Zero-Waste

I’ve lost a lot of steam on the zero-waste front.

Fitness

September was a slow month. I was prepping to go on vacation. I went on vacation. I got sick after vacation. The month ended.

Here are my fitness stats for the month:

1. Biking: 15.2 miles
2. Pole classes: 1

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,347 Anki cards. I’ve done 6,406 reviews. I have spent 6:35:48 reviewing with an average of 53 reviews per day. My grade is 71% C.

I’m behind again on my Rosetta Stone… I’m trying to finish Unit 10 this first week in October. I fell behind due to a vacation that lasted 1/3 of the month.

I’ve decided to focus only on the Rosetta Stone Units until I finish (there are only 12), while continuing to input my vocabulary into Anki and reviewing daily. When I finish Rosetta Stone I will begin my Memrise in earnest!

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I have been working the last few weeks with a financial coach. I decided to move most of my money into a Betterment account instead of working with an investing company. I am taking charge of my money, my savings, and my retirement.

Here are my goals in Betterment:

1. Main retirement with my Roth IRA (already $16,000 in the fund and 30% funded for the year). Here is some info about the growth of my IRA according to my age and the amount I would potentially fund each year. In order to contribute the max $6000 each year to this IRA, I will budget $500 to come out of my monthly income starting January of 2020. Before the end of 2019 I plan to take $4000 out of my savings and put it directly into the IRA in order to max out my contribution allowance for 2019.

2. General investing… This is for any leftover income from the month I didn’t factor into my budget. I plan to grow this pot of money for many years.

3. Safety Net… This is a fund I want to build out to 6 months’ worth of living expenses ($12,000 with my current spending habits).

4. New Home… Eventually I want the option of purchasing a home and this would be the down payment. I plan to contribute $70,000 over the course of 10 years.

5. Care for Parents… Just in case… I plan to contribute $70,000 over the course of 10 years.

6. Travel… I plan to save $2000 for travel in a year.

7. New Phone… My current iPhone Xs (which I absolutely love) is one year old and I plan to have enough funds to purchase a new phone for around $900 in a year. I don’t expect to purchase a phone in one year, but I want        to have the funds available should I need to buy a new one or have the inclination when the new models come out next September.

8. New Computer… I use two desktop computers and they are both over 4 years old. My laptop was a refurbished Surface Pro that I got over 5 years ago. All three of these devices have started to show signs of aging and eventually I would like to purchase a high end laptop that I can connect to my wonderful dual monitors. I plan to save $1200 in one year. I will probably only buy a new computer when my laptop no longer works sufficiently (the battery still lasts 5 solid hours now). I will probably continue saving every month until I actually buy a new computer.

9. New Car… I sold my car last month. My partner and I are sharing his VW GTI – which has everything I want in a car: reliability and seat heaters. Joking aside, we eventually might want or need two cars again or to replace his car so I’m saving $12,000 over the course of two years .

10. My final goal is to purchase the equity I have in the company I work for. The equity I own has various purchase prices and deadlines but I made a goal of saving $23,681 over the course of 3 years to purchase the first stocks that would expire.

My savings plans for all the above goals involve saving and contributing the full amounts, but I hope my money will work with me and generate additional interest on top of my contributions so my money will go farther when I’m ready to pull it out and spend it. I will also re-evaluate these goals every few months. My 11th financial goal is to get my savings to work for me as well and to open a high yield interest savings account and put the rest of my ‘cash’ money into it.

In case you were wondering what I actually spent in September… Here are the stats: I spent 59% of my day job income and 49% of my income overall for the month of September. I was surprised that I was able to earn as much side income during this month as I did since I was out of state and on vacation for 10 days. I made a few changes to my monthly budgeting. I thought it was prudent to make a new category for “education” expenses as well as “gifts.” This reduced the amount of miscellaneous expenses I couldn’t fit into other categories.

Want to know where I am under budget for the year? Writing, Clothing (not a category anymore as I collapsed it into ‘household’), Health, Fitness, Education, Groceries, Household, Travel, Entertainment, Car, Housing, Phone, Misc, Charity. There are still three months in the year left to go though! More importantly, here are the categories I’m already over budget on: Eating Out and Gifts.

Writing

I signed up for three sales events for 2019:

11/29 at the Holly Jolly Holiday Market at Thomas Family Farm in Snohomish in the morning.

12/7 at the Si View Holiday Bazaar in the afternoon.

12/14 at the Artisan’s Holiday Faire in the Monroe Fairgrounds starting midday.

Will I ever actual get to writing? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll rustle up some time and motivation for NaNo this year. I do want to finish my contemporary romance book (and eventually series) that is already started.

Disneyland!

I spent quite a few hours preparing for our big Disneyland vacation this year and it went really well! I’ll leave a few of my favorite photos here. If you are planning to go, make sure you get a reservation at Oga’s Cantina, ride in the front of every roller coaster you can (especially the ones with pictures), go back at night and during the day to Guardian’s of the Galaxy in DCA, and get the mint julep and beignets from the Julep Bar.

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Here is my April goal check in blog post!

Here is my May goal check in blog post!

Here is my June goal check in blog post!

Here is my July goal check in blog post!

Here is my August goal check in blog post!

As a combination money-saver, stress-reducer, and positive environmental impact I’ve sold my car! I’m attempting to utilize my bike, electric bikes/scooters, and ride-sharing more.

Do you have any other ideas I should consider to reduce my waste?

My goal this month was to follow the Blogilates Glutes challenge. I also followed the Blogilates abs and squats challenges as well. I did modify the challenges by taking Wednesdays off and towards the end of the month I took a few days off as well so that I have 5 more days of challenge to finish in the month of September to complete the three challenges.

Here are my fitness stats for the month:

1. Biking: 74.6 miles
2. Pole classes: 4

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,299 Anki cards. I’ve done 5,771 reviews. I have spent 6:05:12 reviewing with an average of 52 reviews per day. My grade is 68% D. It appears some data was lost as my time and reviews has gone down since last month. I’ve also missed a few days’ reviews this month.

I fell behind in my Rosetta Stone and have to catch up to finish Unit 9 this week! I will also have to work extra diligently to complete Unit 10 this month since I will be “on vacation” for 10 days.

I purchased a yearly subscription to Memrise and will start incorporating daily practice with that app. I also have been utilizing the daily lesson in Mondly (free).

I tried out a Skype session with a live person from Turkey to see how personalized lessons would work. I wasn’t thrilled with the technology of Skype and it was difficult to understand the trainer at times. The sound quality left something to be desired as well. I don’t think continuing is worth the price at this time. Perhaps I will consider it again when I have finished all the Rosetta Stone units.

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’m doing this by earning more money, spending less money, and investing the money that I do have. Here is my monthly budget spreadsheet:

After getting my car in tip-top shape (replacing the timing belt), I sold it! Here are the final cost stats: $249.67 each month to legally own and drive my own car 🙂 – this is equivalent to paying $0.26/mile!

My writing goals!! I am considering self-publishing my middle grade fantasy that has been sitting for several years. I would want this to be published in time for the holidays and holiday sales. This would be my only middle grade book and I could then have an offering for younger readers. I also am in love with the cover art – I had it made by an artist whose work I adore = Donavon.

I nabbed three books from the library on plotting:

1. 90 Days to your Novel
   A Day-by-day Plan for Outlining & Writing your Book
   by Domet, Sarah
2. Fast Fiction
   A Guide to Outlining and Writing A First Draft Novel in Thirty Days
   by Jaden, Denise
3. Take Off your Pants!
   Outline your Books for Faster, Better Writing
   by Hawker, Libbie

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Here is my April goal check in blog post!

Here is my May goal check in blog post!

Here is my June goal check in blog post!

Here is my July goal check in blog post!

I’ve discovered more local fruit that I can forage! It’s raspberry season now and there are a lot of plums that are ripe. I believe that I have a mini plum tree in my own front yard! I also know of a location of a very productive plum tree and they are almost perfectly ripe! My housemate has a dehydrator that I played around with to dry out pineapple, apple, banana, orange, raspberry, and plum, as well as make some fruit leather. I can’t wait for the apples and pears to ripen so I can dry out a whole batch of them. I wonder how long they will last in my jars? Is there something I can do to make them last longer? I’ve also found some already ripened blackberries and have frozen a bunch and juiced some more. I’ve been making my own blackberry vinaigrette with them. The juice I made was a complete mess, but the juice is thick and delicious! If I can juice the blackberries in a larger volume and de-seed it, I can freeze it to use later in the year. Maybe I’ll make blackberry ice cubes?

I’m uncertain, but are these golden raspberries?

Do you have any other ideas I should consider to reduce my waste?

My goals this month were to bike at least 25 miles, take 4 dance classes, and do 4 strength training workouts. I met all three of these goals!

I went to exactly 5 pole classes, biked a total of 50.3 miles, and did 4 strength training sessions. Go me!

My goal in August is to follow the Blogilates Glutes challenge. I also want to throw in the abs challenge again.

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,274 Anki cards. I’ve done 5,898 reviews. I have spent 6:07:28 reviewing with an average of 56 reviews per day. My grade is 72% C. I stopped adding so many new vocabulary words and want to focus on phrase building and grammar. I’m trying to find a course or tutor but it’s difficult as Turkish isn’t taught in all the schools around here. Any recommendations for a language learning program? I downloaded a few more apps to try out, like Mondly. I should be spending more time daily on my language learning but am having trouble figuring out what to study and how to study it without a strict follow-along type course such as my Rosetta Stone lessons. Speaking of Rosetta Stone, I’m now ready to start Unit 9! There are only 12 units in my Rosetta Stone but that seems silly. Shouldn’t there be more? I will have to find out if the course continues beyond what my app has downloaded.

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’m doing this by earning more money, spending less money, and investing the money that I do have. Here is my monthly budget spreadsheet:

After watching the millennial money on CNBC and the Graham Stephan Show React videos like this one, I decided to make a chart of my average monthly spending (an aggregate over the last 6 months):

My writing goals!! Sigh. Remember how fired up I was about accomplishing some of my writing goals? Well, I didn’t do a single thing towards accomplishing them in July. I still just don’t want to and I guess my focus really is elsewhere. When I have free time, I’d rather be outside, work out, take a pole class, watch a movie, or read a book. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick it back up in November with NaNoWriMo. I’ll still check in on my writing, but I won’t have high expectations for now.

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Here is my April goal check in blog post!

Here is my May goal check in blog post!

Here is my June goal check in blog post!

I found a wonderful boxed cinnamon roll mix that was fabulous!

I’ve been making more GF avocado toasts! I just take two plain rice cakes and spread with fresh avocado. I like to top them with a pinch of sea salt and pepper.

This year I finally made it out to the Seattle Street Food festival and had the best corn of my life and the worst donuts (Hot Revolution Donuts) of my life. We also tried out some dumplings from Kathmandu MoMoCha that were good.

I’ve been testing out my Eco-Nuts laundry detergent and I think I love them! I accidentally left the small cloth bag in my laundry full of nuts and it went through the dryer… but other than that they have worked amazingly!

Sadly, most of my seed starts have died but I have three small tomato plants, 3 squash humps (with 2-4 plants in each), 2 zucchini humps (with 2-3 plants in each), a cucumber hump (with 2-3 plants in it), and turnip leaves growing! I don’t think the carrots I planted made it since I don’t see any sprouting above ground. My indoor basil plant is dying and the plants in a jar (basil and mint) both died. I’m really hopeful that my squash, zucchini, and cucumbers will grow this summer though. I have also been scouting out possible foraging opportunities with the Falling Fruit app but have so far had no luck finding cherry or plum trees. I also am unsure when cherries are in season around here… I do have my sights set on a local plum tree (not listed on the app) and have been checking their ripeness weekly. I hope to dehydrate/dry the plums I pick.

On my travels out of state I was not particularly zero waste, sadly, but it got me thinking about the difficulties in reducing single-use items while traveling.

Do you have any other ideas I should consider to reduce my waste?

As far as fitness goals go: Though I signed up to participate in the Blogilates June Summer Sculpt program, I quickly ditched it as I was incredibly busy the first few weeks of the month traveling and taking a class for work. I want to take more dance classes in July and bike over 25 miles (hopefully some of those miles will be biked instead of driven).

I reached a landmark progress goal in my pole-dance career on 6/25 this month!

1. Total pole classes I’ve taken: 388

2. Total years spent poling= 5 (with a year break between pole 101 graduation and my next class)

3. Total money I’ve spent on pole classes: $6,546 (average of $17/class)

4. Total hours spent poling in classes: 616.5 hours = 25.7 days = 36,990 minutes

5. Total instructors I’ve had: 34

6. Total studios I’ve gone to: 11

I’ve performed in front of audiences three times!

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,176 Anki cards. I’ve done 4,537 reviews. I have spent 4:58:46 reviewing with an average of 56 reviews per day. My grade is 67% D.

July 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 8 finished, word of the day in Anki, Rosetta Stone in Anki, Grammar study
August 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 9 finished, word of the day in Anki, Rosetta Stone in Anki, 100 Anki common Turkish vocabulary
September 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 10 finished, word of the day in Anki, Rosetta Stone in Anki, Grammar study
October 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 11 finished, word of the day in Anki, Rosetta Stone in Anki, 100 Anki common Turkish vocabulary
November 2019: Rosetta Stone Unit 12 finished, word of the day in Anki, Rosetta Stone in Anki, Grammar study, take a placement test

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’m doing this by earning more money, spending less money, and investing the money that I do have. Here is my monthly budget spreadsheet:

My writing goals!! I wrote out a month-by-month plan to accomplish my writing goals.

July – Sell 1-2 At One’s Beast books for at least $11 to break even. Sell 1 Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things over $1.04 to start making a profit. Sell 1 Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams book over $1.64 to start making a profit. Redo the draft on my children’s picture book. Perhaps collaborate? Research illustrators and publishers for the book. Update to my author website.

August – Send out Flora to a new beta reader and get feedback. Find a geneologist to comment on the geneology aspects of the book and add in more genetics background for the magic. Research publishers to send Flora out to. Plan book specials for the fall/winter online.

September – Outline Aster & Tilde 5-book series completely. Re-read Aster & Tilde book 1 and edit according to the master outline

October – Write every day and work on Aster & Tilde Book 2

November – Participate in NaNoWriMo and finish writing Aster & Tilde Book 2

December – ??

What are your goals and how are you meeting them this month?

Here is my January goal check in blog post!

Here is my February goal check in blog post!

Here is my March goal check in blog post!

Here is my April goal check in blog post!

Here is my May goal check in blog post!

Maple Valley Days annual volunteering/book-selling event 

Donut adventures in Los Angeles, California

Veggie Fest in Redmond

Indie Author Night at Brick & Mortar Books

Stars Wars in Concert!