Goals – Surrender To Serendipity

I have felt for over a year that change was coming….and I didn’t know what. In the course of the last few months, since returning from Italy at the end of October 2018, several people I have spoken to feel the same way. This feeling has prepared me to be open and looking when it looks like change is here. The first step might be at my door.

My guy came to me a couple weeks ago and said we needed to talk about our three year plan. This didn’t come as a surprise since for a year he and I have been brainstorming what it would be like to leave our jobs. Do we have a definite plan on what we want to do? Nope. This wouldn’t be just leaving our jobs, but what it would look like working on our own terms.

In my case, I won’t be able to retire in 3 years without getting a side hustle and socking a ton of money away. It wouldn’t be the end of the world to have to get another job, but now is the time to build something I can take with me wherever we may land.

For my guy, once he turns 55, he has many options. One big one, he won’t have to worry about health insurance. Lucky guy, then again, putting in over 25 years at one job is a big deal. He is as smart as a whip and is in IT. He can consult and/or do whatever he sets his mind to.

Together, we each own a house. I’m only a couple years into my 15 year mortgage, he only owes 1/3 of his home’s current value. I rent part of my house to tenants and live in the other part, this covers my fixed costs (mortgage, insurance, taxes). We both live pretty frugal. We both know what it means to have a plan and goals.

We have discussed what each of us need to do to sell or rent our homes. I would likely keep mine as it is right now, rental, and it still provides a place to live. I have a few projects to complete inside my house. The yard needs some repairs (retaining walls) and cleaning up. He could go either way on his house with some repairs and yard clean-up.

The big question comes on where we want to live in 3 years. Our current area, Portland, Oregon, has an elevated market. Real estate is high, property tax is high, and it just doesn’t seem like the best place for retirement/starting new for us.

I have a dream of having a wine bar, he has a dream of opening a different kind of brewery. We both love meeting new people and listening to their stories. We both know how to work hard, we both know how to manage people. Should we look for a place to make these dreams come true? Should we look for a parcel of land or income property? So many different paths we can take.

Another big one; my guy will become my business partner. Whatever we decide on will probably lock us in….maybe longer than our relationship lasts. I have no reservations to whether our relationship will last or not. I am a realist though and I know what can happen. I don’t see any signs of “us” failing. I feel happy, loved, and most of all, I feel understood. I can imagine spending my days with him and the fun we can have along the way. These are all good things.

So our first steps:

Decide what kinds of properties we are looking for
Find a realtor that can search for us (since we live 6 hours from Spokane)
Get pre-approved for a loan

Do I feel fear? Yes! Do I feel excitement? Yes!

Warning: this is a dry post! lol

Where has the month gone? Swept away by the tide of time! So what have I accomplished in January?

*Slept almost 7 hours or more every night
*Didn’t drink 3 nights every week
*Finished my staircase project (woohoo!)
*Went to Spokane and found an antique chandelier for my dining room and rewired it
*Got a new housemate
*Saved $500 to go into savings (I have to get an account set up)
*I have access to all my retirement and savings account, everything now feeds into Personal Capital
*Drank my ActivatedYou Morning Complete every morning
*Made a plan to reduce cow’s milk consumption (I am highly reactive to cow, buffalo, and coconut milks)
*Walked 3x per week outside my walk to the train
*Stayed low carb for 90% of the month (I had a few downfall days)
*Kept up with #MindSetReset
*Tracked my spending
*Enjoyed being in a healthy, loving relationship with my guy

In all, January was a good month to get things rolling. I need to print out my goal sheet for February. How quickly I forget what I have on it!

A couple of projects I want to get finished in February:

*Complete sanding and painting on window and door trim downstairs
*Remove and install new baseboard trim in main bathroom
*Finish baseboards on main level
*Get bids for fixing my driveway retaining wall (or bite the bullet and prepare to do it myself)
*Hang chandelier and outdoor motion light
++If I get those things done, maybe recover a club chair I tried to paint (epic fail)

A big project that will keep me busy for a couple weeks will be to organize and scan in all of my pictures. I have 3 tote bins full of albums and loose pictures. I want to get them all organized by year to start. So many pictures of the kids and their art work. A lot of things will be discarded (I have lots of duplicate pictures) and I may look differently at all of the art that has been accumulated through their school years. Anyway, I don’t want to think about it now! When the list above is completed, then I will move on.

January gone! Hello February!

Happy New Year! I am already 16 days into 2019 and I am making changes and getting things done. I worked on my list of to-dos for the whole month of December. I set my intentions for the year and have been working to make some a habit already.

Reality check-in; I feel myself resisting some of the things I want to get rolling this year. First, I want to do a blog post once a week. I’m a week behind, brush off and start fresh. Second, it is my intention to make stretching and cardio a priority 3-4X per week, behind but brush it off! I am almost finished with my stairway project that has been on my list for months (OK, 6 months). VERY good, big thing that has been hanging over my head.

Here is a list of some of the other things I set intentions/goals for in 2019:

Save $500/month and track
Make $100/month on my blog
Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night
Track my spending
Digitize my old photos/kids’ papers (many steps to this)
3 alcohol free days/week
Complete blog courses by February
Get all my DIY projects on my blog
Play with affiliate marketing
Review (and write about) more items I use in my home, on my body, and take into my body
Read at least 12 books this year (I am going to keep a list this year)
Reduce my clutter until I don’t have any left

I don’t like procrastination and I do like accountability. I’m thinking for 2019 I should track my progress here on the blog. I could write a ton more stuff on all things I want to do, but in reality, I just need to start. Here goes for my first 2019 check-in!

Week 1 and 2: Four dry days, started stairway project, slept 7 hours 6 nights, cleared out some leggings, turtlenecks, jewelry, organized bedding, painted 3rd bedroom, got my investment accounts set-up, paid for some blogging courses, got electrical work done, paid off credit card, reorganized bathroom supplies, cleaned out the fridge, and created a last will/testament. I went to work everyday!

Category: Goals

Three year plan – moving first steps

January 2019 gone already

2019 bright and new