Money Saving Mom®

In early January, I shared about my Goals for 2012 and promised an update at the end of the month. I was so encouraged in going through this list to realize the progress I’d made on my goals, even though it was a whirlwind month with lots of new things and new challenges with my husband’s business and my book launch.

It’s amazing how mapping out a plan and then being intentional to chip away at it bit by bit can really start to add up to some significant progress! Here’s my goal list with updates in brackets next to each goal item that I/we made some progress on:

Personal
Read through the Bible in a year. {I’ve finished all the reading up to today–yay!}
Read through the 24 books on my 2012 booklist. {Finished both books on my January list + 1 on my February list!}
Listen to 12 audiobooks. {Working on finishing listening to January’s audiobook.}
Run in at least one 5K race. {Almost finished with week 3 of Couch to 5K program.}
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Tackle 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects. {I made Homemade Detangler this week.}
Focus on one habit per month. {Making some headway on January’s goal. Not as much as I’d hoped, but I’m trying at least!}
Learn to use my new DSLR camera (huge surprise Christmas present from Jesse!!) & improve my photography skills.
Take at least one photo a day and put together a page every week for my Project Life album. {I almost have the first 3 weeks of January done.}
Memorize Colossians using the plan and free download here. {I’ve almost memorized the first four verses, so I’m a little behind, but I’m hoping to catch up in the next two weeks.}

Marriage
Go on the Love Like You Mean It Cruise.
Go on two Marriage Retreats (overnight trips sans children for planning, talking, goal accountability).
Have monthly date nights. {We’ve had 3 dates in January so far!}
Read four books together. {We’ve read a few pages of one book together so I guess that counts for something!}
Read at least 3 books on marriage.

Children/Homeschooling
Continue regular dates/outings with each of the children individually. {I took each of the children on individual dates in January.}
Continue Grace and Truth memory book. {The children have memorized five verses plus two verses of one hymn this month.}
Ice-skating lessons for all three children. {Started these two weeks ago.}
Swimming lessons for all three children.
Finish second grade, begin third grade with Kathrynne. {Plugging away at this!}
Finish kindergarten, begin first grade with Kaitlynn. {Plugging away at this}
Start preschool with Silas.
Go on at least one field trip every month. {We went on one field trip this month.}
Go on at least one family vacation.
Finish at least 15 read-aloud books. {We’ve almost finished two read-aloud books in January.}

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family
Write at least two handwritten notes every month to encourage someone. {I wrote & mailed three handwritten notes this month.}
Continue being involved in our local church, homeschool group, young couple’s group, and blogging accountability group. {Ongoing}
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. {Ongoing}

Business/Blogging
Continue to take Sundays off from blogging/business work. {Ongoing}
Continue keeping strict Office Hours for the business/blogging time each day. {Working on this–making a tiny bit of progress!}
Switch to a paperless planning system. {This is going well for me, though I’ve decided I’m probably never going to be 100% paperless for all things.}
Follow my weekly blogging plan. {I didn’t do this perfectly in January, but I adhered to it pretty closely.}
Plan blog posts out at least a month in advance. {Not quite there, but I’m at least being much more intentional with my blogging this year than I’ve ever been before!}
Write and schedule blog posts at least a week in advance. {Making some headway with this, though I’m far from where I want to be!}

Financial
Continue to tithe 10% of our income. {Ongoing}
Give generously to needs in our community and around the world, as God prompts us. {Ongoing}
Pay cash for a new-to-us vehicle to replace our family’s van. {We were able to set aside a good amount toward this goal this month. Our van continues to have a number of issues, so I’m happy we decided to have this goal this year–instead of waiting a few more years.}
Finish saving for and purchase a rental property with cash. {We were able to set aside some for this in January.}

How Are You Doing on Your Goals for 2012?

If you’ve posted goals for 2012, I’d love for you to post an update on how things are going and share your link in the comments (Mr. Linky is refusing to let me add the HTML to this post for some reason!). Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!