1. Pay Down the Mortgage
We were able to knock 3 payments off our contract this month {1 regular payment and 2 “principal” payments}.
As much as I would like to put our house up for sale this October {the 2 year mark} and hightail it out of here, I’m not sure we are ready to do that yet. {I’ll talk more about this in another post}.
2. Buy Nothing New for 1 Year.
I didn’t buy any non essential items this week. 🙂 Wahoooo!
3. Track Spending and Figure Out New Ways to Cut Spending Even More.
Some of the small things I did this past week that saved us money were:
- I stayed with a friend instead of paying for a hotel room.
- I packed my own snacks {oatmeal included} to eat on the plane.
- I borrowed books from the library instead of buying them.
4. Try 52 New Recipes.
I didn’t get a chance to make anything new this week but I did try a delicious pork dish at Valerie’s and I plan to share the recipe.
5. Keep My Grocery Budget Under $100 a Month.
Even though I bought quite a bit of groceries last week, I still feel like I am on track to keep my grocery budget under $100 this month.
6. Go on 52 Dates with the Handsome Husband
Because I was out of town this past week the HH and I didn’t get a “date day.” 🙁
So far this year we’ve gone on 1 date and spent $0 out of pocket on our “dates.”
7. Turn My Wool Stash into $5,000.
I had another great week! I sold 3 of my hooked rugs, 2 pillows and 2 set of flowers. 6 items on Ebay and 1 on Etsy for a total of $504.69 {before fees and supplies were factored in}. I’ll do a tally at the end of each month to see how much profit I actually made.
So far in January I’ve sold $929.29
8. Get Rid of 1,000 Things.
I’ll start working on this later in the month.
9. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Last night I finished reading Pieces of my Mother. What a childhood. What a tearjerker! Have you read it?
10. Track Hours Spent Working on My Vegetable Garden and do a Cost Analysis at the End of the Year.
So far this year I have harvested 1 pound 2 ounces of red potatoes. I was traveling this week so I didn’t get a chance to work in the garden.
11. 52 House Projects in 52 Weeks.
I have 2 projects in mind for this week to make up for missing one last week.
12. Make all Birthday and Christmas Gifts This Year or Acquire Them for Free.
I made a bunch of firestarters using the leftover wax I have from making candles last week. I plan on making a bunch of these for my brother since he has a woodstove. I’ll post a tutorial on how to make fire starters on Monday.
How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2016? How are they coming along?
~Mavis
Read About My 2016 Goals HERE.
UpstateNYer says
Craigslist.org has a “free” section. And one for garage sales.
It might be worthwhile to see what you can gather all year ’round to give for gifts.
Heather says
I love your goals! You are an inspiration! We redesigned our budget for 2016 to pay a double payment to principle every month! Bye bye interest!
Frances says
My goal is to be more frugal with the shopping budget. My food budget also includes household and hygiene and it was a whopping $700 a month just for my bf and me. I’m trying to cut it down to $550 a month for now. Any savings is going towards debt. Honestly, I read about how people spend so little on food and it still baffles me. I guess it depends a lot on where you live and what is available, what you have on hand, what you can preserve etc… We live in the mountains in northern Canada and even with just my bf and me, it’s impossible to spend only $100 a month on groceries, unless we’re only eating Kraft Dinner or Mr. Noodle each night. We both also have varying food allergies so it’s a bigger challenge, like…I can’t eat beans, soy, pork or beef, I can only eat limited amounts of dairy and wheat as well, so my protein mostly comes from chicken and fish which is ridiculously priced here. Kudos that you can do it! I read your site regularly and always learn something new 🙂 Another goal for the winter is to only use the car twice a month for grocery shopping. So far so good. My biggest goal for 2016 is to start a veggie garden. Not easy in a rental, but that’s what containers are for right?
Marcia says
I’m definitely interested in hearing about the “hightailing” plans. Is that just sell the current house and stay in the same area, or move to your East Coast property? Wondering how that would work with hubby’s job, for example.
(I think about leaving the west coast a lot. A house the size of our Coastal CA house in my spouse’s hometown is 1/7 the price. We could sell the house, walk away with a few hundred k, buy a house cash, and retire if we wanted. But: snow.)
Judy says
I’m trying a few cost cutting strategies in 2016. I too am trying to reduce my nonessential spending for clothes, toiletries, and impulse spending. I’ve contacted my cellphone carrier and our car/home insurance companies and have gotten price reductions from both companies. We always go to the reduced price movies, or use coupons at restaurants, we both never order soda or coffee, only water, but as others have done, I need to direct these saving toward paying down the principle loan on our house!!