April Goals Report

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Hard to believe we're already 1/3 through 2018 and that it's time for another Goals Report. Here is our update from April.

Financial Goals

  • Gain Employment (Race) 🗹
    • Done-Race started working in February. 
  • Save 50% of our income
    • We have been trying to stay on track with this one, but tax season was not favorable for us this year. Race's previous company had many mix-ups regarding tax withholding and also withheld money from his final check. So after months long battle, I think we are finally through with them. That being said, we didn't save as much in April, but we were still able to make extra payments on the mortgage. We are currently saving 52% with mortgage, 17% without, and are on track for 52% with mortgage and 6% without. We changed this goal slightly to be aimed at paying off the mortgage rather than putting money into an investment account. 


  • Increase passive dividend income by 25%
    • Right on track for 25% increase. April was a huge year over year increase, but for the year we are in line for earning what we aimed for!

  • Increase net worth by 14%
    • At the end of April we are up 3.2% for the year. This percentage will likely bounce quite a bit with the stock market, but it is also going up consistently because we are paying extra on our mortgage every month. There is still 2/3 of the year left to hit this mark. 
  • Earn $2,000 tutoring
    • I worked my tail off in April and was able to earn $1,006.26 in April for a total of $1,742.93. That leaves $257.07 left to earn in 2018. I am planning to exceed this as we are exploring the idea of this as more of a part-time job in the future than as a side gig. Great news - this will cover more than cover our plane tickets to Rome. 

  • Earn $100 $15 on YouTube/Blogging -- Please Subscribe!
    • We made $13.53 this year. We changed this goal due to YouTube's change in monetization policies. We are now working to get remonetized this year, rather than on the dollar amount. If we hit this goal, we may look at the money aspect again. 
  • Sell $150 of Random Lily Soaps🗹
    • We hit this goal by March!
  • Stay within the budget🗹

Business Goals

  • Post 150+ Videos to Thriftism Channel
    • Only 5 posts in April, for a total of 35 in 2018. We are not on track, but will be working to make sure we hit this goal in 2018!
  • Post 52+ Blog Posts
    • Only two posts were published in April. I haven't been putting much time into blogging or posting videos this past month as I've been pushing hard to hit my tutoring goals. Now that tutoring will be slowing down as we head into the summer months, I will focus more on these goals.
  • Reach 200 YouTube Subscribers 🗹 Remonetize YouTube 
    • We hit 200 subscribers fairly quickly early in the year and are sitting right around 630. This is 63% of what we need to remonetize. We are at around 44% of the watch time we need. If we can publish more content, I believe we can hit these metrics within the year.
  • Grow Twitter to 1,000 Followers 🗹
    • At the end of April, we had 1,082 followers. Mission accomplished!! We are still not adjusting this goal to put more focus on YouTube than on Twitter. 
  • Write London Guide Book
    • No progress.
  • Write Munich Guide Book
    • No progress.
  • Begin ThriftyFit Series on YouTube
    • No progress.
  • Create Math Practice Workbook
    • Outline created and most of chapter one has been written.
  • Post 52+ videos to Rolland Tutoring YouTube Channel
    • No videos posted in April. I spent more time with students than on making example problems videos to post. 
  • Post 52+ videos to Reviews with the Rollands YouTube Channel
    • Goal removed.

Fitness Goals

  • Lose 10 pounds by May 1, 2018
    • Did not happen. We will have to extend this one out a few months or until the end of the year to try to catch up.
  • Complete 1-30 day challenge
    • Completed! Click the photo caption to link to the yoga challenge we completed.
True 30 Day Yoga Challenge


  • Workout 4x/week
    • We walked everyday, but only completed workouts twice/week. We will need to ramp this up to hit our weight loss goal and working out goal. 

Mental Goals

  • Read 6 self-improvement books
    • Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill (Chapter 2)
    • Life and Debt - Leslie Tayne (Chapter 2)
  • Read 6 additional books
    • How to Walk Away (Katherine Center)
    • Inferno - Dan Brown (~50%)
    • The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
  • Attend church 1/month🗹
    • We went to Easter service.
  • Complete 2 coursera courses
  • Master Spanish in Duolingo (all gold bars) - Ashley 🗹
  • Complete Duolingo or book Spanish lessons 3x/week- Race
    • No progress. 

Fun, Travel, Social, Relationship, House, Hobby Goals

  • Host 2 Game Nights
    • We hosted one game night the last weekend in April. We are also counting this towards our social outing. 
  • Attend 1 monthly social outing🗹
  • Visit family 1 time each month🗹
    • We went to Little Falls to visit my Grandma towards the middle of April. 
  • Travel to Mexico🗹
    • Completed in January.
  • Complete one additional trip
    • Tickets to Rome, Italy have been booked.
  • Create and purchase England trip photo book 🗹 DONE!
  • Create and purchase Germany trip photo book🗹 DONE!

  • Handmade Christmas - at least 75% of gifts given are handmade.

    • No progress.
  • Make wax melts
    • No progress.
  • Make candles from kit received for Christmas
    • No progress.
  • Can 40 quarts of green beans and 100 quarts of tomatoes
    • Seedlings started, canning to begin ~August.
  • Complete 1 house project (finish basement, re side the house, reshingle the roof)
    • We are planning on ordering siding this week. 
  • Install basement windows
    • One down, two to go!

Contribution Goals

  • Volunteer 10 nights/month max🗹
    • This month slowed down a little for volunteering. I put in three evenings for SWE and one for uCodeGirl. This summer will have a nice lull as most programs only run during the school year. 

Share your goals with us! Comment below or message us to be held accountable to your goals. If you aren't familiar with our goal series, be sure to check out our posts:

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