September Update!
September was an interesting month. We got stuff done, but not as much as we were hoping (more on that below).
All my homes that were scheduled to close in September closed and D made it through two weeks of overnights and stayed sane.
I am very excited for October. We finally got everything sorted out for work, so I am expecting a much better month than last month (only sold two homes last month), and we are going on a vacation cruise this month. This will be our first time on a Royal Carribean cruise, and I am excited about it. We’ve only gone on Carnival cruises so far, and we’ve heard that it’s a very different experience. Plus we are going on Oasis of the Seas which, everyone I have talked to has raved about. It’s essentially a mega ship, and I have never been on one this big.
Goals for September
- Keep MasterCard paid off. YEP! Paid it off in full at the end of the month and are earning cash back on it as well.
- Stay under $500 for eating out. YEP! We were actually under $300 this month which is awesome!
- Pay at least $2000 towards the improvement loan. YEP! Only $7930 to go.
- Max out both IRA accounts ($7300). NOPE. So, it turns out that the accounts that we had were not IRAs. After inquiring repeatedly, we were finally told that they set it up wrong and we have investment accounts. So, we set up the IRA accounts and are at $2000/$5500 each for the year. Now, we need to figure out what to do with the investment accounts. Part of me wants to keep them (they are doing well), and part of me wants to pull the money and max out the IRA since that was the plan. Any thoughts on this from the more financially savvy people in the group?
- Get savings accounts to $17,500 total. YEP! Knocked this out of the park. Our total savings accounts are now at $22,000. The goal for the year was $25,000, and it looks like we are on track.
- Work out once a week. NOPE. Yeah, I sucked at this. I have been more active overall (according to my FitBit), but not the once a week I am trying to do.
- Yoga Once a Week. NOPE. So, it turns out the classes are not for me. They get way too busy. So, looking for an alternative.
- Look into Ways to Make Extra Income. Yes and No. Thought of ideas (selling clothes, working on the blog more, etc.) but no real attempts to implement it. Definitely, need to work on this blog more before I can make that jump.
Goals for October
Since I had three closings in September that will be paid in October (vs. the eight from August), the goals are going to be lower this time.
- Keep MasterCard paid off. Just going to make this one consistent for this month.
- Stay under $400 for eating out. I know we were at $300 last month, but, in case that was a fluke, I am not going that low.
- Pick and Install a Kitchen Backsplash. We have been putting this off for months. I am not sure why, but we need to get it done.
- 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.
- Get to $3000/$5500 on Both IRAs.
- Figure out the Investments Accounts. We can make them joint accounts, we can cash some of it out and put it into the IRAs (most likely options), or we can keep it as it is. Lots of options.
- Get the savings accounts to $23,000. On track to make the year goal of $25,000. 🙂
- Work Our Once a Week. This WILL get done.
- Find an alternative to yoga.
- Make $250 in extra income this month. This will be an interesting one, but I want to try to do something with this.
Blog Goals
- Post seven times. September kind of got away from me, and I didn’t post as much as I would have liked. Going to improve that this month. Ideally, I want to be posting twice a week.
- Start working on improving my Pinterest. This blog has a Pinterest now! Check it out here.
- Start working to understand Twitter. This blog also has a twitter now which is here. I am also someone who has never used twitter and has no clue what she is doing, so this will be a fun experiment.
How was September for You? Did you make your goals?