August 2016 Goals: Fitness, Financial, Blogging & Personal

Good morning!

Summer just keeps flying on by… it’s already time for monthly goals for August 2016! This is just a little post I do each month to help me stay on track and focused. I don’t necessarily always get everything done but posting posts like these helps me be more productive and I hope to encourage you to be more productive too!

Monthly Goals: August 2016

Fitness

My fitness goal for August is to complete the first four weeks of Ashley Horner’s Charlie Mike Six-Week Fitness Plan (found on Bodybuilding.com). I’m starting today after work. They have an app you can use to follow the program and there’s a printable log too. Awesome!

I know it’s going to be a tough challenge but that’s what I need right now. I need to re-focus and re-commit. This means I get to head back down to the basement for heavier lifting and I’m pretty excited about that. I think my husband is too!

 

Financial

My financial goals continue to have everything to do with getting out of debt. A potentially huge setback is that my husband was laid off last Friday. That’s a really frightening, helpless feeling. Thankfully he’ll be able to come back to where he worked before (which is where I also work) but we will be losing health insurance for the time he’s laid off. We’re praying that more work comes in and that he gets called back within a few months or so.

Our current debt total as of July 31st: $223,337.29 (-$1398.16)

Our total from day one was: $224,735.45. 

The $224,735.45 includes every penny we owe every lender. So that means mortgage, auto and student loans and credit cards. If we follow the debt snowball method, we will have every penny paid off by October 2022. And that’s only if I keep our snowball number where it’s at right now, which is pretty low to start. It’s a huge mountain to climb! The mortgage payoff will likely be pushed back a bit because we’re following Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps and that includes saving several month of living expenses and being able to contribute at least 15% to retirement before paying off the mortgage. It’s still fun to track and see the principle balance go down each month. I find tracking our debt payoff so closely really keeps me motivated.

Potential minor setback: Our mortgage payment is being increased by $146.65 beginning August 1st because of our escrow account balance being too low. Hooray for tax increases right?

• Continue the debt snowball.

• Continue putting $5 a week towards my IRA account. This is an automatic transfer. After credit cards are paid off, this will obviously increase. I just want to get into the habit of contributing to it and watching it grow. Slowly.

• Schedule all August bills.

• Spend $400 or less on groceries to feed our family of six. Thank God for Aldi.

• Continue listening to The Dave Ramsey Show podcast on my way to work. This is so motivating to listen to. I’ve actually teared up listening to others share their debt free journey because it makes me feel like I can get there too. This show really inspires me to keep chipping away at it.

 

Blogging

The summer months are typically a slow time of year for bloggers – but for good reason! We should be out enjoying the beautiful weather!

The traffic on this blog increased during the month of June so I’m pretty hopeful. Even though traffic may be lighter in general, I can still put the work in to grow this blog. It’s my passion!

• Post 2-3 times per week on topics like fitness, financials, blogging and/or meal planning

• Continue using CoSchedule to help me plan my editorial calendar and social media posts

• Increase monthly pageviews from 8,956 –> 9,500 (pageviews were down for the first time in several months – down by 264 from June so that’s not too bad)

• Participate in at least one link-up

• Brainstorm blog post ideas and plug them in to CoSchedule

• Fill out monthly blog stats for July

• Publish a round-up post with the most viewed posts in July

Personal

In addition to my fitness, financial and blogging goals, I also have some personal goals to work on.

• Spend 30 solid minutes with God every day (for prayer, gratitude, Bible study, devotions, etc.)

• Read one book. I plan to read The Husband’s Secret. Sounds like a perfect summer read! <—sticking with this one this month!

• Spend 10-15 minutes every night planning for the next day in my Erin Condren Life Planner (to-do list, appointments, goals, etc.)

Time to get busy!

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