November 6, 2018November 6, 2018 FOGA

October Goals Update!

Financial Independence, Goals, Lifestyle

Hi Everyone! We’re already in November. Only one more month and we are done with 2018. Crazy to think of isn’t it?

 

October was a crazy busy month for us. We had our anniversary, which both of us forgot until about a week before. We’re really great at this. lol

 

I had a BIG month at work and sold six homes. My typical goal would be two homes, and my stretch goal is 3-4 (3.33 if you divide my goal over 12 months). My group was the sixth highest selling in West Central Florida. We got a congratulations email from our president and everything. Keep in mind, last month was a big goose egg, so that’s how it works sometimes. Definitely happy with how I did though.

I also met and trained my new partner, so that’s been interesting. I’ll have to see how we do working together. I haven’t had a real partner for months, so we’ll see how it goes.

 

We also went on the cruise in October (and came back in November). It was fun. Never tried Royal Carribean before. More than likely sticking with Carnival in the future, but it was a cool experience. Went zip lining and rock climbing! Also got to go to the Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Marteen/Saint Martin. We had lots of fun.

 

November is going to be interesting. D is visiting his family this weekend. Then we’ve got Thanksgiving with some of my family, and then we both visit family for a weekend.

 

Most Popular Post for October: I Don’t Want Kids & That’s Okay

 

Goals for October

• Keep MasterCard paid off. PASS. Hooray for getting points! 
• Stay under $400 for eating out. FAIL. I should have known better. Our anniversary was this month, so we went out for a nice meal. With drinks and dessert… Yeah, that pretty much killed it. 
• Pick and Install a Kitchen Backsplash. FAIL. With good reason though. Opted not to do this right now, especially with next month being very income low. Also, reworking our goals on what we want to get done with our home. We have been thinking of our house as a starter home (or at least I have), and now we are starting to think of it as our forever home. More on this in a future post. 
• Pay at least $1000 towards the loan. PASS. Got this done! It’s under $7000 now. Only $6800 until it’s gone for good. 
• Get to $3000/$5500 on Both IRAs. PASS. Got the IRA accounts maxed out for the year. Decided to get rid of the mix-up investment accounts and maxed out the IRA as we planned in the first place. Looking into different options for investment accounts for next year. 
• Figure out the Investments Accounts. PASS. See above about the IRAs. 
• Get the savings accounts to $23,000. PASS & FAIL. How did we pass and fail? We got it to $23,000 and then went on vacation and spent more than expected. Then we came back and had to take the car in. So, we are now at $21,150. Still aiming to get to $25,000 for the year. 
• Work Our Once a Week. FAIL. I failed so horribly on this. Started well and ended well. The middle was a mess. Granted, it was mainly due to working long hours due to the remarkable work month, but it still sucked in the middle. 
• Find an alternative to yoga. FAIL. Found a replacement, but did nothing with it. So, counting that as a fail. 
• Make $250 in extra income this month. FAIL. Spent more time working than focusing on this. We did get $110 back on our card that will hit in November. Also got a $45 refund from my doctor (they charged me too much), but still lower than $250.  

 

Blog Goals

• Post seven times. FAIL. Failed on this. Only posted three times. Going to improve on this for next month. 
• Start working on improving my Pinterest. PASS. Got the Pinterest up and running and pinned a few posts and lots of pictures from this blog. Some of the photos are doing well. 
• Start working to understand Twitter. PASS. Got some tweets in and even gained a few followers that I wasn’t expecting. In the single digits now, but hoping to get into the double digits soon. 

 

Goals for November

Due to timing, I had no closings in September, and only two homes are closing in November (being paid on the 30th if no issues). Due to that, November is going to be a little tight with our budget and goals.

 

• Keep MasterCard paid off. This will be a little harder this month. We usually use our credit card for most of our expenses since we get points. Getting it paid off at the end of the month will be crucial.
• Stay under $200 for eating out. With lower cash flow, we will need to be lower on eating out.
• Pay at least $1000 towards the loan. This may not get paid off by the end of the year due to the IRA mix up, but we will get it as close as possible.
• Keep the savings accounts at $23,000.
• Read One Book. This is kind of a sad one for me to put on. I used to read so much, but I have gotten sidetracked (mainly by TV, video games, and laziness). One book this month.
• Work Out Once a Week. I think I can get this done. One thing about a vacation is that you take a lot of pictures. Looking back at my photos, I am NOT happy with my current weight. Will get this done. Hopefully more than this, but need to start somewhere.

 

Blog Goals for November

• Post five times. I ended up having an excellent month at work and was very busy with that. Due to that, I only posted three times. Want to increase that by two for this month and try to get to a once a week posting schedule. 🙂
• Get One Follower on Pinterest. Got the Pinterest up and running, and I have a few pictures that get a good amount of shares, but no followers yet. Hoping to get my first one now.
• Get to 10 followers on Twitter. This went better than I thought it would last month. I got six total followers and came out of my shell to tweet to people. Fingers crossed I can get to 10 followers by the end of November.

 

So How was your October? What are your Goals for November?