April seemed both long and short to me. Between wedding planning, Easter, some interesting career activity and getting back on top of the yard and home maintenance, it was a busy start to the spring.
I’ve been steadily working toward the goals that I set early in the year, and while I am confident that I will reach them all (with the promotion goal being a bit of a stretch), I have been feeling that I should have added a goal about saving money.
My financial goal for 2014 was to make $20,000 online. While I do think that this is a great goal and one worth working toward, I’ve been spending a lot of the extra money I earn from my online income sources. With the wedding and our travel plans approaching, that money has quickly dwindled.
While I’m happy to have the opportunity to spend that money instead of what I would normally be saving from my regular income, I would love to see more of it stick around.
The wedding is in a little over two months, and then all of the wedding spending will stop, leaving a substantial amount of money in my pocket. We still have to pay for:
– Alterations on fiancé’s suit
– The balance of my dress and alterations
– The balance of the photographer’s fee, tip
– The balance of the caterer’s fee, tip
– Table runners (to be sold after the wedding)
– Alcohol (we thought my dad would pay for this but we’ll see)
– Music for the wedding
– Bridesmaid/groomsman gifts
– Bridesmaid dresses and groomsman suit rental
– Day of hair/makeup
– Jars and labels for favours
– The balance of our flowers
– Rehearsal dinner
– Snacks and food things for cocktail hour
My fiancé’s parents generously gave us $1,000 toward the flowers and the rehearsal dinner, which will be infinitely helpful. I’m glad all of those expenses will be gone in two months, and it seems crazy that we’re spending so much on one day. We’re not even coming close to the average wedding costs (our venue saves us a lot of money), and we’ll be able to sell a lot of what we’re buying after, but it’s still been a bit of a drain.
Lose 15 Pounds
I really kicked the activity up a notch in April. The weather warmed up considerably over the course of the month, so I spent a few Sundays hiking locally and taking long bike rides and walks. It’s so much easier to be active when it’s beautiful outside.
That being said, I have no idea how I did with respect to losing weight in April. I did record my weight on April 1, but with a friend’s scale so I will have to weigh myself on her scale to get the right number. I think I’ve lost a couple of pounds, but when I went home for Easter there were a lot of comments about how much weight I’ve lost, so that’s good.
$20,000 Online Income
In April, I made $1678.33 online, not including payments that are pending. I also made $1,150 offline, in passive income and through the sale of a piece of furniture which I re-finished.
If I made $1678.33 online each month, I’d make $20,139.96 online over the course of the year; this would surpass my goal of $20,000 online in 2014 by $139.96. I’m happy with the number, as I’ve continued to streamline my earnings and be more choosy with where the income comes from.
I have about $400 worth of payments for affiliate income pending, which will hopefully go through this month.
1 hr/day Unplugged
This goal was easy peasy in April. Between the beautiful sunshine, and my effort to disengage myself from my laptop to cook with and chat with the fiancé, I’ve been pretty successful. Pair those things with my no-technology marathon weekend for Easter and I’d say that I spent, on average, a lot longer than an hour per evening unplugged.
Get a Promotion
There was a lot of activity in this area in April, but nothing that panned out. I was thisclose in a competition with a colleague for a promotion, but she ended up getting the job. I’m happy for her and I know she’ll do well in the position, but I’m getting quite antsy and I’m ready for a change. We’re only four and a half months into the year, so I may still be able to meet this goal, whether or not it’s within the company I currently work for.
Congrats on your progress. $20k in side income is fantastic! All the best for your upcoming nuptials!
Very impressive April income! I’m trying to lose some weight too, one of my goals is to do a work out daily for at least 1 hour. Sometimes I am jogging or running with my younger sister with me, but when the weather is not really good then I would just our stationary bike.
Good job on your goals! I was happy when our wedding had passed – mainly because of the money spent on it. We made it a point to only spend money on the things important to us, but a wedding still costs a ton of money. We are now back to hardcore savings mode, trying to save over 50% of our income this year. So far, so good!
That’s good that you’ve been able to unplug and spend time relaxing and doing things with your fiancé. All the best to you for your upcoming wedding and the money drain will stop once it’s over 🙂
Good luck with the Goals. I need to add the 15 lbs goal to mine as well…
Your goals are remarkably nice, something that are worth following. The only thing that will come easy to me is the first one – losing 15lbs. I am luckily blessed with crazy metabolism that whatever excess pounds I gain, I can easily get rid of. $20K online income would be a dream come true to me so here is to congratulate you on your goals. Way to go!
Congrats on the online income goal Daisy. I have actually never gone on a diet or tried to lose weight since my teens; but I do juice, even though I have never lost weight on my juicing fasts I would recommend them because many of my friends swear by them.