2018 YEARLY GOALS: MID-YEAR CHECK-IN

At the end of each year, I recap the year and set some goals for the year ahead in several categories. You can see my year in review and goals for the following categories here: personal, blog, and reading. Below, I’m recapping how I’ve done so far in the first half of the year!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Personal Goals

Expand our family
✓ Done. Err… in progress? No. Let’s say done. My goal was basically to get pregnant and baby boy #2 is joining us in September. 

Save for and go on a cruise in the fall
➖ Removed. I knew it was likely that this goal would be removed since our big goal was a baby, so it’s being removed and I’m cool with it.

Lose weight
➖ Removed. Same as above. I knew if we had a baby, this goal would be removed. It’ll definitely be a goal after the baby is born though!

Pay at least $7,000 on our credit card debts —> Reduce all debt by $7,000
⏳ In progress. I should have specified more with this. Also, we consolidated debt so we really don’t have much credit card debt left. I’m going to go ahead and change this up to make the goal more clear: reduce all debt by $7,000. This does NOT mean the amounts we pay toward debt (including interest and principal… that would be WELL over $7,000). I specifically mean to reduce our actual balance by $7,000.

Read more books
⏳ In progress. I read 29 last year. Goal here is 30+ in 2018.

Enroll Caleb in preschool
✓ Done. He’s starting in September and I can’t even believe it. I’m so nervous! I really think he’ll do well, but he’s always been with Jerry, me, or my mom, so the idea of strangers taking care of him just freaks me out. Sigh.

Get a family membership to the Y
✓ Done. We joined in January, so I’m calling this done. Here’s the bad news: we canceled in June because we weren’t using it enough to justify the outrageous cost, but we DID join and use it a bit for 6 months… just not enough for $83 monthly. After the baby is born, we’ll be looking into joining a less expensive, less crowded gym.

📝 Blog Goals

Blog two times a week
⏳ In progress. Killing it, friends! This has been a great year of blogging for me, and I’ve blogged two times per week ALL year so far, with three or four posts some weeks (this is more than I like). This is the most inspired I’ve been in a long time. I’m usually a fly by the seat of my pants blogger, but lately, I’ve had so much inspiration that I’ve got posts scheduled up to two months in advance sometimes. I NEVER used to be able to schedule posts. Loving it and hoping this blogging mojo continues to stick around for awhile.

Review one book a month or join the monthly book link-up
✗ Failed. Failed this one early in the year when I missed doing a review in March, and haven’t kept up with it since. 

Continue “Get Sh*t Done” and “Debt Diaries” posts
⏳ In progress. These are two of my favorite series to write, so this goal should be easy to complete! I’ve been keeping up with it and plan to continue doing so.

Continue some of my series and daily life posts
⏳ In progress. Sigh. Super non-specific goals are not helpful, but I’ve kept up with and even started a number of series. I’ll recap those at year’s end.

Focus on personal essays and creative pieces
⏳ In progress. More non-specific goals that aren’t measurable. Ugh. This one is going well though. I aim for two posts a week and try to do one creative essay a week, and then another post too like a series or daily life type post.

📚 Reading Goals

Read 50 books
⏳ In progress. I’m at 12 right now. Pretty sure I’m not going to meet this goal, but crazier things have happened, am I right?

Even split of owned vs. library books
⏳ In progress. This is actually at a pretty even split so far for the year! I also started doing Netgalley again, so I’ve got to take that into account for next year’s goals. For this year, I’m going to count those as “owned” books. To make this goal measurable, I’ll say that if I’m at a 60/40 split or better (let’s go, 50/50!) by the end of the year, I’ll mark it complete.

Read at least five nonfiction books
⏳ In progress. Super close with four finished:

1) You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham
2) The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande
3) The Trigger by Daniel Patinkin
4) Bullied to Death? by Judith Yates

Read five women’s fiction / chick lit
⏳ In progress. Currently reading my first:

1) Switch and Bait by Ricky Schultz

Read five mystery / suspense
⏳ In progress.

1) The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons
2) Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Read one true crime book
✓ Done.

1) The Trigger by Daniel Patinkin
2) Bullied to Death? by Judith Yates

Read two horror books
Not started yet. Fall is horror season for me.

Read two YA books
✓ Done. I started a Forever YA book club chapter at work, so I’ve been reading (and will continue to read) a good amount of YA this year. So far this year, I’ve read:

1) Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
2) The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
3) How to Break a Boy by Laurie Devore

Read two romances
⏳ In progress.

1) Saving Each Other by Stacy Mitchell

Read four Christmas books
Not started yet. Saving this for the holidays.

Read one “first in series” book
✓ Done.

1) The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
2) Red Rising by Pierce Brown
3) Saving Each Other by Stacy Mitchell

Continue a series already started
Not started yet.

Re-read Harry Potter
Not started yet. This has been on my list for years. Maybe?

📊 Mid-Year Totals

➖ Removed: 2 / 25 (drops total to 23)
✗ Failed: 1 / 23
⏳ In Progress: 12 / 23
✓ Done: 6 / 23
Not Started: 4 / 23

No comments