May 5, 2019May 4, 2019 FOGA

April Goals Update

Financial Independence, Goals, Lifestyle

Hello FOGA Readers! Happy May and welcome to the April Goals Update. 🙂 I can safely say that April was better than March. lol

Let’s get into it.

April Wrap Up

April was a pretty standard month. Not too much happened. After March, this was not a bad thing at all.

Mr. FOGA spent most of the month working the overnight shift. I spent most of the month working, sleeping, and, towards the end, fighting a massive wave of depression. I am doing better now. The low moments can sneak up on me sometimes, though.

Work was great. I sold five homes. I also had three closings in April that will be paid in May. Also, if everything goes well, I won’t have a gap in pay through at least June. That means two paychecks a month through June for me.

Top Posts

Most Popular FOGA Post in April: March Sucked- How We Ended The Month $2700 Over Budget
I never thought a post I wrote while I was in a rage (see the entire flea section) would do so well. Apparently, I should write when I am angry more often.

My Favorite FOGA Post in April: A Look Back on 2012: What a Difference Seven Years Makes
I liked this post because it made me think, especially in a month where I had some big lows. Humans tend to adapt to everything. Unfortunately, that also means we get comfortable in our new situations and forget what we improved to get there. I am the worst (of technically the best) at this, so it’s always helpful to look back and see that I did grow and things did get better. Thanks again, J Money.

My Favorite Post in April: I Quit. I’m Taking a Career Break.
This post by The $76K Project was fantastic and showcased the struggle she has had since taking this job that was not what it was advertised to be. She did everything she could to make it work, but they were not supportive. So, she left. I admire that more than I will ever be able to convey. If you scroll through the comments, you’ll find mine there. I sadly have a little experience with a toxic employer myself.

Goals for April

I finally got paid!!!!

Mr. FOGA also got paid twice this month which was great as well. 🙂

So, how did we do on the April Goals?

• Keep Credit Card Balance under $1000. PASS! Under $1000. Still has a balance as we say in our last net worth update but under $1000. 🙂
• Stay Under $350 for Eating Out. FAIL. I knew this one was pretty much impossible, but I put it up anyway. Between Mr. FOGA being on third shift (he is exhausted during those and pretty much works and sleeps) and me not doing too well, eating out was a way of life. Will be better in May (especially considering we’ll be on vacation or part of it).
• Finish Our Landscaping & Sprinkler Redo. FAIL. Not our fault on this one. Some plants were on back order, so it did not get done before the month ended. Our awesome lawn guy is working on it now though. Will be done with the landscaping before the end of May. The sprinkler company took a while to get back to us (due to a computer malfunction), so that’s getting done in May as well. 
• Clean Out My Closet. PASS & FAIL. I did go through and sorted all my clothes. I just never made it to the shoes. Got a nice stack together for some friends to go through; at least one of my close friends wears the same size as me. 
• Increase My 401K contribution to 15%. PASS! All done with this. My 401K now says that I am 96% ready for retirement. It doesn’t know about the Roth or anything else though.  
• Put $250 in each of our IRAs. PASS! Done! We put in $500 on each. I put our money here before I even looked at paying the credit card. Only $11,000 total (both of our IRAs) to go before it’s maxed for 2019. Only… hahaha
• Wrap Up the Refinancing Process. PASS! Done with this. It was a reasonably smooth process in the end. May write about it in the future. What do you guys think?
• Read One Book. FAIL. But, I do have plans to read it while we are on vacation this month! I will get photo evidence and everything! Going to see if I can read more than one book, but I at least need to finish Work Optional.  
• Work Out Once A Week. FAIL. I failed. I was good up until the last week, and then I just said no. Migraines did not help much either. I will get back on the wagon.  

Blog Goals for April

• Post Once a Week. PASS! Finally! I did a month of solid posts. I had a guest interview as well! 😀 
• Get One Week Ahead on Posts. PASS! Done! I wrote the post that goes live on the 12th before the post that goes up on the 5th (this one). Lol. Also, I have already planned my post for the 19th. Hopefully, I can keep this going. 
• Equal or Beat March Monthly Views. PASS! March had 609 views and April had 651. Bonus: the views per visitor went up as well. 🙂
• Track Twitter & Pinterest Growth. Both of these did well. FOGO’S Twitter followers are at 735 and Pinterest has grown to 208 followers. These are going. I had 13 referrals from Pinterest which has never happened. Twitter is still the queen with 209 referrals. 

Goals for May

May is going to be a beautiful month. For the first time in what feels like a million years, I will have two paychecks. Due to that fact, I feel that nothing can go wrong. I realize that I am asking for it with the statement, but I am ridiculously hopeful for May. 🙂

In addition to me getting two paychecks, Mr. FOGA will also have two paychecks. Go team!

So, what are the goals for May?

• Pay Off Credit Card Balance. We are going back to only having one piece of debt. 
• Stay Under $350 for Eating Out. I feel like this will be okay since we are going on vacation in May. We shall see though. 
• Finish Our Landscaping & Sprinkler Redo. This is nearly done now, so a guaranteed goal. 
• Clean Out My Closet. Only the shoes and then it’s all done. 
• Put $500 in each of our IRAs. Want to max out the IRA by the end of the year. 
• Read One Book. I will continue reading Work Optional. 
• Work Out Once A Week. I am aiming for two, but since my attempts so far have taken a lot out of me, I am going to keep the goal at one. Fingers crossed for a full recovery this month. 
• Walk At Least 35,000 Steps a Week. This should give you an idea of my overall physical activity. It’s not great. When I do work out, I do well, but only on those days — time to step it up a bit. 😉 

Blog Goals for May

• Post Once a Week. Doing good so far. Want to keep this as the status quo going forward. Also, I enjoy posting on Sundays. What do you guys think? Sundays going forward?
• Get One Week Ahead on Posts. I am there now, so this is to see if I can stay consistent.
• Equal or Beat April Monthly Views. I am really hoping for over 700 views. I never knew this was even a possibility to hope for, and I am still in shock that anyone is interested in reading what I have to say.
• Track Twitter & Pinterest Growth. We ended at 735 and 208 followers for each. Let’s see where it goes now.

Other Things

Mr. FOGA is going to officially step down after our vacation. We will be headed out in the middle of May and when we get back towards the end of May he will no longer be a manager. However, thanks to his awesome boss, he will be getting paid as a manager through the end of the month.

The plan after that is to give it two-three weeks to see how it is. If going to a lower, non-management position gives him the time he needs, then he will stay and work on his certifications to go into IT. If the lower position gets worked as hard as he is now, then he will quit altogether. I am on the side of him putting in his two weeks’ notice, even if that means we only have one income, but he doesn’t like this idea. For now, we’ll see how it goes.

In Summation

That was the April Goals Update! It was much better than March, and we got stuff done financially.

How was your April? Did you get your goals accomplished? Let me know in the comments.

Until Next Time!

-Ms. FOGA