver and are married to a spender. You should read it so you can better understand what a spender goes through. It’s definitely an enlightening read for sure!
How are you doing with your goals so far this year?
Are you ready to find your tribe?
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Congrats on the course launch, hitting your e-mail subscriber goal, AND hitting your emergency fund goal!! Great month, Jessi! 🙂
Thank you Emily! 🙂
Honestly, your husband leaving a job that made him unhappy sounds exciting for him and your family. Good luck!
Congrats on your achievements this month, especially the emergency fund! And good luck to your husband with his job search. I totally agree with you about the definition of financial freedom!
I remember when I quit my job my husband didn’t have a job yet! Like you said is what we were able to do thanks to our financial freedom! Congratulations on reaching your goals and wishing you all the best on this latest chapter of your journey.
I quit my job earlier this year, with nothing lined up, after a prolonged and extracted workplace disagreement. Work was ugly. I stayed there too long because it was easier to stay there than to leave, until suddenly it wasn’t. Leaving was the best thing I could’ve done. I’m happier now; I’ve been able to really be there for my MIL, who recently went through breast cancer treatment (I was able to take her to her chemo appointments and sit with her for that); my husband’s been able to lean into his job – and here’s the weird part: For months I prayed that somehow we’d be able to replace my lost income by the time my pay actually ‘ran out’. (I got a very good package when I left and was paid through until mid-August.) Start of July, my husband was able to become a partner in his firm, which came with a big raise. It’s not quite enough to make up for my lost income but between the raise, and significantly lower expenses (especially for my car – I was doing about 1000 kilometres a week which is a lot of petrol and wear and tear; and I’ve also saved on clothing, and on food since I can cook more and rely less on convenience foods) we’re within a whisker of where we were when we were both working. I’ve started to apply for other jobs but I’m being very picky about it; and if it doesn’t happen, that’s fine too. You will be fine. Really and truly.
Wow! 137,000 views per month is A LOT. While having a 500,000 goals is great, whatever you achieved up to date is something to be proud of.
My goal is to read a bit more this fall, same with sewing and learning a few sewing related things. I have several Craftsy tutorials waiting To be watched.
Thank you so much Mariana! My struggle is that I started this year off with just over 400,000 page views so it’s a hard humble pill to sallow. lol And I would love to learn how to sew better – I swear, I’m the worst when it comes to sewing!
I don’t know how you can keep track of so many goals! But, it’s great to see you knocking them off the list one by one.
I can only keep track of one goal. Every year I make one big goal and then direct all my effort at it.
My goals are something like “Kill Debt, 2015” or “Buy 5 rental properties, 2014”.. I’m not a great multitasker it seems.
I love seeing these updates! Congrats on the Emergency Fund and I love the goals you have for the end of the year on paying mortgage down. They seem like really great goals. I will keep watching for the next update:)