2018 Goals Update: September

Oh, September. I feel like I should maybe caveat some of the failure you’re about to read about. In the month of September, I worked at the day job for at least 4 and as much as 14 hours almost every day. And of course, Tristan spent three days in the hospital, which sent a wrecking ball through both my finances and any kind of emotional stability I had. Plus, you know, the garbage fire that is America in 2018 also kind of beat up that emotional stability. I’ve tried to make some forward movement every day, but some nights that’s been “put on an outlet plate, call it done” instead of actual progress.

Anyway. Enough whining. Here we go.

Original Goals Post

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

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 6/6 done, and check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – HEY I DID THIS!
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – Check and check. I was happy with my Finance Friday Retirement post and the process of that.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – I did this! I sat down and combined my local research with the results from my survey. I’ve taken it out again and looked at it a few times to make sure I still agree with it, but generally, I’m happy with my understanding of everything.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) –  Even with everything else going on, September was my second best month ever, and the best on the fundamentals. (Which is to say, my best month ever was last December, and since a lot of my inventory is good for gift-type things, that’s not a fair comparison.) ALSO, I reached out to do some freelance writing/speaking about research I’m doing that I’ll talk more about in 2019. I’ll know in November if it works out, but I’m happy with having pushed myself to do it.
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – 12/12 and done thanks to the Black Stallion books!

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – lolololol this is gone now so I dunno. I accomplished the goal and then undid it? Either way it’s going to make an appearance in the 2019 goals again!
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – down to $5,250. sigh. So. Obviously this took a hard hit as well. It could have been worse – my parents went behind my back and paid part of the vet clinic bill – but it still got hit hard. BUT. I’ve been picking up some extra work and devoting absolutely every penny to refilling savings and there is a slim chance – if everything goes perfectly – that I might be back close to this goal. That means I could have overshot it if things hadn’t happened – but would I have had the motivation to work as hard if they hadn’t?
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – I predicted that September was harder and oh boy was it ever. I lost track of some of the money I spent while Tristan was sick, buying food on the road and a lot of gas to go back and forth to the clinic. With everything factored in, I did okay, but I definitely did not accomplish this goal for September.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – Generally speaking, yes. I’ve found that I have to relax this a little bit for business purchases.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’re at 35% and if trend holds will be at 45% at the end of 2018; realistically, that’s probably where we’ll hold unless I find some miracle money, and right now all miracle money is going toward refilling savings accounts, because the interest on this is like 2%.
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250) – oh hell no.

House Goals

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint). – FINISHED HELL YES.
2. Finish garage in basement (finish strapping, put up drywall, plaster drywall, paint floor, clean out).
3. Finish living room (strip wallpaper, plaster, deal with ceiling, repaint). – changed this goal to reflect a shift in priorities from the upstairs bedroom to the living room
4. Develop plan & budget for preserving mud room mural.
5. Build second raised bed, start seedlings indoors, can/process results of garden. – I made pesto! I will blog about it soon. Sadly, all my tomatoes ripened and fell off the plants while Tristan was sick. *sad trombone*
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)