This totally self-explanatory title brought to you by the girl who uses her words for a living.
Back in January, I came up with 8 goals I wanted to focus on in 2018 and since I didn’t do it in 2017, I wanted to stop all this blogging I’ve been doing recently** and evaluate my goals where I’m at. So without further ado:
1. Doubling my writing income.
Doubling my income meant I needed to make a little over $1,000/month. I’ve been averaging around $1,800-2,000 a month, so I’m well on track for this!
2. Continue improving my website.
The year is half over and I haven’t gone back to work on updating my old posts on the blog. I’ve been playing around with a home page that showcases the publications I’ve written for and I’ve worked on updating tabs for people to navigate the site better and to see what my writing is about. So I’d still say I’m being pretty successful with this one.
3. Let Olivia help in the kitchen more.
Success. The girl is actually getting really good in the kitchen. She can scoop ingredients, level off flour with some help, pour into a mixing bowl, and stir like a champ. She loves practicing her knife cuts with a butter knife and even has a Frozen apron she wears when she and Chris make pancakes. Anytime she is home when I’m cooking, she is up there with a chair watching me and wanting to help in any way she can.
4. Manage our budget so we can actually put money in savings.
Chris didn’t get the promotion he was really hoping for, so that was really disappointing for us both. We did a budget back in February together, but now that my income is higher, we haven’t reevaluated it again. But we’re putting some money in savings every month and praying the furnace doesn’t go out.
5. Get pregnant.
Too early to tell. I’m planning on calling our doctor in Texas for a consult at the end of July to see what sort of testing I need to do, and then we’re hoping October is when we would be good to go.
6. Use my bullet journal every day.
Successful. I’m still obsessed. This thing has become a huge part of my life and I can’t remember who commented on my blog and initially told me about the concept of a bullet journal, but if you’re reading this, THANK YOU! I rely on it for tracking what articles are due when and all of the little minute details of my day.
7. Put our marriage first.
We have been awesome at doing our monthly date nights. Sometimes we are squeezing it in right at the end of the month, but it’s still been happening and it’s something we look forward to every month. Well, at least I do because it usually involves really good food and wine with meals.
We’ve also been religiously doing Wine Time every week, something I’m quite proud of because making a night every week for just the two of us isn’t easy. I’ve been known for sending him calendar invites, but hey.
8. Simplify my life.
This one is a 50/50. I’ve been working on decluttering all the rooms in the house and have brought 13 bags so far to donation centers. I’ve worked on removing myself from Facebook and Instagram groups that aren’t useful to me anymore, but admittedly, I’ve joined a lot of new ones. Olivia is now in daycare two days a week and I’ve been using that time to get the majority of my writing done, but I don’t complete it all. I think I’m slowly finding a better work/life balance, but I’m still guilty of answering emails from editors and PR companies at all hours. I must do better at that.
**Blogging? What? What’s a blog? Why do I not blog enough anymore?
