February 2014 Goal Recap

Another month in the books, and based on how busy I've been the last few weeks, I'm not sorry to see it go. Work has picked up, and grad school has REALLY picked up. I'm in an accelerated part-time MBA program at GMU, with two night classes a week after work. Each class meets for 3.5 hours per week (6:30 to 10:05!), and I've probably got to put in at least twice that amount of time to get the work done outside of class. I'm so exhausted by Thursday. To top off the work and school one-two punch, I'm also still trying to keep up with the blog and meet all my New Year's resolutions. Anyway, enough complaining, here's how I did:

FINANCES: Put $2000/month away in savings (target of $24,000 for the year and max out a Roth IRA ($5500/year).

We put another $4,380 in savings this month, bringing our yearly total to $8,398. That amount is kind of misleading because we got our tax return this month. We really should have been up in the $5,200-$5,400 range this month. I ended up spending $450 total for two tickets to Montreal over labor day weekend (which was actually an insanely good deal, and I'll get paid back for one of those tickets), another $150 for a race entry fee, $300 for a photography class for my wife, $120 to get a passport renewed, and a bunch of small but unexpected expenses. February was an expensive damn month.

I'm revising the goal from January. With a crazy wedding season looming, no more saving for a $4,500 trip. We have three weddings to go to this summer, two of which have bachelor parties in Canada (one in Montreal and one in Vancouver), and one of them is in Maine which promises to be about a $1,500 trip for the wife and I. All in all, I estimate we will spend between $3,500-$4,500 on wedding-related expenses this year. UGH.

I just opened a Roth IRA, and the yearly contribution limit is $5,500 which I fully intend to meet. More on this to come in a future post. 

FITNESS: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.

I went to the gym yesterday to see where I'm at with the pull-ups. I did 10 in a row, probably could have squeezed out one or two more as well, but it would have been ugly. I feel pretty good about where I am right now. I still hate pull-ups, but I'm seeing some improvement. 

I made some progress on the second half of the goal by signing up for a Tough Mudder (hence the $150 entry fee I mentioned). I'm doing it with my Dad who, at 63, physically puts most people my age to shame. Speaking of shame, NONE OF MY FRIENDS WOULD AGREE TO SIGN UP FOR IT. #sad #supersad #theywillbedeadby40. Anyway, June 14th. Get pummmmmped.

CREATIVITY: Average 4 blog posts a month by end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I did more reading of blogs than I did writing of blogs this month. I've been consuming all the information I can find on building wealth responsibly, personal finance, and investing in general, and there's a lot of information out there. Despite that time dump, I still managed to pump out 5 blog posts. I'm changing the goal from 2 posts per month to 4 posts per month, which is pretty much a layup. I NEED AN EASY WIN OK!?

I also posted one project! Check out these shelves I made for the wife, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. 

CAREER: Become a GS-13 by September.

Not much movement on this front. I did speak with my boss to see how to get this process started but I haven't had the chance to follow-up on his advice. This is definitely a huge priority for me, The position comes with a nice pay raise and added responsibility that I wouldn't mind at all.


SPIRITUAL: Find a Church by April and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity by the end of the year.

I FAILED! Still no church for me. I totally missed on this goal, and I'll be honest, I didn't even know I set the 1st of March as the deadline!! I'm going to push it back one month and get off my ass Sunday mornings.

At a school meeting a couple weeks ago, we were discussing different volunteering opportunities that students could take part in. One of them was Habitat for Humanity. I'm kind of holding out hope that I can volunteer with my classmates. 

Whole 30: Complete the Whole 30 Challenge (again!).

We already completed the Whole 30 challenge in January and it was awesome, but since I haven't been as strict with my diet, I'm starting to fall back into some of my old bad habits. No, I haven't been eating fast food, but I'd estimate that only 50% of what I eat is Paleo and I can definitely feel a difference. Ideally, I'd like to do Whole 30 around the same time I do the Tough Mudder in June, but I'll set a loose goal and say that I'd like to do it once more this year. 

January 2014 Goal Recap

One month is in the books, and I'm happy to report that I did pretty well in regards to my New Years Resolutions...

... but I'm not even sure if I like my goals anymore.

My wife and I have done some soul searching, looked at where we are in our lives, and what we want to do, and decided that we want to work abroad after we're through with grad school at the end of the summer 2015. We're juggling a bunch of ideas in the air like do we try to buy a house now then rent it out while we're abroad? Do we buy the house after we go abroad? What kind of work will we do? Are we willing to put some of our goals on hold indefinitely in order to do this? How long will we be gone? Where do we even want to go?! DOES SANTA EVEN GO TO OTHER COUNTRIES OR IS IT JUST AMERICA!? YOU HAVE TO TELL ME.

Anyway, my brain is going crazy. We're meeting with a loan officer today to see if we can even afford the houses were interested which will (hopefully) give us some much needed clarity. I'm also planning on meeting with some career advisors at George Mason University (my school) to see if they have any insight. We'll make a decision sometime in the next 10 years, so you have my permission to hold your breath.

Without further ado, here's how I did on the goals.

FINANCES: Save $3,000 cash for a vacation before September 2014. Save $24,000 cash for a house by January 2015.

I think I said that we needed to save about $2,350/month to hit this goal and we saved $4,018! BOOYAH! I get paid bi-weekly which normally means I only get paid twice a month. Every so often I get a third paycheck and we have a fun month. This was one of those months WHICH was very timely (and I didn't actually know it was gonna happen) as Whole 30 cost more than expected and we weren't going to hit the $2,350 target. Next month, we may get our tax refund back which would give us an even bigger cushion going forward into the summer months which are typically more expensive for us. (wedding season y'all)

FITNESS: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.

Ummm. Can we skip going over this goal? I did 6 pull-ups last time I tried that out. I freaking hate them. FAIL. I haven't been to the gym very much in January as I was spending a lot of time cooking, being sick, and wrapping up some finals. Excuses, excuses. I'm going to aim for 9 pull-ups by the end of February.

Also, I haven't even registered for the Tough Mudder, but I haven't NOT done a Tough Mudder either. Let's call it a draw.

CREATIVITY: Average 2 blog posts a month by end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I had 8 posts. At this rate, in two more months I can quit this whole blog thing. I also knocked out 2 projects, which I'll blog about later if my darling wife deems me worthy and takes some photos. Once I reach these goals, I'll set some new ones.

CAREER: Become a GS-13 by September.

Little bit of background, I am a federal government employee and I am on the General Schedule (GS) pay scale. I am currently a GS-12 (it's a little bit like a rank in the military) and I will be up for a promotion to a GS-13 in September. In order to get there, I have to pass a written test, write some essays, and get interviewed by a board of people I'm gonna have to charm the pants off. I can always become a GS-13 after September, but I can't be one before then because you have to have "time-in-grade". This means I have to be a GS-12 for at least a year before I am eligible for promotion. September is my anniversary date. Anyway, as I get closer to the date, I have to start scheduling the training to prepare for the tests and the interview. I'll probably sweat through my suit and tie when the day comes which, unfortunately, is not very flattering.

SPIRITUAL: Find a church by March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity by the end of the year.

When I started this post, I was feeling pretty good about myself based on the fact I saved so much more money than expected. Now I feel awful. I didn't even GO to church once this past month. So no, I didn't find a church. I think I may have driven past a few on Sundays.

I did do some research into volunteering in DC with Habitat for Humanity. Definitely seems doable for me and something that would be rewarding.

WHOLE 30: Complete the Whole 30 Challenge

UMMMMMMM YEAH. I FRIGGIN' DID THAT. I plan on doing a wrap up post talking about it, but it was seriously life changing. I recommend it to everyone.

This Resolution Plays for Keeps

New Year's resolutions are a tricky thing. According to StatisticBrain, approximately a quarter of the resolution-making population doesn't make it through the first week (wow, seriously?) and only 8% are successful in meeting their resolution (ok, it's official, we suck). Why so much suck? It's because we have sucky goals that suck worse than we suck.

Take a look at the goals we make each year. Lose some weight. Exercise more. Call mom more. Drink less. All good, but basically, they're just about "doing your best". Can we even measure it? When do we know we've met our goal? We're not likely to stay committed to these. Goals setting should be done with a purpose. Goals should be:

• Public: Telling people you're going to do something makes you more likely to commit to the goal. Tell people you're going to do something on Facebook, and you might do it just to save "face". (WORDPLAY! HOW MARVELOUS!)
• Time-bound and Specific: It should be clear what you're trying to do. Losing weight, for example: how much weight? by when? You need to give yourself a deadline so you'll get around to it and you need to know what the target is exactly.
• Attainable: This is kind of a no-brainer, but sometimes we don't think about it. If you don't believe you can possibly accomplish something (like running a marathon if you're not yet a runner), you're not going to get it done. Think about what it will take realistically to accomplish the goal.
• Difficult: You need to be able to tell the difference between the current state and the goal state. Too easy and it won't mean anything. Too hard and it may not be attainable.  

To steal a page from Red Debted Stepchild, I'm setting some goals that are "cross-off-able" and also taking a stab at using the guidelines above to make better goals.

FINANCIAL ANDREW 2014: Save $3,000 and ACTUALLY SPEND IT on a vacation before September and increase our cash savings by $24,000 by January 2015. 

No shortage of wants here, just a shortage of cash. We definitely want to buy a house soon (dropping $1,535/month on rent for a one bedroom is getting OLD), but we haven't been on an amazing vacation yet and we're not getting any younger. We're gonna have to stash $2350/month (currently on a $2,000/month pace) so it'll take some belt tightening. We can do it. I got faith.

FITNESS ANDREW 2014: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August. 

I typically reserve this time of year for "finally" getting in shape. It's the same routine every year: go to closet, get dressed, put on shoes, lose track of ear phones, despair, "man up", step outside, run, and then condemn all other runners in my mind for making this whole damn thing socially acceptable while I nurse shin splints and eat a row of Double Stuf Oreos because I fucking earned it. Still, I don't want to die a fatty on the couch so here we go again. This past weekend, I could do 8 pull ups in a row, but I haven't really been working out recently because I tore three tendons in my left ankle last July playing basketball. This feels doable. Should also make a Tough Mudder doable, but I'll probably need to get some friends to do it with me.

CREATIVE ANDREW 2014: Average 2 blog posts a month by the end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I just want to stick with this whole blog fad, ride it out 'til the end. Who knows if the Internet is even ready for blogs? I DON'T CARE IF YOU READY WORLD WIDE WEB! YOU CAN STAY OR YOU CAN GO BUT THIS IS HAPPENING! .... and I like to refinish furniture and stuff. Gonna do some of that this year fo' sho'.

PROFESSIONAL ANDREW 2014: Become a GS-13 by October. 

I am a GS-12 right now, GS-13 is up next. As a Federal Government employee, this will be the first promotion I will have earned "competively". If you're not in the Government, this makes no sense to you. I'll explain later. Just go with it for now, OK?

SPIRITUAL ANDREW 2014: Find a church by the end of March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity at least once before the end of the year.

Not sure what the deal is with us, we are devout believers in God but we've been living together for 4 years and we've only tried once to find a church (it did not go well!). Time to get it together. Working on my relationship with God is a mega-priority. I'd also like to start volunteering again. My wife and I met in college at James Madison University in Virginia where we were both "brothers" in a co-ed service fraternity. Giving back does a body good. Habitat for Humanity, which I've never done, seems like a good place to reengage.

... and finally!

WHOLE 30 ANDREW 2014: Complete the Whole 30 challenge starting January 1st!

Much more on this to come, but this is definitely my shortest-term, but maybe the most challenging, goal.

If you're reading this, what are your goals? Let me know!