My 12 Goals for 2016 : Week 21 of 52

1. Pay Down the Mortgage

We were able to knock 5 payments off our contract in May {1 regular payment and 4 extra “principal” payments}. No that’s not a picture of my house,  but man is it cool or what?

2. Buy Nothing New for 1 Year. 

Can I just say… I LOVED not buying anything this past week.

3. Track Spending and Figure Out New Ways to Cut Spending Even More.

I dug a bathmat out of a trash can down the road, borrowed a sewing machine, took advantage of the local dog park and stayed in all but 2 days last week. Go.Fight.Win.

4. Try 52 New Recipes.

I tried a bunch of new recipes last week… Sweet potato bread, strawberry scones, black bean and sweet potato soup and I think there was one more. I’ll post the recipe for the black bean soup tomorrow. It was delicious!

5. Keep My Grocery Budget Under $100 a Month.

I am totally over for the month because I bought the boys a boatload of groceries before I left town and I’m trying to buy all my groceries locally via the farmer’s market, co-op, egg lady and a local scratch bakery. I know the grocery budget will even out over the next few months with the fresh veggies we’re growing in the backyard so I’m not too worried. It does look like I’ll need to do another no spend grocery month this year, that’s for certain.

6. Go on 52 Dates with the Handsome Husband 

We won’t be going on any dates this month, but we’ll catch up in June. The HH is scheduled to have his Mohs surgery at the end of the week {Monkey Boy will take him} so that’s kind of exciting. I’ll see if I can get Monkey Boy to snap a picture just in case you need to convince your stubborn husband he might have skin cancer too and that he needs to get it taken care of. Hopefully they won’t have to slice off too much. We’ll see.

In any case, I told the HH scars are cool and chicks dig them. 😉 His reply? “Ya.” 😉

So far this year we’ve gone on 14 dates and spent $191.60 out of pocket for our “dates.”

7. Turn My Wool Stash into $5,000.

I finally finished that big folk art flower rug I was working on and now I’m onto my next project. I brought about a dozen projects to work on while I was here but so far I’ve only finished one. Ha! How can that be?

I won’t be adding any new inventory to my Etsy or Ebay “shops” for a few months {it’s a slow time of year for selling hooked rugs} but my hands are definitely busy hooking away on new projects that I’ll offer up for sale in the fall.

In April I sold $29.99
In March I sold $799.53
In February I sold $1077.27
In January I sold $1563.92

8. Get Rid of 1,000 Things. 

Seriously. There is nothing to get rid of here. How freakin’ cool is that?

9. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

It’s official. I’ve exhausted the stack of magazines here. I didn’t bring any books along, but Lab Girl  and Olive Kitteridge are next up on my list. I think I’m going to go down to the local library and get a card this week so I can get some books.

10. Track Hours Spent Working on My Vegetable Garden and do a Cost Analysis at the End of the Year. 

Wowie zowie! So apparently the boys have been doing a really good job of taking care of the garden back home. {Read all about it HERE}

Meanwhile, this week on the east coast I harvest chives and lettuce from the garden as well as re-planted some garlic bulbs. I also started working the ground so I’ll be able to plant squash and watermelon seeds later this week. Other than those things, I mostly tried to get caught up on a bunch of pruning this week. {I’d say I’m about half way finished}.

So far this year I have harvested 6 pound 13 ounces of fresh veggies from our backyard. I spent $19.40 at the greenhouse.

Time spent working on Vegetable Garden in 2016: 10 hours 00 minutes.

11. 52 House Projects in 52 Weeks.

This week I primed the kitchen table and 2 chairs and got the first coat of paint on them. I am still on the lookout for 2 additional dining room chairs {my price limit is $5 or less per chair and was factored into my “spend” money of the no spend year}. I’m going for a beach cottage shabby chic white look in the dining room. Once I get another coat of paint on the table and chairs I’ll rough the edges up a bit for a more worn look.

12. Make all Birthday and Christmas Gifts This Year or Acquire Them for Free.

Nothing new to report this week.

How about YOU? Are you knocking any goals off your list these days?

~Mavis

Read About My 2016 Goals HERE.