2016 Goals

Each year Tate and I make goals, not resolutions. We actually have been making goals when we celebrate our Anniversary also for what we want to happen in the next year. I thought that was good enough. But then I saw on FB this post by Rachel Cruze (Dave Ramsey's daughter) about 7 areas you should focus on when making your New Year goals and I loved it. So when Tate and I sat down for our NYE sushi date (at home after boys were in bed), we made goals based on this list of areas for the 2016 year. I can see us doing this ever year now with these areas.


Intellectual:
Tate - his goal is to read 2-3 books this year. Now to some this may seem very small, but Tate and I are not book readers so to read this many will be big. We love reading books about financing, retirement, business, etc. To me they are like 'self help' books but in many different areas of life including career, personal and family.

Bridget - read 4 books this year. That is one a quarter. I already have 3 in mind so I really hope to accomplish this goal. I think by setting aside one night a week to focus on reading will really help this goal.

Physical:
Tate - Bench press 225 lbs and Squat 275 lbs (sets of 6). Tate works out everyday with his job but it's more cardio and endurance and not weight lifting. Now that we have our home gym he would love to build back up his muscles with weight training.

Bridget - Lose body fat %. I don't want to lose weight...I actually want to gain by converting fat to muscle. I would love to grow my booty, arms and legs. I would love a washboard stomach (wouldn't we all). More importantly, I want to feel good about myself, fuel my body with healthy foods and set a good example for my boys on balancing it all.

Spiritual:
Tate and I would love to focus this year on praying together. We learned how important this was during our wedding prep classes through our religion. We both feel weird and out of place when we pray together, but we shouldn't. I want to get to a place where we pray together regularly and have it not feel weird.

Family:
We would love to plan some sort of family even once a week. It could be sledding, go to the park, game night, movie night, etc. Time set aside for just family time.

Social:
Once a month getting together with friends. Game nights, dinner dates, kid play dates, etc. It could be anything but setting dates and getting together is a must.

Career:
Tate - open club 2. Tate and his boss are in the works of getting things in order for this to happen and Tate's goal is to make it happen this year.

Bridget - Focus more at work, meet billable hours goal each month and continue to bring in business. I love my job and enjoy going to work every day. I want my time there to be work so I can continue to improve and when home, focus on home. I feel like I am constantly combining the 2 which is not fair to my family when home and not fair to my work when at work.

Financially:
Pay our mortgage down to $145k. This is HUGE you guys but Tate and I believe this can be done. We made a goal on our Anniversary to have it paid down to $150k by October 2016 so if that goal is met, I don't doubt we can make it to $145k by the end of the year.

Great goals that Tate and I are prepared to dominate!!! Bring it 2016...we are ready for you :)

2014 Goals

I'm not a new year resolution type of girl..I'm all about goals! I really really just love setting them and achieving them :)

As I look back at my 2013 goals I feel so great because I met EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM :)

wooohoooo....pat on the back for this girl!!!

It you look back at my 2013 goals, I met them by:

-having NO TIME to really watch TV...a little human took over that time which I am TOTALLY OK with!

-we did fund our emergency fund and we feel great about it!

-we did start paying off our mortgage early! Our finances are in check, we agree and don't fight over money and it's all thanks to a guy named Dave Ramsey!

-making work lunches the night before is so much better than doing morning of. Now that Tate helps since we started our 100 day challenge, life got so much easier :)

-I did meet my pregnancy goal with a few weeks to spare!

-I did become more organized but I still feel like I could become even more organized!

-we did have a healthy baby boy and feel so BEYOND blessed!!!

And now I sit here at the start of 2014 and think what goals I can make to help this year go smoothly and stress free!!! 

ORGANIZATION

-Seriously...since having Turner I feel like I have lost my marbles! I feel so un-organized! I can't wait to spend the first few weekends of this month to organize my office @ home and work so I can have a good start to tax season

HOUSE MONTHLY GOALS

Tate and I decided to take one thing a month with our house and make it a goal for that month. For instance, January is going to be clothes/closet month. Meaning, time to pack up clothes we have not worn in a few years and donate. Pack up Turners clothes that he has outgrown. Organize the closets in our house and get rid of 'junk'. I CAN'T WAIT!!! We are going to take it one month at a time. We will decide February's monthly house goal when it nears.

I decided to go the monthly route vs making a 'house list' because when I see a big long list of items, I get very overwhelmed and sometimes don't know where to start. By having on area to concentrate on for that month, I feel like it will help with me staying anxiety free :)

COMPETE IN ANOTHER SPRINT TRIATHLON

I took a break from my yearly triathlon due to having a baby...but would love to do one this year. I love the feel I get when training for them and when I cross that finish line. I really hope to do one this summer/fall.

 CONTINUE TO LEAD A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Tate and I feel great about our 100 day challenge and can see this becoming a lifestyle for us. We would love to continue with it. Along with eating healthy would be working out on a regular basis and being an active family. We are excited for Turner to do things with us!

BLOG MORE

I'm really bummed that I have put blogging on the back burner since Turner's birth. I have so many memories to record from the last 1/2 of 2013 and look forward to finally getting them on here and back dating them all so they fall in the right time frame since I love to look back and read them.

MONTHLY DATE NIGHT

It has been decided that we need to make date night a priority and so we've decided that once a month, we will set a night aside for just us. I'm excited for this 'goal' as it's been categorized per this post!

Did you set goals or resolutions for 2014?

Tate & Bridget's 100 day challenge

WHO:

Tate and I will be embarking on a 100 day challenge!!!

WHAT:
Tate and I have decided to do a 100 day challenge of eating 'real food' and working out consistently. We are going to eat food in it's most natural state and cut out food that is just down right now good for us or our bodies. With my husband working in the fitness industry, he has written up work out schedules for us to do during this 100 day challenge.

We do plan to have cheat days/meals. We don't plan to deprive ourselves of great holiday food. There will also be times when we plan to go to dinner with friends or attend a social gathering and would like to indulge. We decided to do have a cheat day/meal once a week.

WHERE:
Making all the food ourselves and workouts can be done at gym or home!

WHEN:

October 28, 2013 was our start day because that is exactly 100 days until we leave for the wedding in Mexico.

HOW:

A few weeks back I was thinking where I could find information on what is considered real food and what is not. What we can include in our diet and what to eliminate. I was on Facebook and someone had liked '100 days of real food' and I new immediately it was sign that we for sure should do this and that was where I was going to get lots of my information. 100 days of real food has so much information for anybody thinking about doing it or wanting to do it.

I am NOT getting paid and was NOT asked to blog about this at all...I really did happen to stumble upon this site and have found it to be very resourceful and wanted to share.

We plan to follow pretty closely to the real food defined on the 100 day so of real food website.

* Whole Foods - eating food in its most natural state

*Lots and lots of fruits and vegetables

*Dairy products - yogurt and eggs

*100% whole wheat and whole grain products

*Seafood - wild caught salmon, cod & tilapia

*Meats - turkey & chicken

*Natural Sweeteners - honey

*Snacks - dried fruit, seeds, nuts & popcorn

*Beverages - water, almond milk, tea, wine & beer 

(wine and beer will be in moderation)

If we buy packaged food, we decided that we need to be able to pronounce or know all the ingredients and try to have 5 or less ingredients.

WHY:

My husband recently became a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant (recent as in last spring) and has always talked about eating better. 

For the last month I have been thinking how I could eat even better and get back into shape before our Mexico vacation/destination wedding in February. I brought up the idea of the 100 day challenge to Tate and he immediately was on board. So here goes nothing!!!

Our GOALS:

Bridget

*Gain 3-5 lbs of muscle (yes...you read that right, I want to GAIN weight)
*Increase size/strength in glutes & quads
*Decrease inches in waist
*More definition in arms
*Decrease % of body fat

Tate
*Increase size in arms & chest
*Decrease % of body fat
*More definition in core, back & arms

Tate and I are also excited to see how we feel during this. We hope to have more energy since we are feeding our body natural food vs highly processed food.

Other items:
We did take our measurements when we started and before pictures.
We DO NOT plan to calorie count.
I am still breastfeeding so it's very crucial that I still get enough calories to produce milk for the little guy.

We are almost one week in and so far so good! Let's hope it keeps going this well ;)

Numbers...Money...Debt

Let's talk about a few of my favorite things today...

There is someone that Tate and I invited into our home almost a year ago. I haven't really spoke about it because it can be a touchy subject for many while others talk about it freely. Tate and I do not talk about it freely. We actually kind of kept it to ourselves and if people asked about it...that is when we would talk about it.

I'm ready to share and talk about it for a few reasons. One...because this is my blog for documenting our life and all the great and not so great things that happen and Two...because I would like to 'pay it forward' and hope that someone else out there can benefit from it.

This 'someone' that we invited into our home was Dave Ramsey. For those that don't know, Dave is what we would consider our financial advisor even though we have never met him (I did call and talk to him on his radio show...loved that). I was introduced to Dave Ramsey about 2 years ago. I was given one of his books and didn't really read it and gave it back to the person that gave it back. Then about a year ago, I once again was introduced to Dave through a co-worker who was going through one of his classes and I decided to check him out. I am so glad I did.

A few things to keep in mind...

1. I have ALWAYS been a numbers person. My junior year in high school I knew I wanted to be an accountant...so playing around with numbers and doing math is my kind of fun :)

2. Tate and I had been already doing a budget and trying to pay down our debt before we were introduced to Dave Ramsey, but after learning more...we decided to accelerate it!

3. We didn't have a HUGE amount of consumer debt to begin with. Tate had scholarships for college (football) and took out student loans for 'spending' money (bad idea) and I paid towards my student loan all through college because I worked over 30 hour weeks in college. By the time we started Dave's plan, my student loan was already paid off, Tate's was already chopped in 1/2, we had a loan on Tate's car that was not too high and a few minor credit card purchases. I would say we had only had about $20k in consumer debt, if that.

Instead of actually going to one of Dave's Financial Peace classes, Tate and I decided to read some of Dave's books. The book that I read that really spelled everything out for us was 'Total Money Makeover'. I love this book and am actually considering reading again to just refresh myself with everything.

Google image

What I like about Dave...is he has 7 simple baby steps to follow. I really liked that it was simple and laid out for you. All we had to do was follow these baby steps (and take on other habits he recommends) and we would be on our way to financial freedom. Dave is all about being debt free...which we are too. We have no desire to ever take out a loan ever again on anything! Not a car, no interest free financing credit cards, nothing. If we can't afford to pay cash, then we can't afford it.

Dave's 7 Baby Steps

Baby Step 1: Save $1,000 into an emergency fund
This is for emergency use only while you pay down your consumer debt.

Baby Step 2: Pay off all consumer debt
This includes every debt you have except the house. All credit cards, student loans, cars, etc. Pay off the smallest first and work up to the largest. Dave calls this the debt snowball.

Baby Step 3: Save 3-6 months of expenses into an emergency fund
Once you are debt free except your house, save 3-6 months of your expenses into a general savings account. Don't put it in a CD or something else that the money would be restricted. If an emergency happened (whether that would be the loss of a job, medical, etc.) you would need to get to the money right away.

Baby Step 4: Contribute 15% of your gross pay to retirement
Dave recommends to put your retirement saving on hold while you pay down your debt. Once that is paid off and you have your emergency fund, contributing 15% should not be a problem or feel like such a significant amount.

Baby Step 5: College savings
Dave is big on teaching your children good money habits. There are ways to get through college without having to take out loans. He actually has a whole program on just that. This step is to start putting away money for college savings for your kids in a 529 plan or education savings plan.

Baby Step 6: Pay off your mortgage debt
Imagine having your house paid! Does that not bring a smile and joy to your face?! We just think of how that money could go to better use than giving a HUGE amount of interest to a bank or mortgage company. Every year when I see how much principal vs interest we have paid on our house...I cringe.

*Baby steps 4-6 can be done in conjunction with each other*

Baby Step 7: Build wealth and give
Keep contributing to mutual funds, retirement and give

Since we already did a budget and were paying down debt, you may wonder what we did different once we took on Dave's plan.

What we did & continue to do...

1. We started the baby steps. We follow them just like the say and in that order.

2. We started Dave's envelope system of cash for food, gas, personal and recreation. I use an excel sheet that I found online that uses Dave's plan and the amount we budget every month for those 4 categories get taken out the bank account every month and put into a respective envelope. We only spend what is in that envelope each month for those categories. I was hesitant to start this, but it's working great for us.

3. I listen to Dave's radio show everyday at work from 1-4. It makes my afternoon go by really fast and I learn so much information from other peoples stories. I also love the phone calls of the people that are on baby step 7 or even just finished baby step 2.

4. Have monthly budget meetings. Tate and I sit down once a month to go over the budget for the next month. It's awesome to do this together. We both are on the same page when it comes to our finances and have the same goals. We look forward to our future even more now...

Tate and I hit a HUGE milestone in our finance journey...we just finished BABY STEP 3 and we can't believe how much this plan works for us and how happy we are that we are following it. We currently have no consumer debt, have 3-6 months worth of expenses sitting in a regular savings account and I have started to contribute to my 401k at work. We are just beyond thankful and blessed that we found this!!!! This also means we hit one of our 2013 goals...and we did it 1.5 months ahead of schedule!!!!

Some of Dave's daily tips that he puts on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest

Since we are currently expecting, Dave recommends putting the baby steps on hold until mom and baby are home from hospital healthy and well. He advises to just to save save save until that day and then use that savings to put towards whichever baby step you are on.

We plan to just keep saving until I head back to work from maternity leave. At that point, we will be contributing the full 15% to retirement funds, contributing money to a college savings for our lil' guy and then putting extra money each month towards the mortgage (baby steps 4-6). Considering we just bought our house 3.5 years ago, we have a big mortgage to pay down and it will take awhile.

This plan is working for us and it may work for you. I was not paid or asked to talk about this. I just love doing this stuff and if this is working for us, it may work for you. There are many people all over that are using Dave's plan and your church just may be offering his class.

*The average American has more consumer debt then we did and takes about 18-24 months to pay off with Dave's plan. I feel lucky we had already been making some smart decisions before being introduced and it didn't take long to get to the end of baby step 3.

To really follow Dave's system, I would definitly recommend reading his book or attending a Financial Peace class.

 

It really does take sacrafice, discipline and hard work. But the reward is amazing!

 

Goals...how are they going?

So I made some 2013 goals when the new year rolled around....there are a few that were to start right away and some that would take some time. Let's see how I am doing with the ones that I started right away and can do everyday...

Watch less TV

One of my goals was to watch less TV. Well...I would have to say that is definitely happening because I have no time to watch any TV except on Sundays. I worked 67 hours last week and probably will be working that same amount during this whole tax season and if I want any sleep....TV will just need to be cut out!

Make work lunches the night before

I really wanted to start making our work lunches the night before because it saves so much time for me in the morning. I have actually made our lunches every night for the month of January and it is amazing. My mornings seem a lot more relaxed...all I need to do is get ready and enjoy my breakfast.

 Meet my pregnancy goal

I have a goal to walk/jog/elliptical 350 miles during my pregnancy. I started it the day I found out I was pregnant which was right around 5 weeks. 10 miles a week is what I should average to meet that goal. Well...I def logged many miles this January! As of yesterday, I am at a total of 176.53 miles. I still plan to log miles tonight and Sunday. I am right on pace (actually a bit ahead) which makes me very happy!

Become more organized

With a baby coming...becoming organized is essential! I feel like I have already organized so much and there is still more to do! The nursery closet is empty and ready to be filled with many baby items! I have utilized other space in the house that was sitting empty. Our house has lots of storage space and I love that we are not using it properly :)

How are you doing with your resolutions or goals?

2013 Goals

Call them goals, New Year resolutions...what you  may!!! I love GOALS...so this year, I don't have New Year resolutions...I have goals!

Watch less TV

There are so many shows out there that I watch that are junk. I wouldn't mind downgrading our current package to get less channels. It's very difficult when your husband has to have ESPN. Only channel on his request list. I'll look into possible new options when our contract is up in July but for now I have deleted shows on my DVR list and will try not to come home every night and turn on the TV.

Fully fund our emergency fund

Being an accountant, I am very conscious of where we spend our money and we have a budget every month. Some may think it's extreme, but I love the way we do it and I look forward to doing our budget every month. Tate and I decided in May last year that we would get serious about our financial goals and we are reaching them and it feels GREAT! We would have had our emergency funded by December 2012 if we hadn't decided to remodel 3 rooms in our house, but it was needed and we really wanted it done before we had a child. If everything goes to plan, we should have our emergency fund fully funded by April 2013.

Start paying off mortgage early

All our 'extra' money is going to our emergency fund so after that is funded, we have the baby and I am back to work, we will like to put that extra money towards our mortgage and pay it off early. I am not a fan of debt...never have been and never will be. I just imagine what we could do with that money every month if we had our house paid off and we are not paying interest on a huge loan. We put a little tiny bit towards it each month, but not enough to really do anything so adding to it and having it move faster to zero would make this goal achievable in due time!

Make work lunches night before

Yes, I am one of those wives that makes her husband's lunch everyday! We save a lot of money doing it that way and I don't mind doing it. Besides, Tate is such a workaholic hard-worker and barely stops to eat what I pack for him, he wouldn't take the time to go buy something so he would go hungry all day!! Men?!?! It seriously saves so much time doing it the night before so I don't know why I just don't do it! I just get lazy @ night. Well I am going to start and hopefully stick with it!

Meet my pregnancy goal
A fellow blogger, Kristin, did this goal during her pregnancy and I thought it was so great that I wanted to do it during mine. The day I found out I was pregnant, I started. I was about 3 days shy of being 5 weeks pregnant so I made the goal of doing 10 miles a week for a total of 350 miles during my pregnancy. I like to run and did it regularly before my pregnancy so I thought that 350 of walking, jogging and elliptical shouldn't be a problem. So far I have done mostly walking. I have done a total of 125.61 (as of 1/1/13) miles since September 28, 2012. I am still on pace of about 10 miles a week and really hope that this goal is still attainable later in my pregnancy!

Become more organized

This whole 'nesting' thing is so awesome! I have bags ready for Goodwill and feel like how house is becoming so organized. I want to continue to improve. I don't like being at work thinking about what I need to get done @ home. I want to feel less stress and being more organized will help!

Have a healthy baby

We pray lots for a healthy baby! We pray that everything will go great throughout my pregnancy and that I have a healthy delivery. I'm not sure if this is a 'goal' but it is something BIG happening in 2013 for us so I felt it was necessary to mention!