LAST POST OF 2018!

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. I have to read FOUR books before the end of the year. EEP! I am going to hustle to make it!

2. Reduce waste. I feel like I have been pretty good at this.. I have been bringing reusable bags to the grocery store most of the time. way reduced my use of water bottles, plastic soda cups, and styrofoam cups at work.

3. Pay off consumer debt. Yep. Cranking it away. I seriously hate having consumer debt and will do my damnedest to get rid of it. I have also tried to pick up some extra shifts (so far, two of my clinic shifts have been cancelled because of the weather and i'm a little worried my overtime Christmas shifts will also be cancelled).

4. Do two "low spend" months. So I guess really I only did one. BUT, I plan to do one in January.

5. Eat more homemade meals. I was doing really, really well for a while and then I don't know what happened. I let my laziness get the best of me. Well, NO MORE! One of my goals for December is to bring my lunch to work every damn day. EVERY DAMN DAY.

6. Stick to a healthier lifestyle. Remember last month when I said how much I hated this cycle? Well. It's still true. I have hopped on and off this dang bandwagon more than I'd like to admit. The easiest way to stop breaking the cycle is to just do what's right. I am in a stepbet right now, which is good. It's definitely motivating me to keep hustling.

7. Deep clean the house. Dang son. I sure did clean up the unfinished side of the basement. I donated a TON of stuff! It feels so much nicer to go downstairs and not see it all!

My to do list:
1. Keep reading every night
2. Remember to use re-usable bags.
3. Continue to push through, work extra, and put the money towards debt.
4. Save money!
5. and 6. Keep eating meals at home. Keep bringing lunch to work.
7. Put away all the random stuff in the guest bedroom.

I guess I skipped my October post

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. Well. November and December have a lot of work ahead of them. I have to read 6 books between now and the end of the year to make my goal!

2. Reduce waste. I feel like I have been pretty good at this.

3. Pay off consumer debt. Yep. Cranking it away.

4. Do two "low spend" months. Uhhh. It for sure wasn't October. Although, I am trying my best to not spend as much. I know I need to be saving money! Having such easy access to things (hello, online purchases...) makes it so easy to buy things so quickly (and therefore so hard to save!)

5. Eat more homemade meals. Yes ma'am. I bring my lunch to work almost every day. We haven't really gone out to dinner for a while. We've been getting meal subscription boxes, which is nice. A good way to switch it up without me having to go to the grocery store as much.

6. Stick to a healthier lifestyle. I don't know. Whatever. I get so frustrated with this cycle. I'll start doing really well, then slack off, then start doing terribly, then start up again.

7. Deep clean the house. I finally cleaned out my closet! Ha! This month I am going to work on the un-finished side of the basement.

My to do list:
1. Keep reading every night before bed.
2. Remember to use re-usable bags.
3. Continue to push through, work extra, and put the money towards debt.
4. Save money!
5. and 6. Keep eating meals at home. Keep bringing lunch to work.
7. Work on the basement!

It's already September...

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. I've picked up the pace on this considerably! I bought a book to read on the Amazon Kindle app on my phone. I have been trying to read that instead of mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest when I am waiting around. I have now finished 11 books (55% to my goal!) I have a couple books I would like to read while I'm on vacation next week (another quick Kindle read to hopefully work on while waiting around by myself (solo vacations give lots of time for reading!)

2. Reduce waste. I could probably be doing better at this again. I've tried to bring my fruit to work in a tupperware container instead of a ziplock bag, but I have really been forgetting a lot of reusable bags when I go shopping. I need to do better about that.

3. Pay off consumer debt. Yep. Cranking it away.

4. Do two "low spend" months. October!

5. Eat more homemade meals. Oh for sure! I also didn't buy lunch out at all for the entire month of August! That was really hard. I have a Blue Apron box coming after I get back from Florida - honestly because I hate grocery shopping and I hate trying to come up with meals every night. And it's a little difficult when there are only two of us.

6. Stick to a healthier lifestyle. Hmmmmmm. So I have for sure been walking a LOT more. And even jogging a bit. I also joined Planet Fitness and have actually been going a few times/week. But I wasn't exactly minding my WW goals and I have yet to meet a dietbet goal. BUT I have won all of my step bets! And i have a couple more stepbets currently in the works. I am hoping to take a little bit of a break from them just to lower my step goal. I'll just have to start popping my watch off after I hit 11,000 steps every day.

7. Deep clean the house. Well. I did the guest bedroom AND the garage! But I didn't do my closet. I think I will make that an October goal. September is just far too hectic with going to Florida for so many days.

My to do list:
1. Keep reading every night before bed.
2. Remember to use re-usable bags.
3. Continue to push through.
4. October is right around the corner! Look into reducing data on cell phone plan since I'll be done traveling.
5. and 6. Keep eating meals at home. Keep bringing lunch to work. Keep tracking and exercising.
7. Take care of my dang closet (in October!)

Looks like I skipped a month....

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. Still a little behind. The Radium Girls took quite a bit longer than I thought it would. The story just got a little hmmm drawn out (for lack of a better way to put it). It seemed to have a good pace at the beginning and end, but so slow in the middle. I recently started a book of short stories and have Big Little Lies on my nightstand. I bought a book to read on vacations next month. Maybe I'll make my goal after all!

Reduce waste. I think I'm doing this still for the most part. I wish amazon would consolidate purchases - I guess it's because some stuff ships from different places. I made one amazon purchase and it came in THREE different boxes.

Pay off consumer debt. Chipping away! I consolidated my two credit cards onto a very low rate personal loan. I plan on paying that off early. And NEVER getting into credit card debt ever again!

Do two "low spend" months. I can honestly say June wasn't my best low-spend month. I am going to do one in October. I am going on two vacations in September (Chicago and Florida). I absolutely will watch frivolous spending, but I am still planning on shopping a little bit and eating out at restaurants. So it will be nice to pinch pennies in October to plan for the holidays and recuperate from vacations.

Eat more homemade meals. YAY! I have been bringing my lunch to work almost every single day. Logan and I have been eating dinner at home almost every single night.

Stick to a healthier lifestyle. Another "heck yea!" - I dropped 3 lbs in July! I became a stepbet member and joined multiple stepbets. I think I am on my third, fourth, and fifth game right now. I also joined a dietbet transformer and while i haven't been doing a great job at it, I got a second wind of motivation after seeing that 3lb drop. I just need to kick it into high gear and power through for the month of August. And when I am home in September. I know that I will indulge in the finer foods of vacation while I am gone.

Deep clean the house. So I cleaned up the basement, but left the three big trash bags in the basement. I need to haul them upstairs. I also haven't touched my closet yet. I'll do that and get the guest bedroom back in working order this month. It's kind of become the "catch all" for chex mix making stuff, birthday presents, things to pack on vacation, etc.

My to do list:
1. Finish the books I checked out from the library.
2. Keep chugging along at bringing reusable bags, cups, and straws!
3. Hold tight until October and then have SOLID plans to save money in October.
4. and 5. Keep eating meals at home. Keep bringing lunch to work. Keep tracking and exercising.
6. Take care of my dang closet and get the guest room up and running again.

June! The year is 1/2 way done!

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. Still a little behind. I finished I'll Be Gone In The Dark and started The Radium Girls - it's a little slow and not holding my attention. I saw an ad for a book on goodreads.com and started it - Dark Matter - I'm not very far, but I have NO IDEA what is going on, which is both a little frustrating, but at least I want to find out.

Reduce waste. bags bags bags. Reusable water bottles/cups. I need to cut back on straw usage though.

Pay off consumer debt. Good lord. Forever my nemesis.

Do two "low spend" months. And it is time! The "no spend" month is far too difficult and I'm only setting myself up to fail, so "low spend" it is! My goal is bring my lunch to work every day (shouldn't be too difficult, I've been doing this already!) Only have one meal out every week. No coffee shops! No clothing! No amazon purchases! No books! Just good ole fashioned low spending.

Eat more homemade meals. Heck yea! I jumped back on the weight watchers train in mid-May and find it much much easier to track what I'm eating if I am responsible for making it myself.

Stick to a healthier lifestyle. Heck yea! We got back from Alabama in mid-May and I decided it was time. I'm not thrilled with how much weight I have gained in the last few years. Nursing school really screwed me up and I graduated 7 years ago. I started using my Weight Watchers membership. I joined two Diet Bets (one ends June 17, the second ends June 25). I really want to win them (otherwise I lose $30!) I've been trying to get at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day - the dogs are thankful for the walks!

Deep clean the house. Nailed it. I just loaded up another trunk full of stuff to take to goodwill. Said goodbye to some fun knick knacks that can now bring someone else joy and no longer collect dust in my house and some books I will never read again. I also threw out a whole black trash bag of old, broken stuff. My goal for June is to clean out the pantry, the shelf in my closet, and the basement.


My to do list:
1. Finish the books I started this month.
2. Keep chugging along at bringing reusable bags, cups, and straws!
3. June is my second low-spend month. Let's save some money!
4. and 5. Keep eating meals at home. Keep bringing lunch to work. Keep tracking and exercising.
6. Clean up the June places. Get the house ready for Logan to move in!

May!

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. I'm still a little "behind schedule" - I just completed my 5th book for the year. I picked up a couple books while Logan and I were on vacation in Alabama. Page & Palette is my favorite bookshop, so I couldn't miss the chance to pop in. And of course while I was there, the books just jumped out of the shelves and into my arms. Can't say no!

Reduce waste. I've been using my re-usable coffee cups a LOT and trying my damnedest to use re-usable bags (or no bags at all). It's a hard one!

Pay off consumer debt. Forever and ever.

Do two "low spend" months. June is coming for me! Eek! The two weeks before vacation I decided I wouldn't spend money on eating out. I only slipped up once in 18 days!

Eat more homemade meals. Yes! Since I was avoiding eating out before Alabama, I was definitely sticking to this one. And since I'm back on the WW saddle, I need to stick to this.

Stick to a healthier lifestyle. Yep! I fell pretty far off this horse in April. I crept back on it, but was still not fully settled in. The time to hesitate is through though. I joined my very first Diet Bet (goal to lose 8 lbs by June 19). I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Deep clean the house. Girl yes! Did I do the goals for April? No. My basement is still a nightmare and my closet shelf is no better. But is my house still way fucking cleaner than it was in January? Absolutely yes.

Summertime is here and I have a goal to be kind to myself, put my health first, and engage my brain a bit more. I have some books I am actually excited about, a Diet Bet I'm determined to win, and money I am ready to save!

Well. It's April. That happened quickly.

Read 20 books.
Reduce waste.
Pay off consumer debt.
Do two "low spend" months.
Eat more homemade meals.
Stick to a healthier lifestyle.
Deep clean the house.

1. Read 20 Books. I fell a little behind. I'll explain here in a second.

Reduce waste. I would like to say that I am doing this in the ways that I can. I have been re-using plastic bags, but mostly using re-usable fabric grocery sacks when shopping. I have also been using wash cloths for most kitchen clean up rather than paper towels. Those kind of things. BUT we rented a dumpster and so I feel like by filling it with old carpet, carpet pads, bathroom counters, etc I definitely met my waste threshold for the year. Good lord. I threw away so much old, worthless stuff. All this means is that I really need to be on my a-game for the rest of the year.

Pay off consumer debt. Chugging along. Except that I bought $2K of flooring at home depot and put it on my home depot consumer card. Shit.

Do two "low spend" months. I am going to do this in June! I am also trying to do it this month - not as extreme as I will in June though. BUT for April I am going to only get coffee out and about once/week, cut back on eating out significantly, and bring my lunch to work every day! EVERY DAY.

Eat more homemade meals. Yikes. YIKES. I fell a little behind. I'll give my excuse in a second.

Stick to a healthier lifestyle. God dammit. I need to climb back on this horse.

Deep clean the house. FINALLY. A goal that I met in March. Thank goodness I stuck with one of them. I went through both bathrooms (see below), most my closet (I need to do the shelf still), the office closet, the office desk, and the guest room. For April, I am going to do the shelf in my closet and the basement.

So here's what happened in February/March. I had a little goal of updating the hallway bathtub. Pretty simple little project. There is a kit and I read some blogs/watched some videos. You buy this nasty epoxy paint and a respirator mask and go to town. That turned into have a gorgeous bathtub (its hardly brand new, but good lord, a HUGE improvement). If you have a gorgeous bathtub, you need to have a nice vanity and sink. And if you are going to update that, you might as well put down a new floor since the new vanity is, of course, not the same size as the old one. And if you are going to put down a new floor, you might as well paint the walls. And since you are painting the walls, might as well paint the ceiling. And if you are going to paint the walls and ceiling, its a good opportunity to get a new medicine cabinet. See what happened? It only gets worse. Because if you update the hallway bathroom, you really need to update the other bathroom in the house. So another new vanity, another new sink, another new medicine cabinet, new shelves AND a new toilet. Oh! And I'm getting carpet installed in my upstairs bedrooms next week. AND Logan and I put in Lifeproof vinyl plank flooring in the living room, hallway, and kitchen. Hence falling off the wagon on the reducing consumer debt thing.

And because we have been doing projects damn near every evening since mid-February, I've barely read anything.

And because I have been pooped out from home improvement projects, we have been grabbing something while we are out running errands. Or ordering something to be delivered. I legit didn't go to the grocery store for 2 weeks. Which means a lot of ordering in/dining out and leftovers. And I had to buy my lunch almost every day. Not good! And we worked on these projects every day after work and every day we were off work. Which means no 9Round for me. Yikes. The perfect storm for slipping up and failing.

But here's the good news - the lion's share of the home improvement projects are done. Which means I'm climbing back on the horse. AND I had a giant dumpster in the driveway for 10 days. So I did a LOT of throwing away. So much old stuff. So much broken stuff. I also donated a trunk full of housewares, clothing, decorations. That felt nice. I cleaned out my closet and found a HUGE box of notes/homework/lectures from nursing school. Throwing that in the recycling bin was pretty cathartic.

But now it's April and I need to get back to caring for myself!

My to do list:
1. Start reading before bed again.
2. Keep using the reusables!
3. Keep paying shit down.
4. Keep applying the "low spend" mindset - start a low spend month in June.
5. Restart eating at home.
6. Start going to 9R again. Keep drinking water.
7. Clean the April rooms.