2016 Goals – The First Quarter Update

As we are already a quarter of the way through 2016, I thought I would take a look back at the goals I set myself at the beginning of the year and see if I’m on track to meet them. I already know that this is going to be a bit hit and miss at this stage!

 

My Financial Goals for 2016 are:

– Put £10,000 into savings

– Overpay our mortgage by £600

– Have 230 NSDs throughout the year

– Earn £3,000 in side income.

 

I always knew that the savings goal for this year was going to be a stretch. I’m currently on maternity leave and I am returning back to work part time in May. Therefore, our household income as been vastly reduced all year so far, and my income when I go back to work will be much less than I was on before. I am certain that I’ll be playing catch up on this goal all year as well, if I actually get anywhere near it in the end! As of March 31st, I have saved £1,050.75 which is 10.51% of my goal. As I should be at 25% to be on track, I am definitely behind on this goal. In fact, this is a big FAIL so far!

 

Another goal that will have to pick up speed through the year rather than being on track at the start is the mortgage overpayments. Again, as our budget is quite tight at the moment, mortgage overpayments have taken a backseat for the moment. In fact, so far in 2016 I have only overpaid our mortgage by £12.95 which is only 2% of the goal. This is a big FAIL at the moment, so here’s hoping that by the midway point of this year, I am at least in three figures for the amount overpaid.

 

No Spend Days are still one of my favourite things; I really think they help any budget and definitely keep spends low even if you are spending that day. Aiming for 230 NSDs is an increase this year, but I’m confident I can get there so long as I’m careful. So far, I have had 54 NSDs in 2016 which is 23.47% of my goal, so very nearly on track for this. I’d say that this is a PASS so far!

 

My side income target seemed such a scary thing to make, as I have not got anything concrete in terms of earning money online. I am working on this, but it has been slow so far this year. In fact, in 2016 so far I have made £125 before tax. This is only 4% of my aim so far, and, to be honest, I am beginning to think that I’m not going to get anywhere near this aim! I am going to try and stay optimistic and please check out my Hire Me/Advertise page! This again is a FAIL at the moment.

 

My Personal goals for 2016 are:

– The ’30 before 30′ weight loss challenge

– Do some kind of exercise three times a week

– Log onto My Fitness Pal every day.

– Declutter/sort through all of my wardrobe and reduce the amount of stuff I own.

– Decorate our bedroom

– Be more kind to myself

– Stop worrying about things I can’t change and focus on the ones I can.

 

At the start of the year, I was doing so well with my #30beforethirty weight loss challenge, but I have fallen off the wagon recently and I am finding it so hard to get back on! I had lost 5lbs, but I haven’t weighed myself lately as I’m worried about what it might say. I know that’s daft, but I don’t want to be back at square one so it’s easier to not know! This is the same with the second aim of exercising three times a week; I started off well but again this has tailed off. Both of these are a FAIL for now.

 

One thing I have been good at is logging onto MyFitnessPal each day and logging calories. If I need to log numbers, then I find that the majority of the time I don’t want to eat as much as it’ll look bad! But, I have logged in each day without fail. So this is a PASS!

 

I keep looking in my wardrobe and think that I really need to make a start with my clothes, but then I never seem to find an afternoon or a stretch of time when I can do the job properly. I think the plan of action for this is to do things one at a time; most of the items will either be thrown away or taken to a charity shop. I have been decluttering general things, but not my clothing items as of yet. Another FAIL for this aim. I want to have some kind of capsule wardrobe, so I need to declutter first!

 

Decorating our bedroom is still on my list of things to accomplish this year, but we are currently in the process of decorating the hallway and stairs, so bedroom is not being done so far! I suppose this is a fail so far, though it is in the list of things to get done this year.

 

The last two goals are always on my yearly list; I think that being kind to yourself and to focus on things that are in your control rather than out of your control is a good thing. I am still working on this and think that it will be a goal for many months to come. I have a tendency to be over critical and think I’m not good enough, so I need to remind myself that I need to be kind. I’m doing the best I can and that is enough. This is a PASS for now.

 

My blogging goals for 2016 are:

– Get back into posting three times a week, every week

– Grow my Twitter followers to 2,000

– Grow my Facebook likes to 500

– Grow my Instagram followers to 500

– Grow my Pinterest followers to 1,000

– Start an email list/newsletter

– Get two staff writing gigs

– Earn between £300 – £500 a month online by the end of the year

 

I am trying my best to post three times a week, every week, and have managed to do this quite often so far this year. The only time I don’t manage to do this is when the Frugal Baby is having a particularly sleepless week, which seems to be quite often at the moment. I sometimes feel that my blog posts are not good enough or I’m not doing well enough, but if you continue to compare yourself to other bloggers, you’d never do anything. However, I think I’ll consider this a PASS for now!

 

My social media stats are as follows:

• Twitter – 1,012
• Facebook – 64
• Instagram – 96
• Pinterest – 243

I am struggling to make a big impact in terms of gaining followers; it’s a slow and steady wins the race kind of thing for me in this area. I’m pleased that I have got over the 1k followers on Twitter, though I think reaching 2k by the end of the year might be a struggle! Facebook seems to be really slow; it’s not my favourite platform in terms of using it for my blog. I keep wondering whether I should continue to use Facebook for my blog, or not. I love Instagram as a social media platform, but I haven’t quite found my feet on it yet. Pinterest continues to grow, slowly. I’ve started to use Tailwind so I’m hoping that will help in the long run. Even though, I think this is a FAIL for now. If you are on any of these and don’t follow me, I’d be very grateful if you would!

 

I haven’t started a newsletter for this blog, and, to be honest, that’s a long way off I think. I just don’t have a good strategy in place fort how to start this, or grow it and I want to do some more reading and educating before I attempt this. I also have got nowhere with the staff writing gigs; I’m not very good at pitching in an email and I haven’t sent that many. I need to work on this! These two are definitely FAILS at the moment.

 

Lastly, earning between £300-£500 a month online seems like a pipe dream at the moment. I read so many blogs that post income reports, and some bloggers earn huge amounts every month online, that £300 would be small change to them. However, I just can’t see how I’m going to manage it! I’m trying to stay positive about this though, as if they can do it, then so can I. I’d love to have a mentor in this area, if anyone feels the need to help! Again, this is a FAIL at this stage.

 

So, there seems to be a lot of red on this page at the moment. I need to focus and get myself back on track as soon as possible! Some of the goals are long term and may not be completed until much later in the year. Some are ongoing goals that need to be completed week in, week out in order for me to reach them. I’m hoping that when I do my halfway check at the end of June, that there will be a lot more green on this page then!

 

How are you doing with your 2016 goals? Are you on track?