May 2014: Goal Recap

January is always a time of reflection and resolutions. Just like many people, in January 2014 I wrote down several goals I wanted to improve upon this year. Writing down goals is one thing, while sticking to them is another. (This is why I blog!)

Here's a look back at how I've done so far this year..

 If you haven't read my original blog on 2014 goals

 click here ---> 2014 Goals<----

January Part 1 & Part 2

February Recap:Part 1 & Part 2

March Recap/Goals

April Recap/Goals

May 2014 

Career Goals

I have now been in my position at NIFS for 6 months. I feel confident in this position and truly enjoy being on the corporate side of fitness vs strictly commercial fitness. I am now ready for a more permanent position at one site now that I have had a taste of all 20 sites in the Indianapolis area. I'm keeping my eye out for any openings at the sites I would like to work at daily, but loving the change of scenery everyday.

 I also have some NEW career goals that are in the works.

 More details will be coming VERY soon :)

Wifey Goals

Prep all 10 of our lunches for the week every Sunday and plan out the week

This goal has become harder to achieve as the weather has been warmer and days longer! It's easy to want to stay inside in the winter and prep meals for the week, but now I just want to be outside, enjoying the warm, summer weather. OK, now that my excuses are out there, we have been about 50/50 this month in meal prepping. Barry typically grills about 10 chicken breasts and 6-8 turkey sausages on Sunday and we use those during the week for lunches/dinner. I have apples, carrots/hummus, protein drinks, and protein bars ready to pack for lunch and frozen veggies, sweet potatoes, and salads ready for dinners. Our meals are less formal in the summer and more easy to eat and get back outside :)

Perform 20-25 min of daily cleaning

Who wants to be inside cleaning all summer long?! Not me. I do look at my cute cleaning chart everyday, but once I skip Monday, there's a slim to none chance I'm going to stay on track. What has worked for me is setting my oven timer for 10 minutes and picking up the entire house. This forces me to be intentional and stay on track. My goal is to set my timer for 20 and get everything done on the schedule everyday... I will report back on how that goes!

Reduce our spending

This has been the focus of 2014- reduce spending and get out of debt. Every month we do a budget before the month begins and "spend" our money on paper. We have read countless books on this topic  and continue to educate ourselves daily on better ways to reduce spending/living simply.

Here's a couple ways we have reduced our spending:

Grocery shop at Costco/Aldi with cash

Cut Barry's hair (Saving us over $2,500 over 10 years)

Keep the blinds closed during the day to keep cool air in & AC used less

Find inexpensive entertainment  (ride bikes, take dog for a walk, etc)

Rent library books instead of buying new books

Future ways to cut spending:

Cutting cable ($92/month)

Creating an at-home gym ($165/month)

These two small expenses in our budget will allow us to save over $45,000 over the next 10 years if we invest this money vs giving it away. We have debated giving up cable for months, but there's no way ESPN is worth $45k in my book. 

Look for future blogs on how we created an at-home Crossfit garage gym and Part 2 of May 2014 Goals :)

May 2014 in Review- "If your not first, you're last"- Ricky Bobby

It's hard to believe we are halfway through 2014! After the winter we had, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is enjoying every nice day that comes our way. May, as always, was an amazing month here in Speedway, IN! 

Here's a rundown of May 2014:

May 1st: 
Our 3 year dating anniversary. Here's our first picture ever taken together at Buffalo Wild Wings in Speedway on May 1, 2011. I was just getting off work and decided to stay up there and hang out with some friends. Barry was up there with a friend having some dinner and came over to say hi after he was done. We ended up hanging out together all evening and that Friday we went on our first date. The rest, you could say, is history.
                 

May 3rd: 
I started off the first Saturday in May with my niece, Vaida. We rode bikes down to Main Street to watch the Mini Marathon and to see my brother, Joe, and his girlfriend, Morgan's, cute new house. We had a blast riding around town, but she did tell me towards the end of our bike ride, "You know this would be much faster in a car." LOL ;)

May 3rd (PM):
I never realized that I would be lucky enough to continue to attend Prom when I first started dating an administrator! (...cough, cough...) 
This was our 3rd prom at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis.

May 10th: 
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the first annual Grand Prix Indy car race. My cousin, Monte, hooked us up with Suite tickets so my Dad, Barry, and I all headed out for a fun day at the track! We ended the evening with a cookout with great friends, Tyler and Kayla, that bought a new house one block from Georgetown Road on Main Street! 

  May 12th: 
You know you are officially old when you get excited about a new cement driveway, but that's exactly what happened on May 12th! Check out the details here about how we saved up and paid cash for our new driveway and porch!

May 23rd-25th: Race Weekend! 
After the Grand Prix Race just two weeks before, we were even more excited for Race Weekend. The one downfall was my best friend Michelle, and her husband Todd, weren't able to make it for the first time in 3 years. We made the best of it and hosted our 2nd Annual Day Before the Race Party, which turned into the pre-Jason Aldean party. On Race Day we ended up getting free tickets from our neighbor (Thanks Jake!) and Barry and I went to our first race together. The weather was absolutely perfect and the race went down to the final lap. 

We ended the evening like every Race Day before.. hanging out at my parents house with family and friends. (Please note Thomas's outfit)

May 30th-June 1st:  I ended the month with a trip to DC with my Mom, Dad, and Grandpa to see my cousin, Emma, graduate as the valedictorian of her high school. We enjoyed a round of putt-putt and dinner together on Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, Dad and I woke up early to head downtown to see the monuments. After walking for the first hour, we rented some bikes to get around a little quicker!  

After a quick Metro ride back to the hotel, we all got ready and headed to Emma's graduation. Before we had to fly home, we spent the last couple hours at Peggy and Kieran's home for Emma's graduation party.

May 2014 was an action filled month and June is looking to be just as fun-filled! Look back soon for my June 2014 in Review! :)

2014 Summer Bucket List

The days are longer, the sun is warmer, and the memory of a cold, dark winter is almost a forgotten memory. Summers are shorter than ever before with many schools moving to a balanced calendar, leaving a few months in the summer to cram in all the water-filled, outdoor fun! 

One of my favorite quoted is, " Fail to plan, plan to fail." Instead of letting the summer fly by without enjoying every last second, I created a Summer 2014 Bucket List!
( and I encourage you to make your own!) 
One of my weaknesses is planning ahead of time, so I'm hoping this will help Barry and I enjoy this summer to its fullest! 

2014 Summer Bucket List:

- Take a road trip: Planned for July 10th-13th

- Bike down town to an Indians game

- Enjoy a walk around the canal

- Relax around a pool for an afternoon- Done! 6/21

- Walk/Bike to Yogulatte with Smokey

- Attend a free summer concert at Meadowood Park

- Go to the Indianapolis Zoo 
- Have a picnic in the park 
- Sleep outside ( maybe some backyard camping?) 
- Watch a movie outside 
- Run through the sprinkler on a hot day
- Host several outdoor cookouts

- Gather a group of friends to play sand volleyball at Meadowood park
- Run a 5k race: Done! 6/21 Hession Family 5k
- Makes S'mores over a campfire : 6/28 Mattingly S'more Party
- Take pictures with our nice camera
- Host a block party
- Go hiking and swimming at Eagle Creek
- Watch fireworks on the 4th of July

- Spend a day on Morris Lake with friends: 7/4
- Go to the drive-in 
-Watch the sunrise/sunset



I'm sure there will be more added but it's a start! We have even accomplished some of these since I first started this blog draft in early June :)

What is on your Summer 2014 Bucket List?

Paying CASH for a new driveway and porch!

If you have read any of my blogs or know us personally, you probably realize that we made some serious changes last November 2013. We read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and everything he said in that book clicked with both of us. The stories were inspiring and we knew we wanted to live a life of debt freedom. The only problem was that in June 2013 we purchased a 2011 GMC Terrain for me and in September 2013 a truck for Barry, which quickly increased our debt by $40,000! Whoops!

((We are in the early stages of a plan to cut this debt in half.. check back for a blog post about that next month!))

Anyways, in November 2014, we started our Debt Snowball with over $68,000 in debt that we wanted to tackle by July 2015. This would require sacrifice, commitment, and lots of team work, but we were ready for the challenge! Our plan changed slightly in February/March 2014 when we knew we needed to update our warn and weathered driveway and sidewalk. We were hoping to push this off until we were debt free, but Old Man Winter had a different game plan. As much as we both, I hated it, we had to put our debt snowball on hold for a little more than 2 months to save up the cash to pay for the project.

On Monday, May 12th, our old driveway was hauled away and anew driveway and porch were put in! It took 10+ men and a full  day of work to complete this project... along with several neighbors stopping by to check out what all the noise was about ;)

 

 On Saturday, May 17th, we went to the bank to pull the money we needed out of our savings. It was such a large amount that they took us into a small room in the back to count it privately. It was a great feeling to know that we had worked and saved enough money to pay for this project in cash. 

Since completing this project, we are back on our debt snowball! My student loan is quickly vanishing and should be gone by the end of the summer! :) 

The finished project

How are your spring projects coming along? We are happy to be done and looking forward to enjoying the summer on our new porch and beautiful backyard!

- Sarah