April 14, 2019May 4, 2019 FOGA

March Goals Update

Goals, Money

Hello FOGA Readers! Happy April (we finally made it) and welcome to the March Goals Update. I’m on time this month, so that’s already a plus! 🙂

I won’t waste any time. Let’s get into it.

March Wrap Up

March was a month that was sent to remind us that whenever we plan, the universe laughs. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong. I talked all about it in the March Sucked post. I highly recommend you check it out. It’s filled with all the drama: fleas, car trouble, sickness, renewals/fees. All the fun happened in March.

My father-in-law did visit at the beginning of March for the first time (we’ve been in the house for two years). It took lots of guilt tripping on Mr. FOGA’s part to get him to visit. He liked the house, so that was nice.

Work was okay for me. I sold 2.5 homes (split with my partner) and won an award for highest customer service scores in the division currently (for the past six months). 🙂 I finally have closings next month, so hopefully, I can stay consistent. Also had my first closings since January which means I will FINALLY get paid in April.

Due to all of this, plus everything in the previously mentioned post, From One Geek to Another did not really get updated until the end of the month. My deepest apologies on that. I am working to keep that from happening again in the future.

So what was the best post for FOGA on a month I was AWOL?

Top Post

Most Popular Post in March: Five Opinions and Ideas about FIRE That I Do Not Agree With
This post reclaimed its crown as the most popular post of the month. While I did post a Net Worth Update for March (so far the only type of post to beat this one), it short by 21 views. Guess, I have to try harder to beat the champ.

My Favorite Post in March: February Goals Update
While it was late, I loved this post because it finally got me back to writing which made my month better. When fleas have taken over your office, you’re sick, and money is going down the drain, it’s hard to focus on anything else. That was when I finally started feeling better and could write.

Without further ado, onto how I did on the March Goals Update.

Goals for March

I may have said it a few times, but March really sucked. No paychecks for me and a bunch of things going wrong.

Mr. FOGA got paid three times since he has a normal biweekly paycheck (even with that, it wasn’t enough).

So, how did we do….well….

• Keep Credit Card Balance under $1000. PASS. This is only due to the magic of our Emergency Fund. On our own, this card would be over $3000 right now. 
• Stay Under $350 for Eating Out. PASS. We stayed under $300 last month. This is partially thanks to my mom who felt terrible for us and brought me lunch a few times. Now that things are smoother, I have started bringing her lunch. LOL
• Clean Out My Closet. FAIL. Didn’t get done at all. This goal will stay on for April, and I will have time to do it. 
• Read One Book. FAIL. I started Work Optional by Tanja Hester at Our Next Life but did not finish or get very far. This goal will be making it to April as well. 
• Work Out Once A Week. PASS & FAIL. I was working out 1-2 times a week until I got sick and that killed it. Finally back to working out 1-2 times a week again, but being sick took a lot out of me. I am now working back up to my normal workouts. It’s crazy that a cold can knock you on your ass so expertly.  
• Catch Up on Sleep. PASS. I got ALL the sleep. I am still ready for that vacation though. Only one more month to go. 

Blog Goals for March

Last month, I only had one goal for the blog: Getting back to writing. I have definitely done that, but I am not caught up yet. The goal is 52 posts (one past a week) for 2019 and I am a bit behind. Hoping to correct that this month.

I did check numbers though (of course I did) and From One Geek to Another had 609 views last month. That is the highest we have seen without a feature. When you add it that I wasn’t here for the majority of the month, that makes that amazing. Thank you. Thank you guys so much!

Twitter and Pinterest were also very kind. Twitter has grown to 590 followers and Pinterest to 90 as of my writing this. That is awesome, and I am again very thankful.

Goals for April

April. I am so happy to see you. The month I finally get a paycheck. Even if it is just one paycheck, it is something. Mr. FOGA will also be getting two paychecks, so fingers crossed for a good month financially.

So, what are the goals for April?

• Keep Credit Card Balance under $1000. I am going to keep this goal the same. Hopefully, we can keep it paid off without needing the emergency fund this month. 
• Stay Under $350 for Eating Out. This goal will be difficult since I have already eaten out a few times this month. I know it’s the 9th, but I was overcompensating from how horrible March was. That doesn’t make it better, but that’s what happened. 
• Finish Our Landscaping & Sprinkler Redo. We are upgrading/replacing our landscaping (a lot of it died or might as well have been dead). Our lawn was getting embarrassing, so we are working on getting it up to speed. We are hoping to have everything complete by the end of the month. This project will cost a bit, but we budgeted for it. 
• Clean Out My Closet. It is time to get this done. I don’t have a lot of clothes (compared to other people), but there are still things I don’t wear that need to go. 
• Increase My 401K contribution to 15%. 15% is a big jump from the 9% it was at but cannot miss what we cannot see. Probably won’t see a difference until my May paycheck, but this should max out my 401K for the year. 
• Put $250 in each of our IRAs. Haven’t put any money into our IRAs since January. We want to start growing this again. The goal is to have the IRAs maxed out by the end of August (ideally). Depends entirely on how many homes I sell. Let the games begin. 
• Wrap Up the Refinancing Process. Yep. We decided to refinance the house get out of our FHA loan. Will be writing a post on this in the future. 
• 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. 

Blog Goals for April

• Post Once a Week. The ultimate goal. I am hoping to catch up this week. For instance, this post is being written the week before it goes live. Crazy!! 
• Get One Week Ahead on Posts. This goal will be a difficult one, but fingers crossed. 
• Equal or Beat March Monthly Views. I am hoping that by actually writing this month, this will happen naturally. 🙂 
• Track Twitter & Pinterest Growth. I’m not setting any goals for either of these. Just going to watch and see how they do on their own. 

Other Things

Mr. FOGA has officially requested to step down from his managerial position. I even tweeted about it.

https://twitter.com/fromonegeek/status/1110279419418021890

Since he has asked to stay, his direct supervisor has asked him to stay quite a few times. He is going to be stepping down at the beginning on May; he wanted to be nice and help them through inventory first. His boss asked him to hang in there until June. So far he has been saying no.

His boss is anticipating changes coming that will make it easier, but I am doubtful. We shall see. In the meantime, he is working overnights until the cruise, so won’t be seeing him to much until then. C’est la vie.

In Summation

That was the March Goals Update. Wishing for a much calmer, financially beneficial month.

How was your March? Better than ours? I truly hope so. Did you get your goals accomplished? Let us know in the comments.

Til next time!

-Ms. FOGA