I just got back from Frys, where I made a last minute run (as in they announced the store was closing in 10 minutes 2 minutes after we walked in) to but a Surface RT. Microsoft lowered the price to $350 as of today, and since we’d been looking at tablets for a while, and I’m about to start doing some traveling for work, well, I bit the bullet and bought one. It is charging as I speak.

 

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

May- no

June – yes.

Publish one guest post per month.

January- yes

February- no

March- no

April- no

May- no

June – yes.

 

Need to get a guest post written and find someone to write a guest post here or over at Life by Pets. Anyone looking for guest posts/want to write a guest post?

 

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 (rejected)

May: No

June: No

Complete the first draft of my novella and start edits.

I am hoping I’ll be able to make myself get some writing done while I’m traveling for work.

 

 

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. July is going quickly, but will try and get this up soon.

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

July Numbers

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

 

I’ve been really bad about doing the numbers lately. I need to make myself sit down and do that sometime soon, but after my 12 hours out of the house on weekdays, I don’t really want to look at a spreadsheet, and weekends have been busy, too, so I haven’t been as productive as perhaps I could be.

 

Floating Goals

Fix the plumbing issues. Once the windows are taken care of, this is my next priority. Need to get C to call around on this sometime soon.

Sell the Condo. Need to get in touch with our renter and find out if she’s contacted the realtor yet to come in and look at the interior of the condo. We want to get it on the market late this month or early next, and hopefully have it sold very shortly after she moves out in September.

Get an Exterminator.  Still have ants. Mostly in the bathroom.

Publish new photography/flash fiction book. No progress being made. It’s pitiful, really.

Refinance the house. DONE.

Earn my Certified Supply Chain Professional designation. DONE.

Rebuild savings to $5-10k. DONE. (I do love seeing the savings balance grow.)

Replace all the windows in the house. DONE. (And rebate has been submitted.)

Find a new job. DONE.