January Update

Here is an update on how we did in January

FINANCE
1) Save 9-10% of your annual income in a savings account
2) Save $1000 to go on a honeymoon/5-year anniversary
3) Make 1 extra house payment- I paid an extra 5.45% towards this goal
4) Spend less that $3000 on groceries and household needs for the entire year (does not include baby things but does include toiletries and cleaning products)- Wow I spent a lot this month. We had to restock on a lot of staples and we gave three meals to friends plus some extras for parties and such. Hopefully next month will be drastically less.
5)Never use a credit card -didn't use for us. I had to buy some things for work. But i was reimbursed promptly and i plan of paying it off in full when the statement arrives.
6)Save enough money to buy Aaron a new chainsaw
7) Save enough money to buy a new lawn mower
8) Save $500 to buy a 1/2 cow or a pig for the freezer
9) Have no debt (other than the mortgage) by the end of the year. (Only have some medical bills, but i want to keep it this way)- YEAH NO ADDITIONAL DEBT!! (OK, so its been a month, but it still makes me happy)
10)Pay off all medicals bills from 2009 (Thanks a lot kidney and face)-Paid our regular payment plus a little extra. Still $2000+ to go
11)Make $500 from selling things (yard sales, craigslist, etc)- Set up for a yard sale next month. Its amazing how one small house can accumulate so much stuff you never use. We also tried to sell two slides and a camera on Craigslist. No luck, but we are working towards this goal.
12) Start a savings account for a new car

FAMILY
1) Go on two weekend family vacations- Nothing planned yet, but we do have some Christmas money set aside for this purpose.
2) Visit both families at least once

HOBBY
1) Make at least 2 batches of beer
2) Make at least 1 batch of root beer
3) Grow a successful garden- Nothing in the ground yet, but we have started planning on what we want to plant.
4) Can 6+ months of corn, green beans, pickles, spaghetti sauce, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.- We received 6 grocery bags of grapefruit a couple weeks ago. We have all of them sliced ad juice. This week we are going to can the fruit and freeze the juice.

SALLY
1) Get back to pre-Hannah weight- I am 12.5%$ of the way there. I am definitely learning self control with all of the wonderful baked bread and sweets around the house. I want to start working out but am having trouble finding time. This is my mini-goal for February-start a semi regular workout schedule.
2) Make two dresses for Hannah- No dresses yet, but i did have some sewing time with a lady at work. We made a little bag together.
3) Learn a new hobby- Any suggestions on a new hobby? I have no idea what this will be yet
4)Make 2 books on picaboo- I am up to date with Titus's baby book.
5) Read the entire bible 11 out of 260 chapters read. I know this is pathetic. I need to work on finding time to set aside every day to do this.
6) Get more involved at the church. - I really want to do this. But, I'm hesitant to commit myself to too much. They have opening for things i think I would like to do but I just don't have the time to do. Hopefully God will lead me to the right ministry. Too bad there isn't a baking ministry.

AARON
1) Hunt something (Armadillos do not count)- Our neighbor called about a wild boar bothering his pigs. He hunted but was unsuccessful because of the daytime and surrounding obstacles (houses and cars). But the year is still young.
2) Process one animal
3) Make a rocking horse

OTHER
1) Make our own (so my real goal is to not but any sandwich bread or breakfast breads for an entire year)- So far we have not bought any bread. This is going to be a much harder goal than i first anticipated.
2) Make 52 new recipes- I made 7 new recipes this month.

Some thoughts from this month. I am excited about everything that we accomplished or started in motion this month. I know its easy to make a list and dream, but i think because of this list we will accomplish great things this year. I now realize (as Aaron warned me) how ambitious my list really is. I am very thankful of his support and help in my crazy dream of accomplishing all of this. I already would have failed if it wasn't for him (who knew he was an expert bread maker).