Hello! December was a great month for us.
We were active, we ate more healthy than usual, spent time with family, and we had another good business month (read my December monthly income report).
In December, we traveled to Memphis for Christmas to spend time with Wes’s parents and his siblings. It was a fun time and I always love spending time with his wonderful family. We ate delicious food, played Cards Against Humanity with his family (that was interesting!), and had a lot of fun.
I think we also somewhat narrowed down where we want to move to. We are still going back and forth with different cities and areas, but right now we are really liking the Durango area in Colorado. Anyone ever been? What did you think of it? We plan on visiting again soon. And, of course, we plan on renting before we buy to make sure wherever we move to is the spot for us.
The only bad thing that happened in December was that two of my credit cards were stolen, but thankfully Chase noticed both of them quickly and cancelled my credit cards for me before anything too bad happened.
Also, both of our credit scores went up this past month. Wes has a credit score of 797 and mine is at 801. WOOHOO! I was almost positive that with all of the recent credit card reward signups that our credit scores would suffer at least a little bit. Not at all though!
December Goals Update
- Work out! PASS. Thanks to rock climbing, I have been doing well with working out. I have also been doing squats, lunges, and taking the dogs for walks as much as I can.
- Work ahead on MakingSenseofCents posts. PASS! I have been doing well with this, and it’s making me extremely happy. I am not super far ahead, but I am around 5 posts ahead. That is great for me!
- Successfully complete a 5.10c at the rock climbing gym. Mixed. I didn’t attempt one, but that is because we started lead climbing at the gym and you typically lead climb below your top roping climbing level because more effort is needed to lead climb. I did lead a 5.10a at the gym and I’m super happy. Sorry for all the technical terms.
- Stay on budget for the holidays. PASS. We stayed on budget for the holidays. It was probably our most frugal Christmas and New Year’s yet. We used credit card rewards for our holiday traveling and didn’t spend much on holiday gifts.
January Goals
- Work out! This is an easy goal now because of indoor rock climbing, but I like having it on here since I went months (maybe years) with this being a major FAIL.
- Work ahead on MakingSenseofCents posts. I am still working on this. After January is over, I would like to be one month ahead with my more beefier posts. Of course, some posts cannot be done ahead of time such as with my life update posts and my monthly income posts. Another goal that is related to this is that I would like to complete going through my old blog posts. I am trying to format and replace bad pictures on old posts.
- Successfully lead climb a 5.10b at the rock climbing gym. I’m taking baby steps here. Lead climbing still scares me a little because I’m not used to falling.
- Create a plan to get our house ready for sale. I’m not looking forward to this. The thought of selling our home just brings me so much stress. However, I did contact a realtor (it was the same realtor who helped us find our house) and will hopefully jumpstart this soon.
- Declutter. Before our house goes on the market, we have some major decluttering to do. My goal is to go through my closet and find things to sell and donate. My closet is a huge disaster zone right now so it needs to be done. We also need to go through everything in the basement, which is a HUGE disaster zone.
- Spend less than $100 eating out. I recently published the post Our Plan To Finally Cut Our Food Spending, and in it I discussed how we spend too much money on food each month. Our goal for this month is to spend less than $100 eating out, and so far we have been doing really well with this. Wish us luck!
What amazing things are going on in your life?
How did you do in December? What is your main goal for January?
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G says
December is been good time with family, now one of my personal resolution for this 2015 is be a little bit more savvy than last year, so on 12th will start my sort of shopping ban, every single cents saved wil lbe used for travel fund (week end in Italy, Europe)
Michelle S. says
Good luck! 🙂
Mrs. Maroon says
January marks my return to full time work in corporate America after maternity leave. I honestly think we will be in a bit of survival mode until we cen nail down our routines. Plus I have to come to terms with being away from my baby, whom has not left my side for more than an hour or so in her first four months…
Michelle S. says
I’m sorry 🙁 I hope things go smoothly.
Amy says
December was a pretty good month for me. I spent more than I expected on Christmas – this was the first year I kept track, so I didn’t have any historical data to rely on in making my goal – but my husband got his bonus, which we used to pay cash for several larger expenses (propane, new contacts for me, and a vet bill for one cat). We also brought down our credit card debt level a bit.
January has a couple of even larger expenses (a bigger propane bill, car insurance), but it’s also a three paycheck month for my husband, which will help.
Michelle S. says
Three paycheck months are the best! 🙂
Taylor Lee says
December wasn’t quite the relaxing month I was hoping for, but regardless I’m hoping to start off 2015 strong. January goals include:
* cutting down food budget by 30%
* reading 1 book – right now that seems to be The Handmaid’s Tale
* exercise 3x/week – generally do pretty good with this, but I need to make a conscious effort to keep it up
* get a lot of writing done for project that’s going up end of February
Yay, 2015.
Michelle S. says
Good luck with your goals!
Gina Horkey says
You’ll easily crush your goals:-)
Most of my goals pertain to my freelance writing business that I’ve recently taken full-time. I’m in the process of figuring out a schedule that works, where to work (can’t be from home w/2 toddlers around;-), a list of daily tasks that must be completed, etc.
It’s going to be a great year!
Michelle S. says
Congrats again 🙂 I’m sure it will be a great month and a great 2015 for you Gina.
Sarah says
Durango is awesome!! We went there for a vacation (just me and my husband…before the kiddos came haha) to ski and it’s such a fun town!! It’s close to some hot springs and the downtown area was so cute!! I think you will really like it there 🙂
Michelle S. says
Great to hear! We visited earlier this year and have been doing our research since. We will have to visit again though before we decide if that’s where we want to rent.
[email protected] says
I think Durango is awesome. We live over in Cortez but I’ve spent lots of time there. Jim lived there for years and that’s where we met. Email me anything you want to know.
Michelle S. says
Yay thanks Kim! We are looking at a few different towns in that area so it will be a hard choice.
[email protected] says
Durango is beautiful, although it’s a little isolated — renting to be sure you like it is a great idea. Congrats on doing so well on all your goals! My December and January have each had big costs, but they were more or less planned for (contact lenses and glasses in December, plane tickets in January) so I’m doing ok.
Michelle S. says
Yes, that’s pretty much the exact reason we plan on renting first, to make sure the isolation is something we can handle. I think we will be fine, but need to make sure.
Sarah says
Great job in December and good luck in January! I’m in the process of decluttering my craft space and it is a little emotionally painful. We (way) blew our budget back in December but it I learned from it. We had a Christmas budget but I failed to account for some things, so we’re back on track in January.
Michelle S. says
Decluttering is something I am not looking forward to at all. 🙁
EL says
Congrats on the great year and the major life goals in 2015. Moving is difficult and exciting at the same time. Maybe you can rent out your home and keep it just in case you want to come back to it. Working out is always fun for me, and I stay consistent as I have a 3 times a week routine.
Michelle S. says
Thanks! Good job on working out 🙂
Mindy says
Great job in December. I like seeing your progress and how you keep track of your goals.Today you got me thinking about decluttering my own house in addition to my health and financial goals. Thanks for inspiration! Good luck in 2015.
Michelle S. says
Good luck decluttering! I’m nervous about it haha.
[email protected] says
Well done on the workouts! My main goal is to spend more time with family. Jan-Mar will be busy with the day job and tax clients on the side. Gotta remember not to forget the little ones!
Michelle S. says
I hope you reach your goal Mark 🙂
Kim says
I’m currently working on getting my Credit Cards balances down and would like to know what you think the best cards are for rewards? Would you rather take travel rewards or cash back?
Michelle S. says
I got the Chase Ink Bold Plus a few months ago and it gave me $875 in cash back. I also just signed up for the Chase Sapphire and it will give me around $450 in cash back plus it doesn’t have an annual fee. I will have to do a blog post on this soon because I am all about travel rewards right now!
I like both travel rewards and cash back. Both are great to use!
Hustle + Save says
Our goal this month is to not touch our debit cards. We got a little holiday money plus my husband got a bonus so we want to live off cash only this month since our new higher mortgage just started this month. We just refied to a 15 year so it’s a little higher each month but is going to save us a lot of money in the end!
Michelle S. says
Good luck with your goal!
Michelle @ Modern Acupuncture Marketing says
I’m so amazed you have a credit score of 801! Holy moly, good for you! I’ve never met anyone with such a high score. I’m hoping to buy a house in August and I’m so glad I stumbled across your amazing websites. I’m looking forward to learning more about keeping saving money and raising my credit score, to make the house-buying process as easy as possible. Now I’m excited! Thank you!
Michelle S. says
Good luck with buying your home! I hope your process goes smoothly 🙂
Nicola says
Great job in December! Good luck with your January aims 🙂 December was good for us; I love this time of year.
Michelle S. says
Glad December was good for you. I hope January is even better.
Jessica says
I had to LOL about playing Cards Against Humanity with family. I’m not sure I’d be down with that!
Even though decluttering is a HUGE pain, you will be so happy you did it when you get ready to move. This is something we failed to do before our cross-country move. As a result, we ended up hauling a lot of junk we didn’t need to California AND leaving even more junk at my mom’s house in Kentucky. Not only will your house show better when you try to sell it, but you won’t have to move so much stuff either.
Michelle S. says
Haha it was a lot of fun and very interesting playing with them haha!
Jason B says
My December was great. I ended the year on a positive note. My goal for January is to get more traffic. I’ve been trying out different strategies.
Michelle S. says
I hope the strategies you are using work. Good luck!
catherine says
Decluttering feels the best! Once you start you won’t be able to stop and before you know it you’ll be emailing blogger to have them mail you things to help 😉
Michelle S. says
Hahahaha! Yes, I cannot wait until the decluttering is done.
Alison says
I love decluttering! I did that in our entire house during the week of New Years. It was AMAZING! We got rid of so much stuff, and it felt like we lost 20 pounds. We were ruthless!
And I love anywhere in Colorado!!! So exciting about your move!
Michelle S. says
Haha glad you love it. I hope I do as well!
Susan Osborne says
Hi Michelle!
I live near Denver now but went to college in Durango at Fort Lewis. I loved the four years that I spent there. It’s a great town, lots of charm and beautiful summers :). If you don’t mind a smaller town (and a college town), it’s wonderful. You have to try the nachos at Oldtimers :). Good luck with your move!
Susan
Michelle S. says
Great to hear from someone who has lived there. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Kayla @ Femme Frugality says
Sounds like you have a good set of January goals. Can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Michelle S. says
Thanks Kayla!
Alexandra @ Real Simple Finances says
Good luck with the goals! Exercising is always on my goal list, and is always the number one failure goal.
When I declutter my closets, I always try to sell my extra clothes on Tradesy. I have had a good experience with them. If that doesn’t work, I donate them to the Goodwill and then list an estimate of the value as a charitable donation on my tax return.
Michelle S. says
I started cleaning out my closet yesterday and brought up one bag to a local consignment shop. Made $59 today! 🙂
Katelyn @ Diaries of a Wandering Lobster says
I love hearing all the climbing talk! I’ve never lead climbed. It’s always scared the crap out of me. There is a new rock climbing gym coming to Portland, Maine soon and I’m excited to check it out!
Michelle S. says
Yes, you should check it out!
efinancialclub says
amazing and practical goal setting. spending outside food cost cutting would be my goal for this month. You wanted to keep it below $100. In my case I want to reduce the spending my $100. Let me keep posted of my goals next month
Michelle S. says
Thanks!
Fig @ Figuring Money Out says
Um, girl, next time you travel to Memphis hit me up and let’s meet! 😉
Michelle S. says
Is that where you live? I had no idea!
Fig @ Figuring Money Out says
It is! I don’t really share a lot of details about my personal life since I’m anonymous, but if there are other bloggers here or visiting it would be cool to meet them!
Michelle S. says
I’ll definitely keep that in mind for next time we visit 🙂
Don @ Breath of Optimism says
December was a great month for us. We too got to see family and we stayed within our budget. Eating-wise we ate really, really bad, but so far this month things are completely different. We’ve been eating clean and healthy and working out a ton. It’s amazing how much better I sleep and how much better I feel throughout the day when I am more active and eating right.
Michelle S. says
Good job!
Lisa says
Working ahead on the blog is a goal of mine, as well! Last week i set up all my posts for this week and it was so much better than rushing all of my blog posts.
Michelle S. says
Good job!