November Goals Update

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Time for our monthly goal check-in!
Here's where we at Thriftism stand:
  • Take 6 Courses Online
    1. A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment on Coursera (6/27/17)
    2. You and Your Money (7/15/17)
    3. Spanish Vocabulary Project (Began 7/31/17)
    4. Beginners German: Food and Drink (Began 7/30/17)
    5. Learning to Learn (Course Deadline November 5, 2017 Done with 3 weeks)
  • Install Bathroom Heater✔
    1. DONE!! So nice to have a warm bathroom.
  • Stain/Finish Captains Bedframe
    1. No progress here, this one seems to be a challenge for us. 
  • Read 12 Books
    1. Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
    2. The Summons by John Grisham
    3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen 
    4. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
    5. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
    6. A Convenient Marriage By Georgette Heyer
    7. Emma by Jane Austen (~80%)
    8. Persuasion by Jane Austen
    9. The Magregors, Grant (~50%)
    10. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
    11. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (Just Starting)
  • Take 2 Trips (Mexico & Germany)
    •  
    1. Trip 1✔ We went to Cancun in January. This is always a favorite of ours. 
    2. Trip 2✔ We got back from Germany mid September. Although it rained almost the whole time we LOVED it! Visit the Thriftism Channel for all the trip videos and watch for more blog posts on our travels.





  • Paint & Trim Guest Bedroom✔

    1. Trim is done and paint are done. News doors have been stained and are waiting to be hung.

  • Workout 4 Days/Week✔

    1. This month has been great for working out. We have been running most days and doing yoga or and indoor workout the rest. The average has been 6 days a week, so I would say we accomplished this goal in October!
    Save $10,000  ✔ 50% of income
    1. We were able to save quite a bit earlier this year, but it fell off a bit heading into the fall. However, we did increase the goal to 50% which may be a challenge with only two months remaining. We are currently at ~46% saved.

  • Lose 10 Pounds

    1. Stayed flat this month, which was surprising given the working out, but at least I have more energy. Maybe I'll be able to avoid the holiday pitfalls and still persevere with my goal?

  • Knit/Crochet 12 Projects

    1. No progress here yet. Guess I'll be knitting up a storm once winter hits. Here's a video to get you started if you're learning to crochet.

  • Publish Blog Posts and Videos Twice a Week

    1. While we didn't post twice a week, we have been publishing more videos with fewer, but higher content posts. There are still lots to come and we will continue to try to publish more posts for your reading pleasure.
    2. In case you missed them, here's our latest posts:
      3.  





      1. Explore Baden-Baden
      2. Oberstdorf Germany Travel Guide
      3. Strasbourg Quick Guide
      4. How to Get a 30% Discount On Your Heating Bill This Winter

  • Take/Pass Professional Engineer Exam (PE)✔

    1. We passed!! Glad we won't have to take that one again. Plus, we have official stamps now.

  • Write London Guidebook

    1. I have an outline and have begun writing transportation tips. Luckily when I snapped the flash drive with all my information on it, it wasn't lost. Race worked his magic and soldered together the flash drive to rescue all my information. Stay tuned for a video and post on how to recover your data from a broken flash drive without paying $200.

  • Have a Garage Sale

    1. Had a garage sale the last weekend in September. We didn't have a great turn out, but still were able to make over $200 in a sale lasted less than 5 hours. We are deciding whether to store the remains for next summer or donate this fall. If we have a sale next year, we want to time it out to have garden produce to sell too since last summer we made $40 from selling tomatoes.

  • Make England Trip & Wedding Photo Book

    1. I finally uploaded all the England photos. Now to sort through the 4,000+ pictures and narrow it down to a photo book. 😕
    2. Wedding photo book is hanging on our wall now!

  • Go Camping

    1. Visited Sibley State Park and got to try out the local Brewery & Winery along with some hiking, roasting marshmallows, and hurriedly packing to beat the storm on Sunday morning.

  • Construct One Small Piece of Furniture

    1. Found patterns for bedside tables and possibly a dresser. Not sure we will get to building anything more this year. We have been busy putting in an egress window, raising our front garden bed, fixing a car, and will be installing new basement windows yet this fall.
    How are your goals coming along? What are you doing to stay motivated?

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