A Look at My 2009 Goals So Far

Last month was an excellent month for me. I got a small windfall in the form of a year end bonus, which technically should have been paid out in January, but actually showed up on the February paycheck. One upon a time my company gave out quite considerable bonuses, but this year it was quite a bit smaller. Still, you didn't hear one person complain since none of expected anything at all! I received a tiny bit in interest from my banking - its a real shame, even though I am stocking more money away, as interest rates are dropping, I've been getting smaller and smaller returns. Ah well! I also sold a few things on eBay, Half and Amazon (though not as much as I'd like.) And finally, I worked two different part time jobs, which frankly was the bulk of the $900 and got $3.00 for completing a Pinecone survey. Whew!

In addition to my $900 a month goal, I also have set some goals for 2009. I try to update here in my blog each month how I am doing on these so I can keep me on target. So, how did I do?

Financial

One month of emergency savings - I still currently have about a third of this goal completed. Each month I add $50 to it, but that won't be enough to get me to the goal by the end of the year - I need a windfall so this where my tax refund is headed.

Credit card paid off - My credit card is now under $450.00! I am paying over $100 each month so I will have this paid off in just a few months. Seriously I cannot wait!

Three eBay items per week - Oh my goodness, I was terrible at this! Just awful this month. However, I did manage to list quite a few things on Amazon and Half - one of which sold in a few hours!! Still, I have got to get back in the eBay habit. Last month I was incredibly busy with the two part time jobs (in addition to my 40 hour a week day job) but in March I won't have much extra paying work. I am going to have to rely on some heavy duty selling.

Get an additional $900 per month - Last month I said February was going to be my month and I was right! I hit my goal and beyond. Yay!! The downside is that I had a few extra bills during the month, so my surplus won't stretch as far as I'd like. That is why I am excited about my No Spending Challenge for this month. I need to save me some pennies!

Home Improvement

Paint my house - Can't give this one a color yet because there wasn't anything I could do about last month. Hopefully this month or next I can start getting quotes from house painters. I also need to find a handyman to rebuild one of my wooden porch railings. That has to get fixed before I can paint.

Create a compost pile - While there isn't a whole lot I can do in these cold winter months, I did contact a friend of mine about getting some extra wood pallets. I recently read about a compost pile design using old pallets for fencing and it looked cool. My pal mentioned that she could score me some from her work, so I am definitely moving ahead with this.

Winterize my home in preparation for next year - I got this started, but have a long, long way to go. I found a bad leak on my back door and purchased some weatherstripping to try and fix it... but haven't installed it yet. Again, the busyness of last month was intense. However, I plan to get this done this month.

Paint my bedroom - Once again I am giving the celery colored header of "well, I tried." I continue to hunt for scones on eBay. Didn't really find any winners and can't buy them this month anyway due to my Challenge, so while I did what I could last month, I am going to have to come up with a different way to push this forward in March.

Fix up my attic - Much like last month, I didn't touch this product. I did actually make it up into the attic this time. I walked up there, looked around, and left. This is still on my list though. There is a lot I can do to this room to make it better, even without spending money.

Personal

Self Schooling - I did a bunch of research on books I can read about my field. Since I can't get back into school at the moment, reading on my own time has a lot of appeal. The downside of this was that I found that there weren't a lot of everyday reading books in my field. Most of them were pretty stuffy looking tomes better suited for being in a library. The bright side of that is that I am pretty sure they can be found at the library. now I just need to dust off my old library card.

Gratitude Journal - I've been continuing to write in my Gratitude Journal regularly. It continues to be a great tool for helping me realize how much I have.

How are you doing on your New Years Resolutions or Goals for the year?

Photo by: *Nomi* & Malcolm