Last monthly update of the year; I’ll next update in early January with my final overview.

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
September Goals Post
October Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 6/6 done, and check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – check!
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – check!
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – check!
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) –  November was my best month ever; Black Friday was absolutely nuts. It gave me a good taste of what a month that entirely supports my horse habit would look like.
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) –
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – Thanks to a variety of things including obsessive economizing, this is back on track!
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – Most of November went well. The wheels came off around Thanksgiving.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – November’s went really well, on to December.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – projected to hit 57% at the end of the year and I’m ok with this; it’s an extremely low-interest loan with a small monthly payment
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250) – nope.

House Goals

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint). –check!
2. Finish garage in basement (finish strapping, put up drywall, plaster drywall, paint floor, clean out). – sigh.
3. Finish living room (strip wallpaper, plaster, repaint). – yeah all my plans to finish this fell apart in the face of spending the last 10 days of November hacking up my lungs
4. Develop plan & budget for preserving mud room mural.
5. Build second raised bed, start seedlings indoors, can/process results of garden. – check!
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

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
September Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 6/6 done, and check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – check!
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – check!
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – check!
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) –  October was an obscenely good month thanks to two bulk orders. If I take those out of the mix, October held the same as September, which is to say, about where I want it to be. I’ve been doing a lot of work getting things in stock for the holidays to hopefully have a big finish to the year.
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) – So. This is back in place, thanks to the truck. Best truck. It even helped me out after it left me.
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – now $6,150. Philosophical question: I’ve revised my goals for the emergency fund, which means that my 50% target is lower, which means I have hit it for the year – but not what the original goal was. So. Hmmmmm.
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – I did SUPER well in October mostly by not buying hardly anything in October.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – Yes! and executed a line item off this list with the purchase of new winter tires last week – saved for, purchased, CHECK.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – close and probably not going to make it but anything is possible.
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250) – nope.

House Goals

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint). –check!
2. Finish garage in basement (finish strapping, put up drywall, plaster drywall, paint floor, clean out). – progress here, we taped the drywall seams , just need to plaster them, and cleaned out a bunch of stuff.
3. Finish living room (strip wallpaper, plaster, repaint). – would’ve been done this past weekend but I went canvassing in a swing district instead; I will work on it this week with the goal of painting next Monday.
4. Develop plan & budget for preserving mud room mural.
5. Build second raised bed, start seedlings indoors, can/process results of garden. – check!
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

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

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 6/6 done, and check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – lololol I didn’t ride at all in August.
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – I’m learning a LOT from my Equine Retirement Survey (still open!) and looking forward to sharing the results on Friday.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – Definitely going to work out a longer post for this at some point in the near-future.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) –  August was a great learning month. Etsy shop sales started to truly stabilize, and I added a bunch of new inventory + have a bunch more in progress getting ready for the holidays.
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – up to 9/12 with the Black Stallion books

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – this is holding, thanks to the huge HUGE accomplishment of matching up Etsy + other income to Tristan’s vet bills this summer, which have been constant. It feels like treading water, which sucks, but it’s actually pretty great. Perspective!
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – on to $6,750, and this goal is now officially on track (barring, y’know, emergencies) to complete in 2018!
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – August crushed it. September will be harder – some travel, some house expenses.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – Yes and yes, this continues to hold.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 33% of the total; barring some other kind of intervention on my part, this will not hit goal, which is frustrating. still thinking about how best to make it happen.
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250) – this was only going to be possible if I was able to funnel all additional income to the EF; most of it has gone toward vet bills. yay.

House Goals

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint). – oh God I am so close I can taste it. Finishing this week!
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. – 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)

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

Original Goals Post

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

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 5/6 done! Here’s the first June lesson, and here’s the second.
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. – Still at 1/3.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) – I moved some important steps forward this month: I stabilized my average monthly earnings (though low), and I learned a lot through very selective restocking about what people most want to buy. I also kept expenses tightly reined in. Overall, I’m happy with my positioning for July.
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – 3/12 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 $6,250!
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – June was better! I actually did really well with this! Here’s to July.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – Yup!
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 29% 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). – I’ve started skimcoating! I’m having people over for a neighborhood political gathering in late July, and my stretch goal is to have this totally done by then.
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. – I did not build a second raised, but I shifted plans to put in terraces. Half of the things in there are growing well, and half are not. It’s been a good experiment, anyway! I also picked strawberries and did freezer jam and froze the rest.
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint

Life is kind of insane right now. I assume my horse is still alive. Pretty sure the barn would’ve told me if he weren’t. Other than that…working 24/7.

I have just about enough brain cells to do a goals update, so here we go.

Original Goals Post
January Goals Post
February Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 1/6 done still. Not happening this month; May for sure.
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – no progress on this, definite plans for the summer
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – I’m at 1/3, but I did have a good conversation with both the barn manager and a friend that moved some things forward.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – Haven’t touched this.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) – slow, but doing okay
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – 1/12 done; nothing new.

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – This is still holding!
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – up to $5,250, huzzah
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – Back on the wagon for March, thankfully.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – yup, still holding well!
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 22% 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). – PROGRESS, HUZZAH
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. – First seeds went in this weekend!
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

Original Goals Post
January Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – 1/6 done, check!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – no progress on this, definite plans for the summer
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – I haven’t done anything more in detail, but I have been mulling over everyone’s responses to my post about what questions to ask of retirement situations
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – I looked at my rough draft a little bit more
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) – added a bunch of new things this week, though I need to devote some quality time to thinking about wholesale
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – 1/12 done with a three part review of Brain Training for Riders

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – CHECK! Now, the trick will be to keep this steady, barring actual emergencies. I have some plans for that that I hope will start rolling at the end of the month.
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – up to $4,750 and should start making real progress on this at the end of the month.
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – I fell off this wagon a bit and suffered for it, but have already sorted out the mess and noted my first few March purchases.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). –done! and made my first purchase off my 30 day list: a new laptop. considering my old desktop is still running Windows XP, this was a looooooong time coming.
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 19% 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).
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.
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

How has a month gone by already?!

Original Goals Post

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year. – first lesson of 2018 is scheduled for this afternoon!
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses. – not yet; waiting until summer, probably
3. Research 3 different retirement situations. – I’ve sent a bunch of inquiries, and have received one answer so far.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan. – I have a rough draft of a budget that’s going to need a lot more work.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.) – this is going slowly, but I’m chipping away.
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog. – first review coming at the end of this week!

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500) – sitting at $700/$1,500
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500) – started the year with a car accident that dipped into this, so sitting at $4,600
3. Track every purchase made in 2018. – check for January!
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies). – check!
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt. – we’ve paid off 16% of the total
6. Stretch: 75% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $11,250)

House Goals

The only goal I’ve worked on has been #2, in that I’ve reached out to a contractor to help, because goddamn I am not finding the motivation to do it myself.

1. Finish dining room (finish wallpaper, skimcoat lower half, plaster upper half, paint).
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.
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

Previously, I explored a new framework for setting goals. I looked at what three areas of my life would be in five years if everything went well, and laid that out. Here, I’ll set the first signposts on that five year journey: measurable, time-specific goals for 2018.

Horse Goals

1. Take 6 lessons through the year.
2. Ride 3 new-to-me horses.
3. Research 3 different retirement situations.
4. Write retirement budget for Tristan.
5. Reach goals for horse-specific income stream. (Primarily through Etsy shop.)
Stretch: 6. Read and review 12 books about riding on the blog.

Financial Goals

1. Fully fund Tristan’s savings account (to $1,500)
2. 50% fund my overall emergency fund savings account (to $7,500)
3. Track every purchase made in 2018.
4. Create 30 day wait list for any purchase over $25 (excluding groceries & emergencies).
5. Pay off 50% of energy improvement debt.
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).
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.
6. Stretch: Finish breakfast nook room (strip wallpaper, plaster, figure out heating, repaint)

I’ll do monthly update posts much as I did last year, and in 2018, I am going to go ahead with my Finance Fridays plan, of posting monthly about some kind of financial horse goal for people to share along in.

I would like very much for this year to go better than the last.