We did not go to CostCo or the grocery store 4+ times this week. I am calling that a win. My interview on Tuesday went well. On Friday night, the universe decided to pound it into my brain that yes, I really do need to be networking on this job search. And today, my writing group, which is filled with amazing people, gave us our first “family” gift – a family membership to the aquarium.

It was a good week.

 

Blogging

The purpose of these two goals is, yes, to grow my blogs, but also to support and highlight blogs and bloggers I enjoy. Just like I will be posting 2 new to me blogs every week in my round ups, the point here is to draw attention to blogs that others might not be familiar with. (Blog swaps will not count toward either of these goals.)

Write one guest post per month.

January- yes

February- yes

March- no

April- no

Publish one guest post per month.

January- yes

February- no

March- no

April- no

April turned out to be not any better than March when it came to getting guest blogging done or posted. With my certification out of the way hopefully I’ll get my act together in May.

I do have a request in with one blogging friend to write a guest post for me, so hopefully I’ll get that up this month.

 

Writing

Writing fiction is my side hustle, though I have yet to make any money from it. I’ve found that I devote much more time to the blogs than I do my fiction, though, because I am on a schedule. I feel accountable to my readers to get posts up when I say I will. And because I am a procrastinator, deadlines are a must for me. I get the energy I need to work on something from an impending deadline.

I am hoping to transfer the power of those two things- accountability and deadlines, to my fiction this year.

Submit at least one piece to a paying venue per month.

December: Yes (rejected)

January: Yes (rejected)

February: Yes x4 (2 rejections)

March: No

April: Yes

Complete the first draft of my novella and start edits. No work on the novella this week, but I did start on something to be submitted.

 

 

Finances

A lot of financial goals will actually end up as floating goals- ie they will be things I expect to complete well before the year is out. But I do have some long term financial goals that I think will work for year-long tracking.

Create and track a practice stock portfolio. The latest post went up on Thursday.

End the year “on budget” in the categories I’m tracking.

May Numbers

Category	On Budget
	Month	Year
Groceries	Yes	No
House	No	No
Eating Out	Yes	No
Allowance – E	Yes	No
Allowance – C	Yes	Yes

 

We had our first “eating out” of the month on Saturday, when we went to Red Robin. We had a free burger on the loyalty card, so, with tip, only about $20 for three people. Definitely getting ourselves back on track there.

 

Floating Goals

Find a new job. Meeting with the recruiter got moved to this coming Tuesday because I was sick last week. Networking is paying off, at least in small doses, and I’m still feeling good about the process.

Replace all the windows in the house. They measured our windows this week, and now they are making our windows. In 4-6 weeks, I will have new windows

Fix the plumbing issues. We have a number of little plumbing issues all of which we really need to get fixed.

Get an Exterminator. Ant season seems to have passed. I still want to get someone out, but it’s less urgent at the moment. And since the ants always come in at the windows, it is possible replacing the windows will end the ants.

Publish new photography/flash fiction book. One of my goals for my “down time” is to start working on this project. Sadly, my down time hasn’t been very down.

Refinance the house. DONE.

Earn my Certified Supply Chain Professional designation. DONE.

Rebuild savings to $5-10k. We’re up to $8,075. I’m calling this DONE. (Though savings will actually grow considerably over the next 24 weeks as I get severance and hopefully a new regular paycheck.