May Update~

We are one week into summer, and I have felt a sense of relief wash over my body.  My stress level is down, I have more energy, and I just feel better.  What a great feeling it is to be able to focus on my family and myself! So here's our goal check in for May.

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when
 we made the goal, we are now down to  62% 58% 
of the loan left.  I did make an extra payment on 
this one this month, but with both of our birthdays,
 our anniversary, and graduation gifts, this 
month was a little thin.  I'm hoping to get 
some headway in June.

2. Establish a will
Ehh, nothing done here yet.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
So here's the truth.  I've tried to have a baby
 now for 14 months.  No dice.  I went through
 6 months of fertility treatments and still no 
baby.  To be honest, my heart has just been
 broken for the better part of the last 9 months.  
We have together decided to just let it be and
 continue on with the family we have for the 
time being.  There has been a peace that has 
come over me with this decision done.  I'm still
 incredibly sad that I may never hold a baby 
again that is mine, but in time, I'm hopeful my
 heart can find peace with this.  So, I'm back to
 reading the Bible as I'm not as hurt as I was 3
 months ago.  I've got a ways to go yet, but with 
this lovely pace of summer, I think I will get 
back on track.  

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read  14 18 books so far in 2014. My 
escape has been to read in solitude.  I've been
 reading off of the United Methodist Woman 
reading list this last month.  I read 3 books 
from it, and they were all great and inspiring, 
which is what my heart really needs right now. 
 I also finished Mitch Albom's new book, The 
First Phone Call from Heaven.  I have loved his 
work in the past-note 2 of my top 5 books are his 
titles.  I was disappointed in this book, as it did 
not have the inspiration the others did.  I couldn't
 tell you how many times I have read Tuesdays
 with Morrie, but it is a lot!  This one does not
 have the readability of Tuesdays with Morrie,
 although it did have a great lesson to it.  I'm 
at a standstill with the UMW list until I can get
 my hands on another title, so I have picked
 up a fun read I received for my birthday for
 my next title!

Rowan and I are also working hard on his 
reading!  He's getting pretty fluent, and it is 
exciting to see him grow as a reader.  It melts my heart. 

Yesterday Alex and I celebrated our 10th wedding
 anniversary.  Gosh, time flies.  Tonight we are headed
 to Kansas City for dinner at The Melting Pot and a 
night to ourselves at Chateau Avalon
!  I'm a little excited!  

April Goal Update~

The school year is fast approaching an end.  I'm not going to complain about that one little bit, but it means that another month has flown by.  We are still working through our goals here!

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when 
we made the goal, we are now down to  70% 62% 
of the loan left.  I'm working hard to throw 
everything extra at this. Alex hates it when I 
get in this mode, because we really don't buy 
anything except food and bare necessities;-)  
Good for the loan, not so good for the husband 
that likes to spend money.  He will survive,
 though, I'm sure.  May won't be near as 
exciting as we have both of our birthdays, 
our wedding anniversary, and Mother's Day 
in the mix.  

2. Establish a will
We talked about this tonight-perhaps 
because I knew I was going to update the 
blog.  I need to just push Alex on this since
 he is the one that will make the contact.  

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I read the Bible 2 days this month.  Fail!  
The Big Man upstairs and I are not on the 
best terms right now, so this has hampered 
my desire to actually read the Bible.  I'm 
working through my frustrations, and I 
still hope to get back on track this summer.  
Perhaps, by then, my heart will be in a much
 better position than it is right now.  

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 9 14 books so far in 2014. Since I'm 
not reading the Bible, this has freed up more 
time to read for pleasure;-)  I didn't read 
anything Earth shattering this month.  My 
favorite of the 5 was a book titled, Trash,
by Andy Mulligan.  It is about three boys 
who live in a dump-literally.  They find 
something in the dump that changes 
everything about their life.  It was a fast 
YA read, and it really brought great imagery
 to the level of poverty many live in everyday.

Goals Update~

Spring break is winding down, and so is stress-free lifestyle;-)  With that, I figured I should update my goals here, so I can track where I'm at.  Spring is always crazy in our house, so I'm guessing this one will be no different.  It feels good to mark progress when it is had, so here goes.

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when we made the goal, we are now down to 81% 70% of the loan left.  Progress!

2. Establish a will
Nothing done on this one yet.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I've not been the best at keeping up with this.  I won't lie, the old testament about sends me into a nap every time.  It is challenging to read, and I'm not enjoying it.  I don't mind the new testament, but unfortunately we are reading both.  I'm not giving up, but I must reestablish my motivation to really finish this goal out in 2014.

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 5 9 books so far in 2014.  I read two over spring break.  Woot!  I feel like I am in good shape on this one! 

Goals Update~

We are about 2 months into 2014, so it is time to check the progress on the goals.  So here they are...

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when we made the goal, we are now down to 81% of the loan left.  I have made good progress on this goal working at maybe not gazelle intensity but more like deer intensity;-)

2. Establish a will
We have met with the financial adviser in 2014, and he gave us another name.  This kind of thing is really a Big Al initiative.  I might have to provide him some encouragement to get some progress going.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I have been fairly religious.  I'm a few days behind right now, but I am still plugging away at the goal. 

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 5 books so far this year.  I'm probably going to need to put a little more energy into this goal.  I didn't account for the whole Bible reading thing into my time commitments when I made this goal.  I failed to realize Bible reading would take time away from my fun reading;-)

2014 Goals~

Goals

2013 is almost behind us, and 2014 is going to be here in a couple of days. I have found success in making financial and personal goals to help focus my time and energy in the coming year.  I have also learned to make fewer goals to help keep the momentum.  At this stage of my life and commitments, less is more;-)

So, here is a look at how 2013 shook out.

1. Save enough money to replace Jolie's car by August 1, 2013 in cash!
Well, we purchased a 2008 GMC Acadia in January.  Truth be told, my car was really going to need some work, so we made the decision to go ahead and buy the new vehicle.  I love my new car, but not the payment so much;-)

2. Go on one family vacation for at least 5 days out of the state of Kansas paid for in cash!
We went to Table Rock Lake near Branson, MO, last summer.  You can read about it here. It was perfect for our season of life.  Rowan was just asking when summer would be here.

3. Read 23 books from January 1 until December 31!  
I updated my Goodreads account last night with what I could remember I had read this year.  I completed a reading program for our UMW unit, read a smattering of YAL, a few self-help books, a couple of inspirational books, and then my typical romance/murder mystery.  I really go through phases of what I get sucked into, but I can definitely cross this one off the list. 

So onto 2014 we go!!

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
Currently, this fund has 24% of the original loan left that we started paying on 9.5 years ago.  It is finally at a manageable level, so I am hopeful this one can be gone in 2014!  If we are successful, it will be a whole four years early!  Squeal!

2. Establish a will
This has been on our list before, and we still have not got it taken care of-our financial adviser will be so disappointed:-(  This is really a priority for 2014~

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
Our pastor organized this challenge for many in our church.  I outlined the plan here. We started on December 1, and Big Al is doing it too!

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have learned this year that I must take time to fill my own cup.  I really could work 24 hours a day.  My sanity must not do that, and I must take time to do the things I enjoy.  Reading is one of those things, so I'm increasing my book total for 2014.

Goals, Goals, Goals...

I haven't always set goals. There were days in my life when I just went with the flow and used the mantra, "What will be, will be." You can read how our life worked on this mantra here.:-)

 Goals help focus me in a direction. They give me a challenge to aspire to meet, but there is a problem. They stress me out:-) Goals not only give me something to work towards, but they also create an expectation within myself to meet said challenge. I'm competitive in nature, and I would rather not lose at my own game;-)

Here are last year's goals Alex and I set together. The last update is from September. 

1. Get PMI taken off of our Home Loan -Done in February!

 2. Pay off Alex's small student loan ($641.00 to be exact)-Done in June!

3. Save enough money to replace Jolie's car by November 1, 2013 in cash! I was able to add to this fund in September, and we are up to 47% of our target at the moment.  If I add in the value of our car, which we will either sell or trade in, I am up to 67% of our target.  Not bad!  Accountability sure helps the results;-)  Hopefully next month I'll have good news too~ 


 We conquered the first two pretty quickly, but the third goal was boisterous to say the least.  I got frustrated with it, and I just quit on it for a while. Life happened, I threw my hands up in the air, and I believe my exact words were, "Goals are stupid!"

It is not true.  Goals are not actually stupid.  They simply place the expectation in front of me, so I am more prompted to take actions to move myself in that direction.

So here we go for 2013!  I need a challenge, I guess;-)

1. Save enough money to replace Jolie's car by August 1, 2013 in cash!
Currently, this fund is at 59%.  If you look up above, you will notice it is actually 8% lower than in September.  Yep, that's right!  I borrowed from the car fund for various car repairs on both vehicles.  Life happens.  Sad face, but it is true. Only 41% to go!  We'll be positive~

2. Go on one family vacation for at least 5 days out of the state of Kansas paid for in cash!
We didn't go on a vacation last year, and Rowan noticed.  We're going-somewhere!  Anywhere but here would be fine by me:-)  

3. Read 23 books from January 1 until December 31!  
This is very attainable, and I love to read as long as I have something good on hand;-)
 
That's it!  I'll update monthly for accountability.  That helps me know I'm being monitored;-) 

2010 Financial Goals January Update

The month of January has flown by which means we need to look at our goals and see where we are. I am so sick of paying bills right now that I could scream, but we did make some dents in our goals, bu then we still have a ways to go.

Goal 1: Save enough to replace our 1994 GMC Pickup Truck by Aug. 1, 2010. Still working on this one. We didn't actually add anything to this in January as we had to pay Alex's last tuition bill this month. He will graduate in May with his masters!

Goal 2: Pay off one of Alex's student loan by March 1, 2010. Done as of Feb. 8!

Goal 3: Write a will to make sure everything is covered should something happen to us, but it won't, because we don't die! Our financial adviser gave us the name of a lawyer who writes wills, but I hate to say we haven't done anything else with this.

Goal 4: Buy enough life insurance to bump us up to 10 times our salary each by Dec. 31, 2010. We made a spreadsheet with our various policies and listed out our totals each. The determination is that we both need a lot more to have 10 times our salary. We are in the researching phase at this point.

It doesn't look like we made much progress but January was a weird month. We had Row's birthday, bought Row a big boy bed, paid tuition, and Alex traveled to Cleveland. All but the trip to Cleveland was paid for in cash, so we can feel okay about that.

We should get a tax refund the end of this week, and we intend on putting that money away for the truck. That should move us closer to our goal of paying 100% cash for a new to us vehicle!

Financial Goals 2010

We have never officially made financial goals before, but today we have started anew! Alex sat down with me, and we have made our major goals for 2010. Here is to hoping we can get it done!

Goal 1: Save enough to replace our 1994 GMC Pickup Truck by Aug. 1, 2010.

Goal 2: Pay off one of Alex's student loan by March 1, 2010.

Goal 3: Write a will to make sure everything is covered should something happen to us, but it won't, because we don't die!

Goal 4: Buy enough life insurance to bump us up to 10 times our salary each by Dec. 31, 2010.

Those seem like pretty hefty goals putting them on paper, but with a little bit of motivation, I think we can do it!