July 2018 Goals Update

Original Goals Post

January Goals Post
February Goals Post
March Goals Post
April Goals Post (didn’t happen)
May Goals Post
June Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 6/6 done, and check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – I’m between a rock and a hard place for this. Tris is doing SO well in lessons that I don’t want to take valuable lesson time to ride another horse.
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – Let’s call this 2/3 – I did some outreach that should count.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – I may write a longer blog post about this, but I spent some time this month thinking about how to structure a budget in terms of investments and/or savings that would support longterm retirement.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) –  Some further great steps forward! July was a good month in the Etsy shop, and I’m starting to learn about and explore the idea of wholesaling.
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – 6/12 done now that the Black Stallion series has started!

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – Knocked this down with new prescription refills of Prascend and his allergy drugs, but in the next two weeks I have money coming in through other reimbursements that will top it back off.
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – on to $6,500!
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – YES! July did really well!
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – I did this and I also made a downward modification on it. The drainage was not $25 items, it was basically anything over $10. So I started a shorter wait list for purchases over $10. Which may seem obsessive, but it’s really been working.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 31% of the total
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250)

House Goals

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint). – FUCK SKIMCOATING FOREVER
2. Finish garage in basement (finish strapping, put up drywall, plaster drywall, paint floor, clean out).
3. Finish upstairs guest bedroom (strip wallpaper, plaster, deal with ceiling, repaint).
4. Develop plan & budget for preserving mud room mural.
5. Build second raised bed, start seedlings indoors, can/process results of garden. – Tomatoes are starting to come in, and the basil has recovered – I may even do pesto soon!
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint