My 12 Goals for 2016 : Week 28 of 52

1. Pay Down the Mortgage

Thanks to not travelling or buying anything extra this month, we were able to squeeze one extra “principal” payment out of our budget towards paying down our mortgage. Had we not had those crazy medical bills from the HH’s surgery we would have been able to pay down more. But hey, one extra payment is better than nothing… right?

2. Buy Nothing New for 1 Year. 

I dropped $10 for this bird print for The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird’s bathroom at the neighborhood yard sale yesterday. Shame on me.

I’ve given up looking for a round dining room table but I’m still on the lookout for a large picture/piece of art to hang on the entry/living room wall. Both things that were in my original “to find” list for this year.

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

I was talking with the Church Lady the other day when she offered me 3 coated tomato trellises for free. She said she has officially thrown in the towel on trying to grow tomatoes on her back porch because of a hungry deer that frequented her backyard one too many times. I told her I’d share some of my tomato harvest with her this summer. So it was kind of barter type thing but not really.

4. Try 52 New Recipes.

Epic fail this week. Too much other stuff going on. 🙁

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

So far in July we’ve spent $43.55.

6. Go on 52 Dates with the Handsome Husband 

The HH and I went out for nachos on our date day this past week. I need to find some “free date” options soon if I’m going to come in on/under budget on this one though.

So far this year we’ve gone on 19 dates and spent $323.60 out of pocket for our “dates.”

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

I won’t be adding any new inventory to my Etsy or Ebay “shops” until late August {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. 

I was a little nervous yesterday morning as we were setting up our stuff for the neighborhood garage sale because of the light rain in the forecast and the fact I didn’t have any big-ticket items this year.

Most of the good stuff was gone by 9 am. Girly Girl didn’t have anything to sell this year {usually we do garage sales together} and so there I was trying to get rid of my junkity junk all by myself. Business was brisk the whole morning and somehow, one dollar at a time I managed to make almost $600. I was shocked.

The best part? Only going home with 1 box of stuff I just couldn’t part with. Everything else was donated to the local thrift store. 🙂 🙂 🙂

To date I have gotten rid of 922 “things.” I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find 78 more items by the end of the year.

9. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

The Shoemaker’s Wife is on my nightstand and I’m looking forward to reading it this week.

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

It was a busy week in the garden! I started some fall vegetable seeds in containers, harvested a bunch of shelling peas, and set out new cucumber and squash starts. I also harvested some snap peas, oregano, 2 carrots and 2 onions this week.

You can get all my latest gardening happenings over on Dig for Your Dinner.

So far this year I have harvested 17 pounds 4 ounces of fresh veggies from our backyard. I spent $19.40 at the greenhouse and about $16 on mulch.

Time spent working on Vegetable Garden in 2016: 15 hours

11. 52 House Projects in 52 Weeks.

This past week was all about getting ready for the yard sale. And let me tell you, I’m so glad it’s over. 🙂 Now I can get back to painting ceilings and trim work.

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

Nothing new to report this week in the gift department.

How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2016? How are they coming along?

~Mavis

Read About My 2016 Goals HERE.