Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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

10 comments:

Lucy said...

I have also been keeping up with my gratitude journal, and it really centers me at the end of a trying day.

Dawn said...

Good for you FrugalChick!!

Anonymous said...

omg that looks EXACTLY like my hand every other day! haha...except, a male version and a bit harder to read scribble ;)

good work keeping your goals alive!

Dawn said...

Thanks J. Money! And hey, writing on your hand may be the frugal person's PDA.

Anonymous said...

"Frugal person's PDA" Hahahaha.

Congrats on getting as much done as you have. I guess I should do an update - but that would depress me.

Anonymous said...

You know, I think you're doing a great job with your goals. Even if you're not getting as much done as you'd like, you're at least holding yourself accountable here. I must admit, I'm doing terrible at my goals so far this year. And frankly, I feel out of balance as of late, so that's not really helping.

I was doing great on the weight loss goals, then gained some back. Now I have to kick it in gear and get better about it, because my friends wedding really is in three weeks. There's not much I can do in three weeks, but I'm working on it nonetheless. Time seriously slipped away from me.

You know, you may have talked about this in a previous post, but I've missed it. What sorts of things are you selling on eBay? Just things you've got around the house, or do you make stuff?

Dawn said...

Thanks Kristy! I've been doing what you did when you were trying to get out of debt - looking at my goals every day. Plus, posting them here keeps me on my toes, as I get toward the middle of the month I sometimes find myself thinking "Hmmm... how am I doing on my goals? Do I have stuff to write about?"

I sell just "stuff" on ebay. My mom and sister both have given me boxes of things that they want to get rid of that I can sell at a garage sale or online. I also just have acquired a lot of clutter that I can send off to a new home.

Dawn said...

Oceankarma - Do it anyway! That's what I love about my blog - it keeps me honest. (And motivates me for the next month.)

Lise F said...

I should do a review like this soon, too. I just finished one of my big goals for this year, so I'm pleased.

A gratitude journal is a great tool, I agree, to attracting more of what is good in your life through thankfulness. I've started keeping one myself.

Dawn said...

Lise - good for you on both your goals and your journal! Sounds like you have a great start to the year.