Gather Little by Little

For some reason I can’t seem to mentally grasp that 2008 is almost over. I feel like I was just writing this same article but back in 2007. I like setting goals for myself. Granted I am not near as good at meeting them as I am setting them, I do like laying out a destination for myself. Goals help keep me focused and heading in the right direction, even if I don’t always achieve them. As the old saying goes, it’s often more about the journey than the actual destination.

2008 goals reviewed

Here’s the number one goal I set for 2008 and how I did with them:

Goal 1: Pay a minimum of $1,000 a month towards out debt. This will be done by setting up two auto transfers from our checking account towards our debt. Each transfer will be in the amount of $500, one from each paycheck I receive.

I did terrible on this one. To be real honest with everything going on in our lives and in particular us moving I only paid over the minimums during the first half of the year. After that, it was pretty much just paying a little above the minimums so that we could cover repairs on our old home and save up for a down payment on our new one.

2009 Financial Goals

For 2009, I’m going to set a few more goals and try to keep them a little more realistic (the above goal to be honest was really a stretch goal).

Goal 1: Sell or rent our out our old home. For selling the goal would be to break even. If I rent, the goal would be to recoup enough monthly to cover the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and provide a little extra to save for any necessary repairs or problems.

Goal 2: Payoff our last credit card. This one will be a bit of a stretch, especially depending on how goal #1 goals but I do feel it’s feasible.

Goal 3: Live within budget 90% of the time all year. I wanted to say 100%, but the reality is unexpected events happen. My intent this year is to manage our budget tightly and stay only have a 10% variance against our budget and actual expenses. While I like my spreadsheet a lot, I am going to try giving You Need a Budget another whirl. I let you know how it goes.

Goal 4: Update my budget daily. I have not been consistent lately about updating our budget. I go a few days where I update it daily, then stop for week (and even two weeks a few times) then go into this mad rush to update it again. I am going to set aside a few minute each night to update my budget and know where we stand each day with our money and our budget.

I thought about adding a few more, but decided to just keep it to these 4. This will allow me to be more focused and hopefully more successful.

2009 Blog Goals

I also want to set some goals for Gather Little by Little and my blogging business in general. Here they are:

Goal 1: Finish my Empty Cabin Media site by the end of January. I started working on the site in November and just don’t seem to me making the progress on it like I would like. I  need to get it done so I can begin promoting my blog consulting more.

Goal 2: Blog more consistantly. With Gather Little by Little this hasn’t been a problem. I write 5-6 days a week here on GLBL, but my saltwater aquarium blog has really been almost forgotten and my wife and I haven’t written anything for Review Mommy in a while either. On Gather Little by Little I’ll continue my current schedule of writing. For Saltwater blogger and Review Mommy I’ll write at a minimum 1 article per week.

Goal 3: Reach subscriber goals of 5,000 for Gather Little by Little, 500 for Saltwater Blogger, and 500 for Review Mommy. Doing this for Gather Little by Little shouldn’t be too hard, but reaching 500 for the other too will require some work.

Goal 4: Work with at least two clients per month under my blog consulting business. I announced recently that I started doing some blog consulting. Thus far I’ve received a number of inquires and worked with two different clients. I have really enjoyed the work and received really positive feedback on the consulting I’ve provided.

Goal 5: Double my current blog income. Each month my overall blogging income grows, some months more than others. For 2009 I really want to “hunker down” and double my current blogging income. Remember, my long term goal is to begin running my blogs and consulting full time. Doubling my current annual income will go a long way in that direction.

How did your 2008 goals turn out? Are you setting goals for 2009? If not, nows the time to start. Not a big goal setter? Just try one and see how you like it.  Any thoughts on mine? Add a comment, I’d love to hear what you think.

Photo by: Nrbelex