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.

Wellness: Breaking the budget - to Gym or not to Gym?

As part of my budgeting project, I stopped my gym membership. I needed to find places to cut costs and I haven't been attending the gym in forever!

I do have to say, that before kids, I did go to the gym 5-6x's a week and really utilized it well. At that time I felt like the cost was justified. I had a good monthly cost of $19.99/month. But when life got busy (I started TTC or my volunteer commitment or foster care obligations) and I stopped going. I made the gym work previously because I would use my lunch-hour to go to the gym. With new obligations, my lunch hour was going to my TTC appointments, my volunteer activities, or ushering my foster kids to appointments. There just wasn't enough time in the day to make the gym work. I was always hesitant to stop my membership because I knew I had a great monthly cost. Most gym memberships are $30+ a month.

Well, I just received notice that my gym will let me re-start my membership at the same monthly cost, no initiation charge, and no contract.

I had to ask myself: Should I commit myself to going back to the gym and allocate the budget towards it?

That's $240 a year of funds that would go towards the gym membership.

The real questions are: do I have the time to do it and will I do it even if I have the time? 

I have to admit, I've gained so much weight since I started TTC. Part of it is due to being so tired on the medications. Fertility meds = no joke. Especially when I was on Clomid for my IUI cycles. Not to mention injections for IVF cycles and the recommendation NOT to workout because of your ovaries being stimulated.

The other part is truly not having the time. I always thought, "Oh I'll get back into a routine." And I just never did. Doing IUI and IVF appointments is no joke and the tiredness that goes with the fertility medications is no joke either. I know some women manage it and props to them. But with all my other commitments, something had to give - which was my personal exercise time.

I will add to this that I did try to work out from home. But it just hasn't worked out for me. I like the classes at the gym and miss Zumba so much!

Ok, so when thinking about renewing my membership my mind was spinning. I'm not going to do it if I can't tell myself that I'm going to make the time to go, so I had look at my current predicament:

• I'm still TTC with a FET in my future and a possible new IVF fresh cycle 
• I'm able to work from home 2x's a week 
• I'm still really tired from bad sleep quality (which maybe exercise can help?) 
• I have a volunteer commitment with Toastmasters that takes up a few hours/week 
• I can't work out in the morning, due to my work schedule and toddler care 
• I can't work out in the evenings, due to needing to spend time with my toddler 
• I need to do something about my weight / need to move my body more 

I think one of the issues I had about working out is that I over-commit. I was always an "all in" with 5 days a week working out. Looking at my above list... I can't do that. I don't have the time.

New Question: What do I have the time for? 

Here's my thought process: I can go to the gym on the 2 days that I work from home. That's 2 days of working out a week (during most weeks). That's all I can really say I can do FOR SURE. Of course... this will vary depending on work projects, toddler appointments, IVF appointments, etc. 

So, I decided to bite the bullet. I renewed my gym membership and commit to going 2x's a week. A friend had a good suggestion on checking in after two months and seeing if I indeed am going to the gym. If not, cancel the membership. Not having a contract helps and makes this do-able.

Now... the 2 days a week is flexible! I wish it was more concrete. But just looking at my next few weeks, it's already looking "difficult" in September: we are going camping, we are traveling to go to a wedding, I have my FET cycle. So, I'm truly going to take it 1 week at a time. If things turn out where I can only go 1x a week, that's good. The point is: I have to go when I schedule myself to go. I'm planning to make a monthly goal.

August Goal: 3x's 

First Gym Visit! 

With all that said... I MADE IT TO THE GYM TODAY!!! I went to Zumba during my lunch break at work. I have to admit... it was so strange to pull out my old workout clothes and put on sneakers. I have a bunch of workout clothes from my running days. Not surprisingly, most of my old clothes don't really fit that well (too small). Eek. But I'm not letting that get to me. I know where I'm at right now and I'm trying to make positive movement to correct it. Yet, I was really nervous to go back to the gym!

It's funny, the gym changed a bit. They re-did the floors and some of the wall decoration things. I used to love going to the gym, but after all his time -- it was a strange experience! I'll have to get into the "gym people" thing at a different time. There are even some of the same people in Zumba class that I recognized from when I used to attend regularly. The instructor is the same as well. Overall, Zumba was fun! I was definitely out of breath quickly, not surprisingly. Learning the new routines wasn't too bad, but my feet didn't want to move fast enough with my brain. Haha. I had to "take it easy" since I haven't really worked out in... forever! But I'm glad I went and was a bit giddy that I took the first steps. It's definitely a measuring stick on where I used to be and where I am now... But this is my new starting point and it can only get better from here.

Per my FitBit:

• Workout: 56 minutes 
• Calories Burned: 754 
• Heart Rate: 140 bpm (with a high of 180 --- eek!) 
• 21 peak mins, 13 cardio, and 23 fat burn 

I'm not really "tracking" my weight at this point. Right now the goal is simply to "start moving" and building a habit. Eventually I want to add more days to my workout (I want to add strength training), then add weight loss goals. One step at a time... 

Here's to being positive and trying to focus on my HEALTH and WELLNESS.