Goals Archives - Page 3 of 11 - Making Sense Of Cents

4 Life and Financial Hurdles To Tackle This Year

Last Updated: May 25, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 57 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

While I realize we are already two weeks into the new year and that you may have already set your New Year’s resolutions, I don’t think that should stop anyone from evaluating their life goals and possibly setting new ones already.

I want this year to be the very best year of your life. No one is perfect, but I think with the goals below, everyone can feel happy, successful, and motivated in life.

Below are four financial and life goals you may want to think about tackling in 2015.

1. Tackle your money problem(s).

Whether your money problem is related to a lack of a budget, spending issues, debt, keeping up with the Joneses, or something else, you need to tackle your money problems NOW.

First, you need to figure out why you have a money problem. If you don’t figure out what the root of the problem is, then it’s probably just going to keep coming back and biting you.

After that, you need to come up with a plan to stop your money problem. You might need to avoid the mall, create a better budget, increase your income, pay off your debt, and so on.

Tackling your money problem now will help you lead a less stressful and most likely a more meaningful life. [Read more…]

December Goals Update and New January Goals

Last Updated: May 1, 2018 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 60 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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! [Read more…]

December Goals, Pictures From Joshua Tree and Red Rock Canyon, and Life Update

Last Updated: January 3, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 46 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone! November was a great month. It was a great month for business (see my latest monthly income report), a great month for goals, and it was a fun month too.

Even though November was a great month overall, it was VERY expensive. The traveling we did wasn’t too expensive mainly thanks to credit card rewards, but due to rock climbing and buying all the gear we wanted, everything added up quickly.

Thankfully I think we are done buying things for now, so rock climbing will be a fairly cheap sport for us until we need to replace what we need.

We also just received our annual property tax bill, and that’s not a pretty sight either. I won’t lie, I completely forgot about this until I received the bill. Personal finance blogger fail right here.

Also, one major thing we do need to do this month is decide on our health insurance. Our current health insurance plan expires soon. Instead of paying $191 for health insurance with a crazy high deductible ($12,700), we now get to pay around $350 a month for the exact same plan because of health insurance increases. How much do you pay for health insurance? I know it varies, but I would love to hear what others pay.

[Read more…]

Life Update, 10 Spectacular Things Happening Right Now, and My November Goals

Last Updated: January 3, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 60 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone and happy Friday! Today’s post will be a mix of everything going on in my life. We’ll start off with a short life update, 10 Spectacular Things Happening Right Now, and then my November goals.

October was a fun and relaxing month. I was able to work a good amount, have some fun, and enjoy life. October also marked one full year since I left my day job and I had an expensive dinner out (thanks to a gift card we were given, of course!) with Wes to celebrate.

In October, I went indoor rock climbing for my very first time. I also bought a membership at the rock climbing gym because I became so addicted to it. We’ve gone nearly every other day, and it’s a hobby I already can tell I will love for a very long time.

Rock climbing is a lot of fun, but it’s definitely expensive in the beginning. We’ve had to buy rope, harnesses, helmets, climbing shoes, and a lot more. REI has been our best friend recently. It’s a ton of fun though so we are finding it well worth it.

We plan on trying some outdoor climbing later this month. We have plans for Joshua Tree, and if everything goes as planned then we will be visiting there soon. This is pretty crazy to think about because just a few weeks ago I was terrified of climbing. It’s crazy how quickly that fear has passed! [Read more…]

October Goals and Life Update – Root Canal Fun

Last Updated: October 3, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 68 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone and happy Friday!

September was another great month. It was a great traveling month, a great business month, and St. Louis had great weather all month long.

We spent one week in Colorado at the end of August/beginning of September and it was great. It snowed on us while we were there, but it was still a lot of fun. Wes was able to climb a few 14ers and I was able to do some work for a Colorado client of mine.

We also spent a little less than one week in New Orleans for FinCon. You can read my FinCon recap over on DiversifiedFinances.com. The conference was great and I already bought my ticket for next year. Will you be going to FinCon15?

The weather in St. Louis has been pretty wonderful too. It’s been a nice 80 to 85 degrees everyday with low humidity. Loving it!

[Read more…]

$14,156 in August Business Income

Last Updated: July 21, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 125 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello everyone! Welcome to August’s business income (and a little bit of extra income) report. It’s time to look at my monthly income report and track my progress over the past month.

Background information:

This all started out as my “extra income” report because before October of 2013, I still had my day job. In those extra income reports, I included all the income I made except for my day job.

In September of 2013, I turned in my notice at my day job as a financial analyst, and my last official day at that job was in October of 2013. Now, my income reports consist of the main way I make an income each month, which is through my freelancing business. [Read more…]

September Goals and Life Update – I’m Ready For Fall

Last Updated: October 13, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 72 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

It was National Dog Day the other day, so here’s an old picture of my pup and my laptop. Some of my favorite things in life!

Hello everyone and happy Friday!

This month’s goals update is a little early, but I figured I’d get a somewhat early start and think about my goals sooner rather than later.

Even though August isn’t over yet, it has been a good month so far. Nothing really happened this month. It was a relaxing month and I’m always all for that.

I’m more excited for September though. We have two trips planned for September, and the weather will be much nicer than August. I also love fall and the clothing that goes along with it. I’m ready for boots and sweaters!

It’s been a VERY hot month for St. Louis so far.

With the heat index, the temperature has been around 110 to 120 degrees each day for much of this month. Pairing the hot weather with the disgusting humidity that St. Louis has, it means I haven’t been outside too often lately. [Read more…]

1. Tackle your money problem(s).

Background information:

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