February small goals
I’ve been inspired lately by a fellow blogger who does these posts every month, so first, I just want to credit Nicole of Writes Like A Girl. I’m slightly obsessed with her right now. It’s refreshing to fangirl over someone who is genuine, honest, real, kind, relatable, stylish and absolutely rockin’ it (in my personal opinion). I started to follow along with her last year, and now her blog is the first I check in my Bloglovin’. She’s just an inspiring gal, and if you don’t follow along with her already, I say do that first.
So looking back at my new year’s resolution post… my goals for the year were to get a handle on my anxiety, eliminate my headaches, lose 25 pounds, save money for an emergency fund, and pay off all credit card debt. So now, I’m going to break down those things into smaller, monthly goals. It’s helpful to forget the big picture sometimes, and to set mini, more realistic goals that you can accomplish more quickly… and then move onto the next month. So for a little recap of January:
- Eliminate anxiety | I started seeing a counselor! It’s been incredibly helpful so far. It’s been a wake up call to some of the things I do or say to myself (that aren’t good) and some of the things in my past that still affect me. I’m a chronic “bury your feelings and eventually they’ll go away” person and obviously that’s not working. My body is acting out. So I’m working on that. But, no panic attacks this month… so that’s good news!
- Get rid of your headaches | This has been a process, and I still have the daily headaches, but they are very slowly maybe going away. I’ve tried some things this month like cutting out caffeine and artificial sweeteners, throwing away new perfume samples, and exercising more. If I were to guess at what they are, I think they are just stress/depression related right now. And I’m hoping with time, they will eventually go away. Trying to not overthink these right now.
- Lose 25 pounds | In January, I lost 0.8 pounds. Haha! It’s at least something, and I didn't gain. Have to look at the positive side, and continue to move forward.
- Save for an emergency fund | I have a smaller goal to save 1/3 of our emergency fund by June 30. We’re currently on track to hit that goal! I’ve been putting away a set amount each month to accomplish this, and it’s automatically deducted from my paycheck into a savings account in a town far away. ;)
- Pay off debt | We are slightly behind schedule on this… BUT making progress.
Here are my small goals for February to get closer to these BIG goals! These could be related to the big goals, or just things I want to accomplish this month:
- Complete a 19-day no dining out challenge | This is going to help two major goals (eating healthier/paying off debt). Dining out is so expensive, and SO hard to eat healthy. Too many temptations. This is already helping, and I know will continue to help. Just gotta be strong over the weekends.
- Pay down $1,000 on credit card debt | This is already budgeted in our monthly budget, so I just have to do it and spend less money eating out, and have zero money for clothes and junk we don’t need. I can buy clothes in spring. (If you’re looking for a monthly budget system, try Every Dollar. I use my own spreadsheet, but it’s very similar to this method. The free version is totally enough for what you need.)
- Train for the 5K in March | I signed up for a free 5K training plan on the Runkeeper app, and my goal is to follow that and get running 3x a week. I’m already able to do 2.36 miles!
- Finish reading Present over Perfect | Not exactly the best book for me, BUT, it has been relatable, and helpful to read about being present and to stop trying to be “perfect”, which is a word I often use when thinking of future me. That’s silly; no more.
- File taxes and make a budget for refund amount | My goal is to budget ALL tax refund money to catch up on hitting monthly goals to pay off debt and save money.
One last thing… if you walk away with anything super helpful from this post for setting and tracking goals, check out the Strides app. I love it. First, it’s free! And you can set up to 10 “strides” that you can chip away at. I currently have all 10 moving along… some are small (drink 8 glasses of water a day) and some are huge (pay off all debt by x date) and it shows if you’re in the red or green, and what you need to be at to be ‘on track’. It also gives you an approx. number of the future. So for example, if I want to have $1500 in debt by June 30, it’s estimating I’ll be at $2500 in debt by June 30 based on where I'm at right now. The goal is to get into the green. It’s honestly fun; in a weird goal-planner, over-obsesser kind of way. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re into that, like me. ;)
OK, I know this post is insanely long. Hope you enjoyed reading along… and I hope you have a happy and productive February! xo