Goals (2016): August Results + September Objectives

Earlier this month I decided to create Mid-Year 2016 Goals. Things I wanted to accomplish before year-end. I am breaking these goals out each month, to make them more manageable and also to hold me accountable. Since I posted my goals, I made some tweaks to it and also added to them! I tried o make them more measurable, so it wasn't just "open ended."

Here are my revised 2016 Mid-Year Goals: 

Goal #	Category	2016 Mid-Year Goals
1	Budgeting Project	Budget: 1) Complete Budget before the month begins. 2) Reconcile at least 2x's a month. 3) Track budget items that go over/under.
2	Budgeting Project	Debt Snowball: pay Debt #2 50% down
3	Budgeting Project	Finish Smart Kids/Smart Money Book/Online Classes (6 lessons)
4	Decluttering Project	House Decluttered: 1) Make monthly target goals to tackle clutter areas. 2) Have loft, extra room, and son's room clutter free.
5	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Family Year Book 2016. 1) Choose 10 pictures per month. 2) Storyboard album. 3) Drop pictures from Jan-Nov into photobook.
6	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Complete Adoption Photo Book by November Family Day 11/21
7	Health & Wellness Project	Health & Wellness: 1) Rejoin the gym. 2) Make monthly gym attendance goals. 3) Go to the gym when scheduled!
8	House Repairs & Projects	"Patty-Do" List: complete 1 house repair a month and/or 1 small house project.
9	Taxes	2016 Tax Tracking: Update tax spreadsheet (costs, mileage) and collect receipts.

August 2016 Results:

Can you believe it, I met all of my goals for August! Woohoo!

Goal #	Category	2016 Mid-Year Goals	August
1	Budgeting Project	Budget: 1) Complete Budget before the month begins. 2) Reconcile at least 2x's a month. 3) Track budget items that go over/under.	1) Complete Aug/Sept budget. 2) Start cash envelopes 3) Reconcile at least 2x's a month.
2	Budgeting Project	Debt Snowball: pay Debt #2 50% down	Pay at least 20% of balance
3	Budgeting Project	Finish Smart Kids/Smart Money Book/Online Classes (6 lessons)	Complete Lesson 2 Complete Lesson 3
4	Decluttering Project	House Decluttered: 1) Make monthly target goals to tackle clutter areas. 2) Have loft, extra room, and son's room clutter free.	1) All unused/empty boxes to recycling. 2) Go through baby/toddler clothes, sort by size and label boxes. Blog Entry
5	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Family Year Book 2016. 1) Choose 10 pictures per month. 2) Storyboard album. 3) Drop pictures from Jan-Nov into photobook.	Choose 10 photos for July and August for photo book. I did June, July, August.
6	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Complete Adoption Photo Book by November Family Day 11/21	1) Complete Story-Board 2) Mock Up Photo Book Blog Entry
7	Health & Wellness Project	Health & Wellness: 1) Rejoin the gym. 2) Make monthly gym attendance goals. 3) Go to the gym when scheduled!	1) Gym Membership Renewed 8/20. 2) Monthly Attendance Goal: 3 days Blog Entry

I only have 7 goals here because I didn't create #8 and #9 until recently. I also added my "Health & Wellness Project" #7 to the list, but I made progress on it and actually made it to the gym 3x's this month! Woot!

September 2016 Objectives:

Goal #	Category	2016 Mid-Year Goals	September
1	Budgeting Project	Budget: 1) Complete Budget before the month begins. 2) Reconcile at least 2x's a month. 3) Track budget items that go over/under.	1) Adjust Sept Budget and allocate funds for October Budget. 2) For Sept - do not exceed any budget categories.
2	Budgeting Project	Debt Snowball: pay Debt #2 50% down	Pay at least 10% of balance
3	Budgeting Project	Finish Smart Kids/Smart Money Book/Online Classes (6 lessons)	Lesson 4
4	Decluttering Project	House Decluttered: 1) Make monthly target goals to tackle clutter areas. 2) Have loft, extra room, and son's room clutter free.	1) Baby blankets 2) Baby Misc Items (hats, socks, etc)
5	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Family Year Book 2016. 1) Choose 10 pictures per month. 2) Storyboard album. 3) Drop pictures from Jan-Nov into photobook.	1) Choose 10 photos for Jan/Feb for photo book. 2) Decide on Story-Board "format" for Photo Book
6	Photo Booking Project	Photo Booking: Complete Adoption Photo Book by November Family Day 11/21	Choose pictures for photo book (limit only a few to a page).
7	Health & Wellness Project	Health & Wellness: 1) Rejoin the gym. 2) Make monthly gym attendance goals. 3) Go to the gym when scheduled!	Monthly Attendance Goal: 5 days
8	House Repairs & Projects	"Patty-Do" List: complete 1 house repair a month and/or 1 small house project.	1) Replace light bulbs on all outside lights. 2) Laundry Storage Solution
9	Taxes	2016 Tax Tracking: Update tax spreadsheet (costs, mileage) and collect receipts.	Update: Jan-Mar

So far, focusing on a little bit at a time has really helped and I've managed to make time for these things. I'm hoping I'm not adding too many "goals" here. I figure not many of them take that much time. I just have to prioritize my down-time. Plus, all of these things I need to take care of one way or another, so it's best if I have them in my goals so I can actually make progress on them. Like getting tax documents ready. Very stressful in January if I'm not organized. If I get it done now, my tax meeting will be easy.

Here's to a productive September!

Click here for more info on my Goals & Projects.

Decluttering Project: Organizing Kid Clothes

One of my goals this month (August 2016) was:

Go through baby/toddler clothes, sort by size and label boxes

I *thought* I had gotten rid of a bunch, but it turns out I've accumulated more than I've gotten rid of. Of course it's hard for me to get rid of any baby clothes because I might need them for a future foster child or future birth child. But it has gotten a bit out of control:

1. Clothes were randomly thrown into boxes. Some folded, some not. Sizes were mixed together. There was no order in the madness! 
2. The boxes of clothes were stored in different places. In a closet here, a closet there, under a bed. 

It took me a few hours at night time to get through this project: 

1. Empty all boxes
2. Sort all clothes by sizes 
3. Fold all clothes. 

I have boy clothes from 0-3 months all the way to 3T. Then the problem I had was, "How do I store all these items?" Some options were: clear plastic bins (which can still be bulky and $$), still use the cardboard boxes I have, or come up with a different solution. I decided that storing them in boxes was bulky and starting Googling other possible solutions.

Turns out a lot of people use those vacuum storage bags to store old clothes. In the past, I haven't had a good experience with vacuum storage bags. I honestly didn't even consider it an option. Well, times are tough and there's so many clothes! 

Then it came down to the budget. I didn't budget for this in August. I do have wiggle room in my budget... But I worry that I make exceptions all the time for things that I feel I "need." Do I need the vacuum bags right now? 

These are the ones I'm looking at, they're about $25.00: SpaceSaver Premium *JUMBO* Vacuum Storage Bags

And these ones, which are about $26.00: Primode Space Saver Vacuum Storage Bags 

So, total about $51.00-ish, before tax. 

I looked at the mess of what is the extra room and knew I had to do something or the clothes would just sit there. 

I knew if I put them back in the boxes, I wouldn't want to move them again. 

I looked at my budget and found that I definitely can afford to invest in the storage bags without impacting anything significantly. So, I bit the bullet and bought them. I did wait about a week before deciding if this was indeed the solution I wanted. 

Here's what it looked like after: 

Here are all the bags vacuumed up and the empty boxes that are also part of my goals this month (August 2016) to get rid of unused/empty boxes to recycling. Now, all these boxes making their way to the recycle bin. I just need to figure out where to store the vacuum sealed bags...! 

I then starting going through all other things "baby" that were still in my son's room. I found: 

1. Baby bibs 
2. Burp rags 
3. Receiving blankets 
4. Baby blankets 
5. Socks of all sizes 

I decided to add these to the things to "store" out of my son's room. His drawers are basically empty now! I haven't had time to sort through these items, so I'm going to add that to my September goals. 

At least I'm making progress now! Yay for a small step in the right direction in my decluttering project! 

Goals: 2016 Mid-Year + July/August 2016

GOALS!

There's been a lot going on in my life: the new job, keeping up with my toddler, going through IVF, being involved in Toastmasters, etc. Sometimes I just get caught up in the day-to-day that I lose track of aspiring towards specific goals that I end up just not getting much done.

It was nice when I was in college because there was a clear and measurable goal: Graduate.

I had personal goals that I've managed to reach post-college: buy a house, become a foster parent, earn my DTM award (Distinguished Toastmaster). I've even listed a few projects that I've "tried" to work on in my blog: decluttering, budgeting, photo booking, wellness (which I haven't even started posting on), gratitude, job hunting. Some of my projects I've been better at keeping up with than others.

What has been lacking in making progress in these projects is making tangible GOALS every month and tracking them. In July, I made "mid-year" goals I started tracking. Yearly goals are great... but breaking those down into smaller steps each month would be even better.

I've decided to start tracking my Goals on my blog. Mostly to hold me accountable and to see where I'm not making any progress. I don't expect to be "perfect" in this, but I do want to start making progress on my goals and in my projects. So, here we are!

2016 Mid-Year Goals (July-Dec):  

1. Budget Monthly (Part of my Budgeting Project) 
2. Make Progress in my debt snowball: Get Debt #2 down by half. (Part of my Budgeting Project) 
3. Take the Smart Kids/Smart Money online classes (6 lessons) (Part of my Budgeting Project) 
4. Get the House Decluttered  (Part of my Decluttering Project)
5. 2016 Family Photo Book (Part of my Photo Booking Project)
6. Adoption Photo Book for my son (to be done by "Family Day" in November) (Part of my Photo Booking Project)

July 2016 Progress On Goals: 

Goal #	Mid-Year Goal	July
1	Budget Monthly	Done!
2	Debt Snowball: Debt #2 50% down	No Progress
3	Smart Kids/Smart Money Book/Online Classes (6 lessons)	1 of 6 classes completed.
4	House Decluttered: Get through all boxes	No Progress
5	Family Photo Booking 2016	No Progress
6	Adoption Photo Book by November Family Day	No Progress

The reason for no progress on my debt snowball is because I cash-rolled IVF #3. All my extra funds went there. No excuses for the other areas, I just wasn't disciplined enough to set time to do them. One of the issues is, I didn't really have "clear" steps on what I wanted to do that were realistic. I'm fixing that for August and making specific, small, realistic goals.

August 2016 Objectives: 

Goal #	Mid-Year Goal	August
1	Budget Monthly	Done! I am a month ahead and budgeted for both Aug/Sept.
2	Debt Snowball: Debt #2 50% down	Pay at least 15% of balance
3	Smart Kids/Smart Money Book/Online Classes (6 lessons)	Lesson 2 and 3
4	House Decluttered: Get through all boxes	1) All unused/empty boxes to recycling. 2) Go through baby/toddler clothes, sort by size and label boxes.
5	Family Photo Booking 2016	Choose 10 photos for July and August for photo book.
6	Adoption Photo Book by November Family Day	Complete Story-Board

For my budgeting project, I did start a new debt free spreadsheet. I got too behind on my last one. I made the new one simpler and easier to maintain on a monthly basis. I also started using these debt free charts that I found on a blog. I have two printed: 1) total debt progress and 2) the current debt I'm trying to knock out. I love the visuals of it and hoping it motivates me to continue to make progress.

For the photo projects, the SMC forum had a thread on how to organize photos. I'm trying the method out to see if it helps me make progress on my photo books. 

I plan to do monthly updates on how I did with each month's objectives in getting to my goals. Let's see if this process actually works this time. I really want to make headway in my debt snowball, I want my house to not be so darn cluttered, and I want to actually finish a Photo Book! LOL. Not to mention that I really need a distraction from TTC and on FET #2! Focusing on my goals would be a positive outlet and more productive than other options.

Hopefully goal setting and tracking will do the trick on reaching these goals by year-end. 

Declutter Project: The Spare Bedroom, Part 5

It's been awhile since I've posted about my Declutter Project! Probably because I haven't made much progress. Life just got busy and there were a lot of changes in our home: 1) I have a new foster son, Munchkin and 2) A friend has moved in with us temporarily.

Which is interesting since ALL of my "catch all" items from when I started the KonMari process was in my spare room -- that I had to clear out for my friend to move in. 

The Spare Bedroom

The spare room had EVERYTHING in it. The spare room has been a catch all for all things. Kids stuff, my stuff, boxes of stuff, linens, etc. What I found:

• MORE BAGS! 
• More suitcases. 
• More adult clothes. 

I moved everything into there thinking that I would be able to sort through it methodically and also keep it out of the way, so the rest of the house was still functional. Well, with my friend moving in suddenly -- I had to move all this crap out of there AND find another place for it. It all happened so quickly, that there was no way I was going to be able to sort through all the stuff that quickly.

Spare Room - BEFORE

Spare Room - Before 

The worst part of the room was the Closet... It was actually hard to open the closet door since there was so much stuff in it. This was my "catch all" for all things foster care. I had baby stuff, kid blankets, extra pillows, clothes, etc.

The Closet - BEFORE

I tackled the closet first. I ended up giving a lot of the stuff away to friends and also donating to Goodwill. I had so much stuff, there was no way that I was going to need every single thing. Doing this, I got rid of almost everything that was in the closet. 

Which left the boxes and boxes of stuff in the actual bedroom. I needed to move them fast, so I moved them to my loft area AKA my home office (I work from home). 

My Office - now the "catch all" place

Not a permanent solution... But everything is out of the way. It's "orderly" -- as orderly as it can be with having a bunch of boxes everywhere. I had vowed to myself that I would go through a box a day. That hasn't happened, as the adjustment period to adding so many new people to our household was a little more exhausting than I expected. But now that things have gotten more routine, I should have more time to really tackle it. Looking at it, it looks overwhelming! But in reality, most of this stuff will end up recycled, donated, or trashed. There are a bunch of sentimental items that I'll need to go through later on. 

My goal going forward is to go through a box a day. If things get too busy (my adoption is coming up - YAY! and the Holidays), I do have an alternate plan. I'm taking adoption leave for all of December. I'm going to take that time to really tackle this declutter project.  

Wish me luck! 

Stuff given away: 11 bags. 

Donation bags: 16 - kid clothes, baby type items.