August 2018 Goals Report

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Happy September. We are back will another update on our 2018 goals. Some are falling short and some have surpassed expectations.  How are your goals coming along?



Financial Goals

  • Gain Employment (Race) ☑

    • Done - Race started working in February.

  • Save 50% of our income

    • We are back on track with this goal. While April was a rough month and we were a bit low in June, we definitely made up for those months in July. We actually saved over 100% of our income (carry over from June). August was another good month with 80% of income saved. This brings our annual total savings to 78% - much higher than the 50% we were aiming for. I am not posting both with and without mortgage anymore as the extra payments on the mortgage are increasing our net worth and should therefor count as savings. We are also planning on paying off the mortgage this year and will then start putting money back into our regular savings.  

  • Increase passive dividend income by 25%

    • We are on track for 19% increase this year - definitely below our goal. It fell due to a few dividend cuts, but the main culprit is that we haven't been contributing to dividend earning stocks as we push to pay off the mortgage which has impacted this goal. We were able to pay off the house in August which will hopefully allow us to contribute more to investing and bump up our dividends for the rest of the year. 

  • Increase net worth by 14%

    • We are currently up 19.5% for the year. Paying down the mortgage has helped tremendously. We are on track to increase by 24% for the year. This still will depend on how the stock markets play out for the remainder of the year, but we are thrilled at how far we have surpassed this goal thus far. 

  • Earn $2,000 Tutoring ☑


    • DONE! I completed this goal in May. I haven't earn much more during summer months due to most students needing assistance during the school year. This may pick up in the fall, but I may focus primarily on YouTube at this time.

  • Earn $15 on YouTube/Blogging ☑ -- Please Subscribe

    • This was switched from the higher $100 goal due YouTube changing monetization policies. So far this year we earn $15. 

  • Sell $150 of Random Lily Soap☑

  • Stay within budget☑

    • See our Monthly Budget - August Report for all details on how we budget $2,400/month and are still able to save money. We were able to save over 23% off this tight budget. 

Business Goals

  • Post 150+ videos to Thriftism Channel

    • We posted 8 new videos this month for a total of 69 videos this year. While this is slightly off track, we have lots of content waiting to be edited! See some of our latest videos below. 







  • Post 52+ Blog Posts

    • We only wrote 4 posts last month for a total of 30 for the year. We actually got enough published this month, but will have to post extra to hit this goal. 

  • Remonetize YouTube

    • We are at almost 80% of subscribers needed and around 80% of watch time needed. Every month we are getting closer. If you haven't already, consider subscribing. We greatly appreciate your support!

  • Grow Twitter to 1,000 Followers☑

    • As of September 1, we had 1,244 followers. 


  • Write London Guide Book 

    • No Progress

  • Write Munich Guide Book

    • No Progress

  • Begin ThriftyFit Series

    • Have done some filming, but need to create a post and edit the video.

  • Create Math Practice Workbook

    • No Progress.


  • Post 52+ videos to Rolland Tutoring Channel

    • 0 posts this month.  Only 11 Posts in 2018. This goal has definitely fallen behind. I may try to increase video posts, but have been focused primarily on growing our main YouTube channel and growing the Facebook page for Rolland Tutoring as a better way to gain clients. 

Fitness Goals

  • Lose 10 pounds by December 31, 2018

    • We didn't make our goal of losing any weight by May 1 and have reset this to the end of the year, though it is one of the lower priority goals. This may not happen this year, but I will continue trying to be healthy. 

  • Complete 1 - 30 days challenge ☑


    • This was an amazing 30 day challenge and great for beginners. None of the workouts/practices are too long (typically 20-25 minutes). Even if you aren't looking to work out, this was a great stress reliever. It never felt like a workout, but definitely increased our strength and flexibility in the month we did this. We will be following her for another challenge either later this year or beginning of next year. 


  • Workout 4x/week ☑

    • I've been walking over my "coffee breaks" at work every day and sometimes over lunch to hit around 1 hour of walking every day. I also started running a few days, using the Women's 7 Minute Workout app, and continuing to do yard and house work. I am hoping to continue working out more regularly and increasing the intensity going forward. 

Mental Goals

  • Read 6 self-improvement books

    • Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
    • Life & Debt - Leslie Tayne


  • Read 6 additional books

    • The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
    • How to Walk Away - Katherine Center
      • Check out our full book review here! 
    • Inferno - Dan Brown (75%)
    • The Dream Daughter - Diane Chamberlain
      • Check out our full book review here!

  • Attend church 1/month

    • We didn't make it this month.

  • Complete 2 coursera courses

  • Master Spanish in Duolingo (all gold bars)- Ashley ☑

    • I am working on earning crowns now in the new system they have developed, but haven't made too much progress yet. I have been starting to do lessons in Italian to be better prepared for our upcoming trip. 

  • 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 in April and are planning another for later this fall. I may try to put something together for Race's birthday, but there is a Bison game that day, so it may just be tailgating. 

  • Attend 1 monthly social outing☑

    • We attending Zumba on tap as usual and I also was able to meet up for a friend's birthday party/game night at the end of the month. 

  • Visit family 1 time each month

    • We didn't travel this month as Race was working most weekends, but we will try to visit more relatives this coming month. 

  • Travel to Mexico ☑


  • Complete one additional trip

    • Tickets to Rome have been purchased and trip planning has begun. We are looking at visiting Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, and Pompeii. If there are any particular attractions you'd like to see in our upcoming YouTube videos, leave me a comment and I'll add them to our itinerary. If you are from Italy or have visited, we'd love suggestions for what to visit!

  • Create and purchase England trip photo book ☑

  • Create and purchase Germany trip photo book ☑

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

    • No Progress.

  • Make wax melts

    • Have started looking at what I need to order. I missed the 20% off sale and am waiting for the next big sale. 

  • Make candles from kit received for Christmas

    • No Progress.

  • Can 40 quarts of green beans and 100 quarts of tomatoes

    • We canned 15 quarts of green beans and 40 quarts of tomatoes. Our goal may have been a bit high for what we will be able to accomplish this year. We have also started boiling down tomatoes for a more ready to use canned product versus canning whole tomatoes last year. I've also been making an effort to cook more with fresh produce rather than canning it all so we may not reach our goal. We still have stocked up quite a bit for the coming winter. 

  • Complete one house project (finish basement, re-side house, re-shingle roof)

    • We bought siding in May, installed throughout June and July, and now just have to trim the house and paint to finish. Hopefully this upcoming weekend will be the last weekend of working on the siding. Then I can start on the landscaping. 

  • Install basement windows ☑

    • Completed in May!

Contribution Goals 

  • Volunteer 10 nights/month max

    • Society of Women Engineers started up again at the end of August, bringing my volunteering to two evenings. This will likely pick up going forward. I did make the decision not to be a uCodeGirl Mentor this year as last year was overly hectic for me. 
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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