My Training Plan for July, August and September…

I am planning to run in a half marathon in October… The one that I didn’t run in last year because I was sick… And didn’t train…

So this year I am going to train… so at least I’ll be prepared and will hopefully be able to work through a bug or sickness if one comes at the wrong time again… (I say this every year, and never really follow through, but I keep trying, so that’s something, right?  Maybe this year will be the one I actually complete a training plan… )  This is part of the reason for my focus on fitness in June, that didn’t end up very successful…

I’m two weeks in to the training plan, and I’ve already fallen behind, but that’s okay.  I’m going to persevere and try to do better.  As with everything I do these days, I made a spread in my bullet journal to lay out the training plan.  Here it is:

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June Focus on Fitness Results

I bet you are wondering how my “focus on fitness” went in June, right?  Okay, maybe you aren’t, but I’m going to share with you anyway… 

July 2017 Financial Update

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends, and Happy Independence Day to my American neighbours.  Canada Day always indicated the beginning of summer to me growing up, and while I don’t have summers off anymore, I do feel like it’s the start of all the fun summer activities, like camping and swimming in the lake.  And in terms of the blog here, it means that another month has passed and it is once again time to do a quick update on my financial goals for 2017.

My Mins Game Conclusion

Today is June 8th, so it is well past the scheduled last day of my January MinsGame challenge.  As I mentioned in my personal goals post, I am picking a monthly challenge to complete each month this year (though I have definitely missed a few months – okay, I’ve missed more months than I’ve done… whatever…).  January’s challenge was to complete the Mins Game as defined by the Minimalists.  However, I didn’t actually complete the full 31 days of the challenge before the end of January.

I posted updates along the way… First was days 1 to 10, which saw 55+ items leave the house.  The second update was days 11 to 18, which brought the total up to 170+ items.  My third update was days 19 to 22 which brought my total up to 250+ items… And then there was blog silence…  I mentioned briefly that I was behind on the MinsGame, but all was not lost.  I slowly worked on the last 9 “days” of the challenge and can now say that I have completed it!  So, let’s quickly go over the end of my challenge…

June Financial Update

One of the amazing views from a recent work trip.

Another month has passed again… So it is once again time to do a quick update on my financial goals for 2017.  I will admit now that I didn’t actually do this exactly at month end, so my values might be a little off… No big deal.

#1 – Emergency Fund

A good month for the emergency funds…  The first stage of the human fund is done, so now to concentrate on the pet fund a bit, before trying for the second stage of the human fund…

Human Emergency Fund = $10,000 (+$3260)

Pet Emergency Fund = $2230 (+$905)

June Focus: Fitness

In an effort to get back on track with the blog, and my life in general, I have decided to bring back the monthly focus that I had as a personal goal for 2017.

I have sort of successfully completed a focus for January (My Morning Routine) and for February (Realistic Expectations), but then I sort of fell off the monthly focus wagon… I don’t remember doing a focus for March, April or May… But that doesn’t mean I am going to give up completely on my goal.  I am going to jump in with a focus on fitness for June.

April & May 2017 Financial Update

I’m still working on catching up on life… But I figured I couldn’t go two months without doing an update on my financial goals for 2017…

(Want to know a random fact? Last year I missed my April financial update too! Crazy, eh?)

So… Let’s get started…

#1 – Emergency Fund

If I’d done this update at the beginning of April, instead of the beginning of May, I’m sure the status of these funds would be a different story, but because I worked loads of overtime in April, we had a big extra to add to our savings goals, so both of my emergency funds are on the way up.  If I’m being completely honest, my “pet emergency fund” is also where I take money for buying pet food and routine vet visits, so there is a possibility that it will go down before the month is up, but hopefully we will keep up the months where we contribute more than we take out…

Human Emergency Fund = $6740 (+$1540)

Pet Emergency Fund = $1325 (+$1275)

March Challenge: 5 Minutes a Day

After my somewhat successful challenge for February, and my incomplete challenge for January, I decided to go really simple for March… Something vague and non-committal that only takes 5 minutes a day… 

February’s Monthly Challenge Results

Before I get in to my challenge results, Melinda over at PurpleSlobInRecovery has nominated me for 2 blogging awards in the last little while… I had thought that I was sort of done with awards after my Sunshine Blogger Award, but it was so thoughtful of Melinda to nominate me twice, so I’ll do a bit of a response at the end of this post.  Anyway…

January’s Monthly Challenge (my Mins Game) was a little heavy on the time commitment, so I want to do something a little easier for February.  As I mentioned before, I really thought that the 7-minute workout challenge would be a simple one to complete.  But without the motivation and desire to do the exercises, it just didn’t happen… So I changed it up and decided to give myself an even easier challenge for the second half of February: read and relax, every day.

So, how did I do?

March 2017 Financial Update

Another month gone by, and so it’s time once again to check in on my financial goals for 2017.

#1 – Emergency Fund

Last month I must have jinxed myself by saying it was a good month if we didn’t use any of the emergency fund… So… This month we had to use some of the emergency fund to cover some things… So it’s a down month, but I know we will bounce back from this and move up.  The puppy got neutered this month, so his expenses were a little higher than normal.

Human Emergency Fund = $5200 (-$1100)

Pet Emergency Fund = $50 (-$50)