Progress

(taken by yours truly at the Sugar Mill Botanical Gardens)

The year is more than a quarter over. Um, wow. Does it feel like January was yesterday to anyone else? No, just me? Anyways, this year is going fast. I wanted to come back and do a little recap of some of the goals I mentioned back in the beginning of the year. 

1. Emergency fund: We are almost done! We adjusted our number based on some work projections and a decrease our uncertainty level. I had padded the six month number but things are looking good so I don't think we will need the extra cushion. We should be done next week. It is going to be such an amazing feeling to knock such a big goal off the list. I am really excited. Since we are following the Total Money Makeover, finishing up our emergency fund means we get to move onto Baby Steps 4, 5 and 6. If you are unfamiliar with the steps, check out the link. I am a big list/plan maker and this plan has been great for us so far. 

2. Physical fitness goals: I am so excited about this one! I have done so much better than I ever thought I could. I have been consistently working for the last four months. I have noticed some big changes in my energy levels and overall physical fitness. Marking off each day that I workout on my calendar has been the perfect little "win" to keep me motivated. I want to start increasing the intensity of the workouts as well as being more intentional with my diet. We eat fairly well but I know that I can make some adjustments in this area. Increasing the intensity of the workouts and being more intentional about my nutrition should make a big difference in the results I am seeing. 

Thanks for letting me share my progress! I am mulling over some new goals and hopefully will be posting those soon. 

Did you set some goals this year? How are you doing? 

Daydreaming

Hello from sunny Florida!We are on what I am considering our first family vacation. Just the three of us, hanging out at the beach and relaxing. Well, there has been a little work involved as well. Scott had to leave for a couple of days for meetings and I am working away on a project that is due when we get back. Working on a sunny balcony surrounded by palm trees beats a office desk any day.
 This is just what we needed. We are homebodies and love staying in but we would also consider ourselves travel bugs. Most of our homebody evenings are spent watching and rewatching our favorite episodes of Rick Steve's Europe and any and all of Anthony Bourdain's shows. We are equally comfortable on the go as we are on the couch. So getting away from our usual routine for a bit is just right.
I love coming down here. I love the beach. Scott loves just being able to relax. Every time we come we talk about what it would be like to own a sailboat. Scott is convinced that he wants to try a transatlantic voyage. I'll be fine with just sailing around the harbor. We shall see. Either way, it's fun to be able to chat and daydream. Speaking of dreaming, I got a copy of Retire Inspired for my birthday (No, I didn't turn 45. Guess again.) I have gotten into it yet, but I am really excited about it. One of the main premises of the book is that planning for retirement is not about quitting your job and doing nothing for years, it's about being able to do whatever you want. The tagline is "it's not an age, it's a financial number." You don't have to be 65 and a half. What I think it so empowering about this idea is that it can make that little sailboat daydream a reality. Of course it will require some hard work and financial sacrifice now, but if you that's all it takes to make a dream come true, that's really not that bad.
Maybe the dream will change and we will probably have to take the long way round to get there. Paying for college can get real expensive. I am just happy that we are talking about these things and actually taking steps to get there. As the author of the book says, "A dream without a plan is just a wish."

What are your dreams? Are you taking steps to get there? Do you feel like you're making progress? 

Spinning Wheels

Why, hello there! Long time no see. That is my bad. When life gets busy some things fall through the cracks. Sadly, blogging has to play second fiddle to things like work deadlines and cooking. #priorities
I have missed you though! I listened to a great podcast last week that encouraged me to get back here. Seth Godin was being interviewed and he highly encouraged everyone to write a blog as a creative exercise. Hopefully, I will stick with it a little longer this time.
Sadly, the reality of life is that there are going to be times when I just can't make the time to write. It's one of those "you can do anything but not everything" moments. I have to keep my priorities straight. Blogging is something I do for fun. Just for me to express myself and connect a little with the world. When life gets busy, those "just for me" things have to be the first to go. There just is not enough time to fit it all those little things in.
I am working to get to more efficient at budgeting my time. When you budget money, you start with the four main things: food, shelter, lights/water, and transportation. You make sure that your cover all the bare necessities so that you don't end up out on the street. After those four items are taken care of, you move on to the items that not as essential but still important, like clothing and saving. Lastly, if you have money leftover, you look at buying something that is just a want, like a latte. That is how I am trying to view my time. It is the most precious resource I have, but I am not nearly as concerned with how I spend it as I am my paycheck. Am I making my time work for me? And I am essentially "impulse spending" it but checking Instagram notifications? Are there better ways of investing it? All these questions force me to evaluate time like the asset it is. I only have so much. I don't want to waste it.

Do you manage time well? Do you feel like you keep spinning your wheels when it comes to time managements?