If you’re new here, every month I share how I’m doing with my goals for the year. This includes personal, blogging/business, and of course financial goals. This post holds me accountable to the goals I set every year, but more importantly, it helps my readers to see that having financial goals in place are the key to succeeding with money. If you need help setting financial goals, make sure you read this post here on the steps to setting financial goals. 

Blogging

I’m so thankful that Kirsten of Sweet Tea and Saving Grace hosted an amazing blogger’s meetup, Homegrown Bloggers, for us in Atlanta a couple of weekends ago! Fun fact, Kirsten and I used to sell Thirty One Gifts together but never officially met – we only ever spoke on the phone. 🙂 

Anyway, Kim from Thrifty Little Mom and I had a blast getting to spend time with no kiddos and of course getting to talk about blogging with folks that “get it” lol. 🙂

Contribute 25% of income to business emergency fund.  – (Done this month. And P.S. if you aren’t in this habit of setting aside at least 25% of your blogging income each paycheck for taxes, you should be. This has been a lifesaver since now we owe taxes and instead of having to scramble to find the money to pay for taxes, the money is already there in the business savings account. It’s been a true blessing!)

Attend 2 Conferences –

• FinCon16 – tickets already purchased.
• Still to figure out another one to attend….

Have signed contract with literary agent by December 31^st. 

Release one eCourse by October 1^st.  (Finally started on this one! Abby Lawson’s Book Boss course is the one that motivated me to finally get going with it and I can’t wait to tell y’all more about it!)

Have an average of 500,000 PVS a month by December 31^st.

• PVS for April 2016: 232,547

Make One Media Appearance – TV or Radio – Last month I was briefly (as in 30 seconds 🙂 ) on the Chris Brown radio show. You can listen to the episode that I was on here – I’m towards the end of the show.  

Speak at at least one event

Increase Facebook followers to 10,000 by April 1st. (Totally missed this one. :-/ So, new date – Let’s see if I can reach this by July 31st….)

Increase email subscribers to 15,000 by August 1st. 

• Current number: 9,672

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging and seeing my income reports from the blog, sign up here and I’ll send out once-a-month blogging advice with my income report. 🙂

Read at least 5 books on business/blogging

What I want to read: 

• Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis
• Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy…Create a Mass of Raving Fans…and Take Any Business to the Next Level
• Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
• Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
• See You at the Top
• The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
• The Compound Effect
• Blog at Home Mom: Balancing Blogging and Motherhood
• Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

What I Read

Strategies Worth Sharing – This book was written by my friend Brittany from Equipping Godly Women and in case you don’t follow her on Facebook, she’s got over 100,000 fans and she grew it in only 5 months! Her book is all about sharing the strategies that she used to grow her fan based and I will say, there’s a couple of brand new things in it that I had no idea I could do with Facebook!

Personal

Continue using the Tupler Techniques every day. (These are found in the book, Lose Your Mummy Tummy) – Been doing this more regularly but not every day…work in progress.

Complete P90X by December 31^st – Haven’t started yet. 

Read at least 2 books just for me.

• The Better Life: Small Things You Can Do Right Where You Are
• Simply Tuesday: Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World
• The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
• My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Losing and Leaving Friends

My husband’s birthday with his homemade cake decorated by two little boys…. 🙂

Marriage Goals

Write one love note to Pat a month. (Done for this month)

Plan at least one date night every 6 months. 

Read at least 3 books on Marriage:

• 52 Ways to Wow Your Husband
• 31 Days to a Happy Husband
• The 4 Seasons of Marriage: Secrets to a Lasting Marriage
• The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts
• 100 Ways to Love Your Husband: A Life-Long Journey of Learning to Love

What I Read

100 Ways to Love Your Husband: A Life-Long Journey of Learning to Love – This was a short read but a great reminder of all the ways to love my husband. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and in the busyness of our daily lives. That usually results in us ignoring our most precious relationships so this book was a great read to help me remember all the amazing reasons why I love my hubs. 

Someone please tell this girl to stop growing up. :-/  Oh and shout out to my blogging buddy Rosemarie of The Busy Budgeter for handing this outfit down from her little girl to mine. 🙂 #frugalfriends

Mothering Goals

Collin is FINALLY potty trained!!!! He was actually much easier than Conner and if you’re a mama looking for some potty training advice, the best I can give you is this — Once you start don’t stop. So once you decide you’re going to train them, don’t put them back in a diaper. It made potty training Collin so much easier (not to mention faster) and was the mistake I made when potty training Conner. 

Spend at least 30 minutes every day playing with my children. (Done for most of the month.)

Write in Motherhood gratitude journal every day. (Done for this month)

Plan a date night with my boys once every 6 months.

Read one new book every month with boys. (Done – we read Skip to My Lou.)

Read at least 1 book on Parenting/Motherhood.

• The 5 Love Languages of Children
• Raising Your Spirited Child
• Making Children Mind without Losing Yours
• Love Rebel: Reclaiming Motherhood

What I Read

Love Rebel: Reclaiming Motherhood – yes, yes, yes to this book! This was an easy and quick read but well worth it. I hate how our society depicts motherhood and this book showcases just how beautiful motherhood really is. If you’re struggling in your mothering journey, I encourage you to give this one a read. 

P.S. I was given an incredible opportunity by TIME Magazine to guest post on their site MOTTO about motherhood. It was a little strange writing about something other than personal finance but it was definitely fun! You can check out that article here. 

Spiritual Goals

Complete 1 Bible Study. (Done)

Volunteer once at our church. 

Read Bible Daily through Blessed is She. (Done for this month)

Read at least 2 books on Christianity.

• 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration
• How to Listen When God Is Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholics
• Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux
• The Temperament God Gave You: The Classic Key to Knowing Yourself, Getting Along with Others, and Growing Closer to the Lord
• Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children: Short Stories for Catholic Children with a Moral and a Prayer following each Anecdote.
• The Hidden Power of Kindness: A Practical Handbook for Souls Who Dare to Transform the World, One Deed at a Time
• Catholic Family Handbook: Time-tested Techniques to Help You Strengthen Your Marriage and Raise Good Kids
• Chiara Corbella Petrillo

Financial Goals

We’re working on paying off our medical bills from two hospital visits so our financial goals aren’t as impressive this month. 

3- Month fully-fund emergency fund by December 31st – goal is $10,500. 

• Current Balance: $8,962.35 

Pay mortgage principal down by $10,000 by December 31st.

• Owed on mortgage as of December 2015 is: $33,835.25
• Current Balance: $32,029.63 (our current payment hasn’t calculated yet…)

Read at least 1 Financial book:

What I Want to Read: 

• The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands a Year
• Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After
• The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke
• Debt-Free Living in a Debt-Filled World: A book to encourage, educate, inform, and inspire.
• Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future

What I Have Read:

31 Days to Radically Reduce Expenses by Kalyn Brooke – If you’re looking to beef up your budget and reduce your expenses, I highly recommend this book. In case you’ve never heard of Kalyn before she’s the mastermind behind Creative Savings Blog and a super duper budget guru – seriously, her budget tracking is impressive.  

How are you doing with your goals so far this year?