Hey everyone! Happy Saturday I hope you all are having a great weekend. It's a long 4 day weekend for me and I'm LOVING it.
I love having so much extra time to enjoy life and work on my side hustles. I had a long to-do list for this weekend and I've already crossed a lot out. WOOHOOO!
June was a great month. Summertime is my favorite and this summer so far we have had some pretty great weather. It hasn't been unbearably hot too much yet, which is really weird for where I live. However, I will not complain about not having 30 days in a row of over 100 degree heat like last year. Our AC bill is very low this year so far and I'm loving it.
July will be a great month also. I'm going to a bachelorette party later this month in Chicago and I'm super excited.
I've been thinking about when I'm making the freelancing switch a lot lately. It's been really hard to manage everything because of lack of time. Right now it's not killing me, but I know that eventually this will not be good at the rate that I'm going. My switch date was for a day around 6 months from now, but lately I've been thinking about something much sooner. What would you do? I'm curious!
Oh yeah, and I bought my wedding dress in June. It is super pretty and I love it. I can't wait until I get to see it in October because I tried it on in blush but ordered it in white. It was gorgeous in blush surprisingly, so I'm really excited to see what it will look like in white.
June Goals Update
- PAY OFF MY STUDENT LOANS! This has been my main goal for a long time. Be on the lookout for a post on this soon. 🙂
- Run 4 times a week and lose weight. FAIL. I didn't do the best with running. And I'm back to eating a whole lot just like my normal self. Surprisingly I lost 6 pounds. And this is why I hate working out and eating healthy because I tend to lose weight when I don't! Makes no sense… I've only been getting 4 to 5 hours of sleep per night, and I've been lazy and haven't been fitting running in like I should.
- Make an extra $8,000 this month. PASS. I made $10,192 in earnings before taxes last month.
- Replace the garage door. FAIL. We didn't even look into this. However, we talked about this the other day and really want to replace it this month.
- Get carpet for the living room. FAIL. Should I even explain? Ha!
- Make more time to enjoy life. PASS. Even though I have been complaining about having no time, life is actually really good. I've been hanging out with friends a lot and life has been good. That's all that's important, right?
July Goals
- Run 20 miles per week and lose weight. COME ON MICHELLE!
- Make an extra $9,000 this month. I did really good in June, and I'm hoping that I can keep it up in July. July is usually a slow month for my the areas of my side hustles so I'm not sure if I can beat last month.
- Replace the garage door. We want to do this soon. We will probably do it ourselves because a lot of people said it shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure the labor costs are high if we hired it out, so I would rather do this myself.
- Get carpet for the living room. This has been on my goals list FOREVER.
- Decide on my freelancing switch day. See above 🙂
- Read 2 books. This might seem like a very small goal for some of you, but I haven't read a full book in forever it seems like.
How did you do in June? What is your top goal for July?
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Alexandra @Real Simple Finances says
July 6, 2013 at 7:34 amThose sound like great goals for July! I’m also glad to see that you did accomplish goal 6; no matter what, it’s so important (and hard!) to make time to enjoy life when you’re hustling a lot.
June was my wake up call, where I discovered your blogs (along with a few other great ones), and decided to take control of my life and finances again! In July, I’m hoping to increase readership of my blog, get to know some of the people in the PF Blogging community, and find myself a side hustle.
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 12:11 pmThanks Alexandra! I’m glad you found my blog 🙂
Usiere @ Financial Freedom Inspiration says
July 6, 2013 at 8:03 amVery inspiring. I have been blogging everyday since May and plan to keep it up through the summer, tough call with vacation coming and all. Have fallen behind in exercise but hope to get back on the horse. My breakthrough goal this year is for my book Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence to make the New York Times Bestseller list for non fiction
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 12:44 pmBlogging everyday is definitely hard. Good job!
Alexa says
July 6, 2013 at 8:48 amI think six months would give you plenty of time to save a big nest egg just in case things don’t go as you plan. Plus you’d have enough time to see if you can keep up at this pace long term. Six months seems like a pretty safe date to me.
Also, for the books, have you read “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy? It’s a book on time management, probably the best one I have ever read. Plus it’s pretty short too, so it wouldn’t take you too long to read but could really help you be more productive.
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 12:45 pmThanks Alexa! And I’ll have to check out that book.
Cat Alford (@BudgetBlonde) says
July 6, 2013 at 9:05 amAfter your last month, it seems like you can definitely make the switch early. You’ve paid off your loans, you’re making 8-10k every month, and you’re getting married. It’s going to be hard and stressful to work so much and plan the wedding, especially as the wedding gets closer. I imagine you’ll have to hustle a little bit extra so that you can take off a few days in the row for the wedding and possibly the honeymoon. I know it’s a crazy tough choice deciding when to switch, but I think you could absolutely do it whenever you want at this point.
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 12:47 pmThanks Cat! I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty soon 🙂
Katie C. says
July 6, 2013 at 10:31 amHey, I used to be a crazy book reader. I’d read them all the time, walking around campus, walking the halls in high school (a few people even asked me how I managed to do it without bumping into anyone), when I had a spare minute at work. Then I fell out of the habit in the later years of college because full-time job + full-time school + the blog +… Okay, okay, I just stopped making reading a priority. I thought I could just slip right back into the habit once I graduated, but it is not easy! So two books a month is a great place to start!
On the weight loss/running front, if you know from past experience that you usually don’t lose weight from exercise, maybe it would be best to use a measuring tape as your barometer? Regardless of what the scale says, your body will tone up with running, which is what most of us really want anyway. Just a thought. It might give you the extra push you need to run, whereas I can imagine someone whose goal is to run and lose weight being discouraged if their weight doesn’t change even though they put in the work with running.
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 12:49 pmYes, it’s definitely hard to get back into reading! I’m hoping I reach that goal. I have probably 1,000 books on my Kindle that I need to read. Someone gave them all to me for free luckily!
I’m trying to stay off the scale completely and trying to avoid looking at myself in the mirror (unless I’m looking at my outfit).
DC @ Young Adult Money says
July 6, 2013 at 2:54 pmReally great goals, Michelle! I need to start tracking my income/expenses from my side hustles a lot closer. Would like to hire another writer but need to have all my ducks in a row. Also would be nice to have a cool chart like you had on your post this week where you showed your income (increasing) each month since May 2012!
Running 20 miles a week is a big goal imo. I finally started working out again and today I worked out for the third day in a row. Also, reading 2 books seems like a completely unattainable goal, at least for me, because there is just way too much work I want to do on my side hustles! If you can do that while running 20 miles a week while making $9k+ that would be amazing.
I might email the person who did your blog design and see how much they will charge to redesign mine. Definitely would like to get a new design up sometime before Fall.
Michelle says
July 6, 2013 at 3:24 pmHaha thanks DC. I’m not sure if I will read 2 books, but I figured that I would throw it in there so that I can think about it.
I f you use Jen, please tell her I referred you. She is great!
debtperception says
July 6, 2013 at 4:16 pmFor me, 6 months will go by fast (it seems like just a week ago it was January!) But you’ve been KILLING the side income and you could definitely make the freelancing switch sooner…you have to do whatever you feel comfortable with!
I only completed one of my ten goals for June…oops! I’m not really making any goals for July since I’ll be going on a two week trip to visit my family and it will be packed full of activities. I’m just going to focus on relaxing before I leave and will kick my goals into high gear for August.
Michelle says
July 7, 2013 at 11:38 amYou’re right, 6 months will go by fast. I’m probably just being a baby in saying that I need to do this sooner rather than later. What’s 6 months compared to life overall? 🙂
Mama Needs Money says
July 6, 2013 at 7:55 pmWow, that’s great that you made so much extra income! I would definitely consider switching to freelancing sooner rather than later if you feel like the income is stable, but of course it’s such a personal decision.
Michelle says
July 7, 2013 at 11:39 amThanks 🙂
Karen says
July 7, 2013 at 12:12 pmFreelancing income is never exactly stable – you can be sick and there’s nothing – but to me it’s worth it for the independence. I guess I kind of like the uncertainty of it too, it makes life more interesting. If you feel that way too, I would say go for it as soon as you can 🙂
Amanda @ the giraffe life says
July 7, 2013 at 12:25 pmCongrats on a great June! Making the switch to freelancing would make me nervous so I’d probably set a monetary goal for myself to accomplish beforehand (like 30k saved) just in case there’s a month or two when my income wasn’t as stable.
Canadianbudgetbinder says
July 7, 2013 at 5:13 pmGlad to hear you had another successful month with the blog. I made most of my goals for the month but most of all realized that I shouldn’t let life pass me by for nothing. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Johnette says
July 7, 2013 at 11:04 pmI love your goals! It really inspired me to look at my last 3+ weeks of summer break and set some goals of my own! :). I have just started following blogs and I am really wanting to start my own but just wonder if I can keep up with it once school starts back. I totally agree about enjoying life! This is a must: spending time with my family is definitely my priority!
Thanks for sharing!
Johnette
Keren says
July 8, 2013 at 8:04 amThanks for the update! Your goals will be achieved! You go, girl!
Done by Forty says
July 8, 2013 at 12:12 pmI’m always impressed with those who do monthly check ins on their goals. That probably has something to do with how likely you are to achieve them. 🙂
Nice work and I hope you’re able to sneak in a little more sleep. All the best in deciding your freelance time frame.
Jason B says
July 15, 2013 at 5:04 pmMy top goal for July was to successfully complete my cross country road trip. I left July 1st and made it back yesterday!