Happy Friday! My mom and her fiance have spent the last week on a road trip to Georgia and Tennessee, and they come home tomorrow which I am so, so darn excited about! Other weekend plans: a writing date, a closet purge, and attending my first spin class in years (I have a friend who is getting certified to be a spin instructor and she’s hosting a free class. I don’t turn down free!).

Anyway, today I wanted to recap my July goals and set new intentions for August. The months are flying by, guys! But it’s good because we have one month to get through before foooootball. I can’t wait!

Recapping July goals…

Complete 31 workouts in 31 days. PASS. I successfully worked out 31 times in July, a goal I am very proud of achieving. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, though it did take a lot of willpower and motivation to keep up with the workouts so I didn’t fall too far behind. Typically, I took two rest days per week and then would “catch up” by working out twice a day two other days a week. (This usually consisted of doing cardio at the gym in the morning and a strength-training workout in the evening.)

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and write 31,000 words of my novel. FAIL. I didn’t even make it past day one. It’s just super hard for me to write 1,000 words a day with my full-time job. And I was also prioritizing exercise this month so when I had to choose between a workout or writing, I chose to work out. Figuring out how to work on my fiction novel while keeping up with my full-time writing job has been difficult.

Take an adventure somewhere. FAIL. Not one adventure, not even a little one? Not cool. I must do some adventuring in August!

Start the process of re-categorizing and tagging my posts. PASS. This was a lot of work! And slightly painful to read my blog posts from 2009/2010 (oh, how grateful I am to be finished with college!). 

Add $500 to my emergency fund. FAIL. In July, I only managed to add $280 to my emergency savings, but considering I haven’t added anything to it in a few months, I’m really happy about that.

In August, I want to…

Purge my closet and come up with my capsule wardrobe. I purge my closets frequently and my closet has gotten to a point where it just fills me with stress and anxiety when I try to find something to wear. I want to wear clothes that I feel good in, so I need to just remove the clothes I don’t love. Added to that, I want to create a capsule wardrobe. More to come on this!

Work out 31 times. Yep, it’s on the list again for August! I enjoyed completing this goal a lot in July, so I’m striving for it again in August. Plus, I know if I put it as a monthly goal, I’m even more motivated to achieve it since I have to report back at the end of the month.

Complete the 28-Day Food Change Challenge. I joined Nicole’s 28-Day Food Change Challenge last month, but haven’t begun the process yet. With the way the program is designed, I knew I would need to approach it a bit differently than others may have, giving myself time to plan things out and get in the right mindset. I hope this goes well! I’m nervous because I’m not that best at seeing food-related challenges through.

Leave my credit card at home. I have gotten into the habit of using my credit card throughout the month and, even though I pay off my balance in full monthly, this is a habit I want to nip in the bud. Easiest way? Just leave the darn thing at home! (Or should I freeze it in a block of ice, a la Shopaholic?!)

Stay away from fast food. I’m not a huge fast food junkie, but I do tend to eat Chick-Fil-A at least once a week. It’s just one of those easy meals, you know? And it’s so good. Man. This one is going to be hard, but I really want to get out of the habit of going for fast food when I don’t want to cook!

Do you have any goals for August?

Is this year flying by, or what? I can’t believe we’re halfway through 2014 already! Weren’t we ringing in the new year a week ago? It’s so crazy.

I have spent the past week thinking about how I want to attack the last half of the year, what I want to put in place now to end the year on a high note. I know I’m not incredibly happy with my progress so far in 2014, so I want to really focus and hone in on my big goals so I can sit back at the end of December and feel proud of myself.

With all that said, here’s how I did on my goals for June.

Recapping June goals…

Start my spending freeze, pay off my credit card, and bring my emergency savings to $700. I was able to pay off my credit card – yay! It wasn’t maxed out or anything, but I had been putting purchases on it here and there so the balance was a little high. But because of that, I wasn’t able to sock any money away in my emergency savings.

Write a new “About Me” page for the blog, and put up “Hire Me”/”Contact Me” pages. Yes! I have a new About Me page up and just added the other two pages over the weekend.

Go back to church. Yes! And I am so happy to be back. It feels so right.

Lose 5 lbs. I haven’t weighed myself lately, but I’m pretty sure I can mark this goal as a failure.

Make a dentist appointment. No, but not for lack of trying! When I called to make my appointment last week, I was informed I needed to claim this particular dentist’s office on my health insurance. (I’ve never heard of this!) So I did that, but it takes a few days for all the paperwork to go through. Hopefully going to make the appointment this month, though!

In July, I want to…

Complete 31 workouts in 31 days. I got this idea from Lisa, who just finished 91 workouts in 91 days(!). I’m so inspired by her, and I think taking on this challenge is exactly what I need to get back to a regular exercise routine. I am aiming to work out every day, but I’m sure there will be some days when I can’t so I’ll have to double up on my workouts on certain days.

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and write 31,000 words of my novel. This is a big goal, and I hope I can accomplish it! I know I have some quiet weekends ahead of me, so that will be helpful for catching up if I need it. My main goal is to write 1,000 words every day, which is how I came to my number of 31,000 words.

Take an adventure somewhere. Summer is for simple adventures, right? I don’t care what I do… if I’m with my mom, with friends, or by myself… but I want to just get outside and go on a little adventure.

Start the process of re-categorizing and tagging my posts. Oh, this should be a fun job. I have almost 800 posts to go through, so this is going to be a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g process. But I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time, so I just need to get ‘er done! My goal is to work through 100 of those 800 posts in July.

Add $500 to my emergency fund. As long as I tighten up my spending habits, this is 100% doable.

What goals are you working on in July?

Oh, May. May was such a wonderful month for me in so many ways, and such a terrible month in other ways. I am not looking forward to recapping my progress on the goals I set because it won’t be pretty. But! It’s a new month and I have a renewed attitude toward my goals. Let’s do this thing!

Recapping May goals…

Enjoy my cruise! PASS. I had a fabulous cruise and the best time with my mom. We travel so well together, and this cruise was a little more key than normal, but no less fun! I’m already looking forward to our next cruise.

Join another DietBet and continue losing weight. Pass-ish? I did join another DietBet but haven’t lost weight this month. Womp, womp.

Find a therapist that accepts my health insurance. FAIL. I did not even think about this one!

Add at least $400 to my savings. FAIL. I wasn’t able to add any money to my savings account this month, due to other expenses that cropped up.

Go back to church. FAIL. Sundays tended to be busy days, where I seemed to have things going on (and I’m so lazy and that extra day to sleep in is so nice).

(Hi, my name is Stephany and I like to make excuses.)

In June, I want to…

Start my spending freeze, pay off my credit card, and bring my emergency savings to $700. I used my credit card a bit in May, with my cruise and then for buying new eyeglasses and contacts. So my spending freeze comes at the perfect time. I want to get my credit card paid off ($537), and I am hopeful I can add around $400 to my savings account, too. I will be doing biweekly updates on my spending freeze to give me further accountability to see this thing through.

Write a new “About Me” page for the blog, and put up “Hire Me”/”Contact Me” pages. I am really craving a new look for this blog, and I am going to spend the next few months doing some behind-the-scenes updates before launching a new design. There are so many things I need to do, and I want to start by freshening up my “About Me” page, and adding “Hire Me”/”Contact Me” pages since I want to dive into some freelance work in the next few months.

Go back to church. Because I need to go to church. Church makes me happy. Setting Sunday morning alarms doesn’t make me happy, but church itself makes me happy.

Lose 5 lbs. This is doable. I can make this goal. I know it’s not ideal to set such an arbitrary goal, but I think I need this. I need to see myself succeed at this.

Make a dentist appointment. I’m slowly but steadily trying to make all those blasted doctor’s appointments that need to be made. Last month was my eye appointment, June will be the dentist.

What are your goals for June?

It’s the last day of the month, which means we are almost ready to dive into May. I have so many great things planned for May – my cruise, brunch book club, and starting a new DietBet. But first… let’s talk about goals, yeah?

Recapping April Goals…

Lose 4% of my weight and “win” Amber’s Spring Shape-Up DietBet. Well, I can’t mark this as a pass just yet, but doing this DietBet has really changed the way I’ve attacked losing weight and eating healthy. I am so, so thankful that Amber did this DietBet, and that I joined it because it really forced me to look at my eating habits and get super serious about losing weight. Even if I don’t end up winning (which I don’t think is likely, as long as I don’t completely fall off the wagon!), I’ve seen such a change in the way I view eating and exercise, and my clothes are fitting better. That’s a huge win, regardless of what the scale says.

Set up a therapy appointment. Oops. I did not do this. It’s just one of those nagging tasks that I know I need to do, but I think I’m letting my fears hold me back. I just didn’t get much out of therapy from my first therapist, and I don’t know if that was me, or her, or both of us. So I’m just putting it off because I’m like… worried I can’t do therapy? Which just tells me that I really need to be in therapy. Once you start worrying that you suck at therapy, well, it’s all really downhill from there, isn’t it?

Work out every day. Nope, but I did start working out six days a week! And I consider that a huge success!

Make two meatless dishes. Nope. I’ve been searching for meatless dishes, but I just haven’t found a dish that looks appetizing to me. (I’m a really, really picky eater.) And the ones I do find that look somewhat yummy are usually pasta dishes, and I’m trying to stay away from pasta as much as I can. (No real reason… just don’t need all those carbs!)

Spend less than $150 eating out. PASS! I spent $137 this month eating out. I am very happy about this! That’s my lowest eating-out total in 2014, and I’m hoping I can keep pushing it lower and lower.

In May I want to…

Enjoy my cruise! I am super excited if that hasn’t been apparent. Mom and I leave this Sunday and we’ll spend five wonderful, relaxing days sailing and exploring Key West and the Bahamas. I think marking this goal as complete will be easy!

Join another DietBet and continue losing weight. I really loved participating in my DietBet this past month because it really forced me to get serious about dieting and losing weight. Knowing that I could win my $25 back (and possibly more!) has been super motivating for me. I would like to join a new DietBet around the week I return from my vacation, so I can get right back on track.

Find a therapist that accepts my health insurance. I wasn’t successful at scheduling my first therapy appointment so, instead, I am going to break this down into steps. The first step? I need to find a therapist that accepts my insurance. That’s it, that’s all.

Add at least $400 to my savings. I’ve been slacking on my money goals for this year, but once my cruise is behind me, I can get back on track. I am hoping to add at least $400 to my savings, which will put me halfway to my goal for this year.

Go back to church. I haven’t talked about it much, but I haven’t been regularly attending church for well over a year now. Probably closer to a year and a half. It’s just something I fell out of the habit of, and it’s hard getting back into it. Well, that changes this month as I’m going to start making a concentrated effort to attend church on Sundays and hopefully become more involved in the community.

What goals do you have for May?

I really, really love the beginning of the month. As is well documented on my blog, I love goal-setting and I love the freshness of the beginning of the month for setting new goals. I like sitting down to rehash what went well, what didn’t go so well, and decide on five goals I want to accomplish in the upcoming month. Let’s dive right in!

Recapping March goals…

Observe Lent, and eliminate chocolate and soda from my diet. FAIL. I knew this goal was going to be very hard to meet, but I really tried! My downfalls came on the weekends, but I really put a lot of effort into trying to meet this goal and I’m proud of the slight step forward I took in releasing this addiction, even though I could have done so much better. You win some, you lose some.

Pay off my cruise deposit. PASS. Paid in full, and now my mom and I just need to figure out our excursions for the three ports we’re stopping in (Key West, Nassau, and Freeport in the Bahamas).

Spend less than $100 eating out. FAIL. I was actually on track to make this goal until the last week of the month. Then things seemed to fall apart.

Try one new recipe a week. FAIL. I only ended up making two new recipes this month. I made turkey meatloaf (in a cupcake pan!) and honey mustard chicken. The rest of the time, I fell back on old favorites.

Start the 30 Day Shred challenge. PASS. I didn’t work out every day, and I’m only about halfway through Level 2, but I did it! Very proud I stuck with this one as it’s not easy.

In April, I want to…

Lose 4% of my weight and “win” Amber’s Spring Shape-Up DietBet. I am really excited to start this DietBet! I’ve never done one before, but I really think it will motivate me to get super serious about healthy living and losing weight. I want to win my $25 back!

Set up a therapy appointment. I really need to get myself to therapy, even if I have to somehow choke up the $55 fee every month. I think I found a good therapist – she’s young and specializes in anxiety disorders and women’s issues, like self-esteem and body image. I just need to see if she takes my insurance!

Work out every day. Working out has really turned into a hassle for me. It’s annoying to wake up early to work out, and I never have energy left at the end of the day to work out after work. But I also know that I have to put more effort into my workouts, I feel good when I get regular exercise, and it’s an essential part of losing weight. So, for April, I’ve decided to attempt to work out every day, for at least 30 minutes. I need to get some sort of activity in every day, even if it’s a simple walk with Dutch.

Make two meatless dishes. I don’t believe I will ever go full vegetarian (I love red meat and turkey subs too much!) but I would like to cut down on how much meat I consume because a) it’s not that healthy and b) it’s so inhumane. So I’m going to start taking itty-bitty baby steps to cutting out meat from my diet. This month, I want to attempt to prepare two meatless dishes. Meatless meals scare me a little, mainly because I’m a picky eater and every meatless meal I’ve seen doesn’t sound delicious, but I’m willing to try anything once. (Your suggestions are much appreciated!)

Spend less than $150 eating out. In January, I spent $200 eating out. In February, I spent $250. And in March, I spent $175. I love eating out. I love it, love it, love it. But I also need to gain control over this area of my life, both in my quest to become more frugal and in my quest to lose weight. But I realize that making a goal to spend less than $100 – after usually spending twice that or more in any given month – is setting myself up for failure. Instead, I need to focus on baby steps. So in April, I’d like to spend less than $150 eating out. Honestly, the feeling of relief that washed over me when I set this goal helped me to see this feels much more manageable to me at this point in time. Ideally, I want to get to the point where I’m eating out only 1-2 times per week, but that’s going to take a serious lifestyle change and those happen in small steps.

What are your goals for April?