March Goal List – Keeping Me Real

I’m a list person.  I like to have lists for everything.  I have notebooks of all sizes and shapes full of lists.  Something about crossing something off my list makes me happy.  Sometimes too happy, I worry.  I don’t always get everything on my list done in a day.  So I bump it to the next day.  And being a world champion procrastinator, this can mean that I still have “bag/box winter outerwear and store” on my list in July.  Sad?  Yes.  True?  Yes again.  So, it would appear that I need to remove my ‘permission’ to bump things on my list because it’s just too easy to ‘do it tomorrow’ when you know that said ‘tomorrow’ will never come.  So, from here on out, my ‘list bumping’ permission is revoked.  SOB!

So, I suppose my first goal would have to be to stick to my lists and see them through to the bitter end.

Honey Badger’s March Goals (’cause this may hurt a mite, and HB don’t care)

Figure out how to have at least one Date Night a month (with Mr. KB, of course *grin*) – This one is at the top of my goal list and that is not a coincidence.  Mr. KB and I really do love to spend time together, we have fun together, laugh with (and at) each other and usually genuinely really like one another and that’s why it makes us both sad that we never (ok, it’s maybe been a handful of times fo the past year) get to go out alone together anymore. And like any couple, we need time together to just be a couple.  Our babysitting budget isn’t big, but I think we can make it stretch to at least one night out a month and I do have a lead on a recommended teenager in our area so I really just need to bite the bullet, set it up and go, go, go! 

Meal Plan weekly – This one thing, that takes less than 10 minutes a week, is one of the biggest time and money savers.  I can’t rave about it enough.  And I apparently can’t remember to do it enough either.  So, here it’s listed and the list reigns supreme.

Update Excel sheets daily – I’m currently tracking every penny that we spend in order to see where the leaks, craters and gaps are in our budget.  I’m also tracking coupon savings and sale price savings to make sure that it’s not cost us more than it’s saving us to shop this way.

Call and /or email my parents et al. at least once a week – I’m bad for this.  I know that.  As much as I love my parents, my days seem to get away from me far too often and so I don’t check in with them as often as I should.  And I really don’t like that and want to change it.  So, I’m setting it as a goal.

Wash, dry, and fold one load of laundry each night – This sounds excessive, I know.  But this household is a laundry mecca.  There is always laundry waiting around here.  To be washed, to be dried, to be folded, to be put away – there is always laundry in one of these categories, so I’m just trying to get a handle on it so I’m controlling it and not the other way around!  And, I only do laundry at night because of the Time of Use electricity rates.  Doing our laundry at night (after 7pm) makes a HUGE difference in our hydro bill at the end of the month.  Pennies add up quickly, especially when subjected to HST!

Shop only two days a week, maximum – I covered most of this in my February budget update post, but it bears repeating.  The  more times I go to the store, the more money I spend (even with buying everything on sale, with coupons, etc.).  I need to make my list, be organized about it my shopping trick and stick to my list like white on rice (and I still don’t know that the hell that expression is supposed to mean.  Can anyone fill me in?).

Spend more time having fun with my kids – I’m with my kids all the time.  I mean it.  I’m always with them.  But I often forget to play with them because I’m so busy doing “stuff” that “needs” to get done.  Yes, everything I do needs to get done, but if I can get a handle on my time management skills, work a little smarter, then I’ll be able to do more playing with my kids, because they are my priority and they are all growing up sooooo quickly – and we all need that fun time together. 

Continue to prepare for our upcoming move – Time is flying by.  Our closing is in six weeks and we have A LOT to do before and after that date.  We’re moving two weeks after closing, so I need to come up with a very detailed project plan to make sure that we get everything done that we need to get done before we move our kids into the new house.  This is a BIG job, and we’ll get it all done, but I really don’t want to fly by the seat of our pants.  Doing so just adds too much to our stress levels 😉

Stay on Budget – I really want to save every penny we can right now.  Our expenses are about to go up (moving, running a bigger house, etc.) and I want to be prepared for them.  I need to think critically about everything that we purchase and make sure to categorize it as either a “need” or a “want.”  True “needs” will be purchased.  “Wants” will be noted and left behind.  In order to get what we really WANT (our new home, the way we want it), the smaller ‘wants’ are going to have to go unanswered, at least for now

Quit my diet pop habit – I love, love, love me some Diet Pepsi.  But, I know that it’s not good for me and I won’t let my kids drink pop or any kids, and it makes me feel like a total hypocrite when I drink it in front of them.  And I don’t like feeling like a hypocrite.  So, I’mma gonna quit that noise.  Not today, but this week.  For sure.

I know that there are many, many other things that I need to focus on this month, but this list will have to do for now. 

What about you?  Do you make a track goals regularly or do you fly by the seat of your pants and hope it all comes together?