August is over and September will bring big changes as I leave one company and start with another in a completely different role. Exciting and scary at the same time. Even so, we still need to try to make some progress on our financial goals, so I’ll be setting some new ones and reviewing the old ones.
- Apply for at least 5 new jobs (as I don’t think I’ll be able to accept the one I expect to be offered). Done! I applied for several professional jobs as well as a couple of part time ones. I also accepted the job I was offered as I was able to negotiate a reasonable starting salary.
- Make $200 in side income from any source. ~45% success. I earned $50 for a sponsored blog post. Bruce made about $40 mystery shopping. I am not counting the money we received for renting out our room here, although I supposed I could.
- Set up priority chart for side hustles. Fail. I completely blew this one, didn’t even start.
- Finish studying for my Nutrition Certification and develop initial marketing plan. Fail – I’m still half way through my course books, and haven’t made any progress.
- Spend 10 hours working on blog improvements – this does not mean writing posts. This is 10 hours of SEO, marketing, design work/social media promotion with Andrea, and working through the information in HIMMB. 10% done. Sigh. I’m not sure what happened in August, I really accomplished next to nothing.
I’ve decided to have a garage sale to clear out the clutter and try to raise a little cash. Hopefully I can raise at least $100 or more. I’m not sure what else I can feasibly get done this month with starting my new job
September goals:
- Work on building up a catalog of blog posts, specifically for this blog (my other blog is more like a fitness diary, and posts can be written quickly day to day). I would like a bank of at least 12-15 posts to draw on for weeks when I’m too busy to come up with new stuff. I currently have ideas for at least 5, I just have to write them.
- Make $200 in side income – from any type of hustle! This is a repeat from prior months, one month I will make this happen!
- Work on one side project – minimum 5 hours, tracked. I have several outlined on my bedroom wall, but time is always the issue, so rather than doing a little bit on all of them, I will focus on just one this month.
- Attempt to restrict our grocery purchases to $350 this month (about half our regular amount). We have a full fridge, full freezer, and our pantry is groaning with food. Honestly, it’s ridiculous! So other than fresh foods (milk, yogurt, eggs, and produce, which we eat a lot of), I shouldn’t need to buy much, I hope!
- Spend 5 hours working on blog improvements – this is over and above the posts I want in #1. I managed a whole 1 hour last month, but if I want to make any kind of success out of this blog, I have to WORK on it!
In October, once I have settled in to my new gig a bit, I will need to redo our family budget. By then I will know the full impact of quitting, taking a new position, and some upcoming bills/purchases I am expecting in September. Until then, I still expect to make a little forward progress on our plan.
My food budget is like that…but just for one person! I don’t understand how I can possibly spend so much! Good luck with your Sept. goals!
Food gets out of control so quickly! And with a teenage boy in the house, it happens fast too. But I cook almost everything at home from scratch, so that helps.
the side hustle money, specifically from blogging, will come… but you can’t rush it. setting specific goals and even worse, factoring them into your budget, can be risky business.. because it is impossible to tell how a month will go beforehand.
i absolutely think that this blog has a ton of potential.. just stick with it.
Thanks for the feedback Jefferson! The good part about any side hustle income is that I never include it in our monthly budget, that way if ti comes, great, if not, we’re still covered. As for blogging money, yes, it’s slow going, but I’m not unhappy with my progress considering how much time I have to put into it. Some weeks it’s all I can do to write posts!
This month, I’m hoping our side hustle money will primarily come from our garage sale and perhaps some mystery shopping.
Good luck in Sept! Your goals seem doable.
Thanks! I think I managed to pick ones that are reasonable and realistic.