2021 Q3 Spending and Goals Progress

October 1, 2021 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, ebike, Financial Independence, fitness, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing

After moving in June I’m finally building up a new list of local cat-sitting clients. I’m settling in at my dance studio. I’m applying to all the usability studies possible. I’m no longer saving much money – but I’m still investing every month. I finished two challenges in September – reading and reviewing books as well as celebrating the National Day Calendar through Instagram.

2021 Goals Progress Update:

Goals for 2021	Q3 progress	Notes and Q4
Take floorwork advanced series	Not on the calendar for 2021	Keep checking the schedule
12 chin-ups	8 chin-ups 5 pull-ups Started doing 3x2x1 sets 3 times per day and varying types of pullups	Look into different types of training. Get advice from a professional?
1 handed pullup	Take that Dad!	Tried once and just swung in a circle – will research technique
Freestanding Handstand	Took 1 handstand (arm balancing) class at Ascendance	Schedule 1 handstand focused class
Donut making class	Only online	Continue to check back for classes
Mochi making class	Didn’t see any	I could try this via an online tutorial…
Handspring Ayesha	Took 2-hour workshop with Divine – learned good techniques	Schedule my 1-1 private as handspring, pullup technique, etc for 60 minutes
1000 lifetime ebike miles	390 miles in 2020 63 miles in Q1, 133 miles in Q2, 64.2 miles in Q3 July – 2.6 August – 39.8 September – 21.8	Bike at least 4 times this quarter (winter is coming!)
Take 500-lifetime pole classes	April – 463 May – 469 June – 475 July – 480 August – 483 September – 490	October – 4 November – 4 December – 4
Learn to walk in pole heels	I own a pair.	Take 2 classes in Q4 – Ascendance offers basic heels fundamentals
Floor Limbo?	Saw this at the Pokemon party	Research technique and bodily ability requirements
Take goat/bunny yoga class	No classes on schedule yet – table until the spring/summer	Still interested and will keep checking
Pole Expo/Convention	No local in-person events yet	Possible Divine retreat summer 2022 (figure out budgeting)
Corgi Con 2022	Postponed until 2022	Sad but the scheduling seems to conflict with other events
Build up $10k in my emergency fund	$7900	Automatic savings of $250/month – need 8 more months unless having an influx of extra cash.
Make $5000 side hustle funds	~$3428 so far	I can asily make $500 in December for holiday animal sitting. Reduce goal to more manageable $4000 for the year?
Career development – MDR training, RAPS2022	Watched some online webinars	RAPS 2022 is in Arizona 9/10 – 9/13 – in the budget? Value add?

In other news…

Painted Pokemon specific rocks

Put together R2-D2 and an At-At Lego model

Said goodbye to this cutie we boarded over the summer!

Went to downtown Seattle for Pokemon Go Fest

Harvested some giant cucumbers from the garden

Made it to the last level I’ll probably ever attain in Pokemon Go

Bought a second-hand stage pole for home practice (yay virtual classes and conditioning)

Crashed a cake tasting (I was invited) like I’ve always wanted to

Harvested multiple handfuls of tomatoes (there’s still green ones on the vine today)

I’ve been taking Lyra classes with my new studio Ascendance and I absolutely love them!

Joined in the fun at a Pokemon picnic party

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2021 Q2 House, Goals, and Progress

July 2, 2021 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, ebike, Financial Independence, fitness, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing | 5 Comments

I bought a house! I spent all of my cash monies and now I have to build my emergency fund and savings funds back up so I’ve added that goal to my list.

2021 Goals Progress Update:

Goals for 2021	Time frame	Q2 progress goal
Finish outlining Two for Tiny	6/15	Tabling this goal until I am back into writing
Take floorwork intermediate series	7/15	Completed intermediate series Signup for advanced when offered
12 chin-ups	8/1	8 chin-ups 5 pull-ups
Book inventory gone	7/15	Completed
First draft for Two for Tiny	12/31	Wrote two chapters, not interested in continuing at this time
Freestanding Handstand	12/31	No progress
Pass intermediate inversions at Divine!	12/31	Moved to Renton and tabling this goal as I will be taking the majority of classes at Ascendance
1000 lifetime ebike miles	12/31	390 miles in 2020 63 miles in Q1, 133 Q2 April – 46.7 May – 86.5 June – 0
Take 500 lifetime pole classes	12/31	April – 463 May – 469 June – 475
Writing conference or workshop	12/31	Pick or defer for the year. ECWC is virtual this year. PNWA 9/15 – 9/19
Take a doughnut making class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet https://www.raiseddoughnuts.com/classes
Take goat/bunny yoga class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet
Take a mochi making class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet https://www.surlatable.com/cooking-classes/in-store-cooking-classes/
emergency/disaster/community preparedness	12/31	Listed 3-day workshop was too expensive, check for other options
Tiny house show	12/31	No local shows yet
Pole Expo/Convention	12/31	No local in-person events yet
Corgi Con	12/31	Date announced 10/16 from 10AM – 2PM
Build up $10k in my emergency fund	12/31	$6500
Make $5000 side hustle funds	12/31	~$2800 so far

In other news…

My partner and I completed two housesits, caring for 5 cats and one dog in total

I watched some more cats for Rover/Meowtel

I tried out some new donuts from The Flour Box. They were good but overhyped.

I bought my first house!

I wasn’t planning to but I ended up planting five tomato plants and several cucumbers in my garden this year. They are growing like bonkers with this heat!

Reached the next level in Pokemon Go

I’m boarding a lovely cat for the next 6 weeks

It reached records temps in the area! 115 at the highest…

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2021 Q1 Giveaway, Goals, and Progress

April 3, 2021 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, ebike, Financial Independence, fitness, foraging, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing

2021 Book Giveaway*

Print Books available
1. At One’s Beast (YA)
2. Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things (Misc Lists)
3. Book of poetry
4. Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1)

*mailed anywhere in the USA
*books to be mailed in upcycled packaging
*20 copies available
*1 lucky and random recipient will receive a $20 bookmark

2021 Goals Progress Update:

Goals for 2021	Time frame/deadline	Q1 Progress	New time frame/deadline
Take a bookkeeping class	4/15	Not currently interested in pursuing this goal	Tabled
Finish outlining Two for Tiny	3/15	Worked on outline at Emberville class circle Chapter by chapter outline not fully fleshed out	6/15
Take floorwork intermediate series	7/15	Signed up for classes May 12 – June 16 Advanced series 8/18 – 9/22 signup if I can later this year after moving/not moving	7/15
Get to 12 pullups of any kind in a row	8/1	Have to build up my strength first – currently can do 5 in a row	8/1
Build a seed library and/or trellis	8/1	Not currently interested in pursuing this goal	Tabled
Sell/Give all physical book inventory	12/25	12 books gone in Q1, 66 remaining Inventory at FVP – donated	7/15
First draft for Two for Tiny	12/31	Outline not ready. Started chapter one to get the tone/feel and have 1500 words so far Would like to write 1000+ words/week on Sundays as I continue to flesh out my outline, characters, and settings	12/31
Handstand	12/31	Haven’t worked on, need to build back up my strength and balance Would like to sign up for a 4-6 week dedicated course like the Fit & Bendy offering online	12/31
Pass intermediate inversions into advanced inversions at Divine!	12/31	Have to build up my strength first – not even close to ready	12/31
Get to 1000 miles on my ebike	12/31	390 miles in 2020 63 miles in Q1, 547 miles remaining	12/31
Take 500 lifetime pole classes	12/31	458/500 – 42 remaining 39 weeks left in the year at 1 class/week to make this goal	12/31
Go to conference/workshop for writing	12/31	Conferences are online so far this year – not sure of the value Emerald City Writer’s Conference 10/15-10/17 PNWA 9/15 – 9/19	12/31
Save up 6 months of emergency savings	12/31	Met this goal!	12/31
Grow loofah	12/31	Not currently interested in pursuing this goal	Tabled
Take a doughnut making class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet https://www.raiseddoughnuts.com/classes	12/31
Take goat/bunny yoga class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet	12/31
Take a mochi making class	12/31	No classes on schedule yet	12/31
emergency/disaster/community preparedness	12/31	No classes on schedule yet	12/31
Tiny house show	12/31	No dates yet	12/31
Pole Expo/Convention	12/31	Not ready to travel yet	12/31
Corgi Con	12/31	Not currently scheduled for 2021, not ready to travel yet anyway	12/31

IMG_1342 (1) — St Patrick’s Day fun with leftover cake food coloring

Corgi butt sweet bread with chocolate center

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2020 Q3 Goals – Accountability, Check in, and Biking

October 2, 2020 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, ebike, Financial Independence, fitness, foraging, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing

Financial Independence Goals for 2020 Q3 snapshot

Max out my Roth IRA, 401k and HSA contributions = monthly deductions mean this happens automatically!
Build up my emergency savings to 6 months/~$18,000 = $12,300 in current emergency savings and $7600 in savings for car/computer/travel/phone
Save 50% of my income = less than 50% of my gross income and about 67% of my net income (only one month so far this year under 50% net income not including business income)
~~Don’t renew housing lease end of July (no rent spending 8/1 onwards~~ = change of plans. We have renewed our rent with our current house as travel and house sitting is not a good option right now. I will continue to use house sitting as an option for potential low-cost travel. I love looking for new listings weekly on Trusted Housesitters. You can use this link to get 25% off a membership at Trusted Housesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF286731/

I’ve readjusted my budgeting for the next three months based on my 2020 goals and my past spending for the year. No surprises that I’ve already maxed out my groceries category for the year as my ‘goal’ was too tight and not realistic for my current lifestyle. I’ve increased my budget for gifts, groceries, household and clothing, and misc while decreasing my budget for health, fitness, education, and transportation. My budget categories of eating out, travel, entertainment, housing, phone, and charity remain the same.

Notable spending:

I bought a TV for the first time in my life! Our old one (that I got for free) was slowly dying and it was time to replace it.
I paid to have my taxes prepared this quarter. It was completed towards the end of the extended deadline.
We received nearly one month’s credit for this billing cycle for our auto insurance.
We took a mini vacation to stay in a tiny home for the weekend!
I bought clothing for the first time all year (2 shirts for me, 1 for my partner, and 1 for my Dad).
I got my first haircut/highlights since March. I’ve since added thinning shears to my hair tools so I can better upkeep my short hairstyle between professional visits.

Fitness

Here are my fitness stats for Q3 of 2020:

Biking: 334.8 miles
Pole classes: 13
Other activities: Gardening, Beach Body Workouts!

Health goals 2020
1. Full P90X for 90 days! We did it! woot woot.
2. Lose 3% body fat (I went from 26% to 29% using the BodyScan measurement 01/19 to 06/20). Nailed it! I am down to 26.5% bodyfat
3. 5+ pull-ups any format (I purchased a secondhand pull-up freestanding bar) and can currently do 4 chin ups, 3 pull-ups, 1 wide grip pull-up, 3 narrow pull-ups. I have done 9 chin ups, 6 pull-ups, 3 wide grip pull-ups, 5 narrow pull-ups and have plans to get to 10 chin ups!

New Health goals 2020/2021:

10 chin-ups in a row
30 push-ups in a row
10 narrow push-ups in a row with top form
2 pole classes/week
Pass intermediate inversions test by my birthday (1/22)
Finish floorwork series by end of 2021 (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
Improved pike/splits stretches
Handstand?

Writing Goals for 2020:

Deplete my physical book inventory = Since there aren’t opportunities for in-person events, I’ve been running giveaways each quarter.
~~Break even on Ataxia and At One’s Beast = I met this goal in Q1!~~
Revamp my website = I haven’t made any substantial changes to my website yet
Write 4 short stories = I wrote 2 short stories thus far for two separate anthologies. The second story was published in the The Lost Train: An FVP Books Anthology
Send out 4 newsletters = I’ve sent out 2 newsletters so far this year and will send out my third shortly.
Publish a new coloring book = Haven’t made any progress on this goal yet. I’m still deciding on the subject material.
NEW GOAL: Finish outlining my new novel “Two for Tiny” and begin writing.

Deception Pass Day Trip with one of my favorite masks

Local author Ksenia Anske’s long awaited book she started writing on the Amtrak!

Physical copies of my books are still available at the Neverending Bookshop in Edmonds

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2020 Q2 Goals – Accountability, Check in, and an Uneventful Spring

July 1, 2020 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, ebike, Financial Independence, fitness, foraging, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing

Financial Independence Goals for 2020 Q2 snapshot

Max out my Roth IRA, 401k and HSA contributions = monthly deductions mean this happens automatically!
Build up my emergency savings to 6 months/~$18,000 = $10,200 in current emergency savings and $5800 in savings for car/computer/travel/phone
Save 50% of my income =
Don’t renew housing lease end of July (no rent spending 8/1 onwards = change of plans. We have renewed our rent with our current house as travel and house sitting is not a good option right now. I will continue to use house sitting as an option for potential low-cost travel. I love looking for new listings weekly on Trusted Housesitters. You can use this link to get 25% off a membership at Trusted Housesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF286731/

Here is an updated snapshot of my budgeting goals and how I’m meeting them. Red indicates going over the monthly budgeted amount and green indicates staying under.

Notable spending:

I bought a used ebike for personal and business use! $1000
I supported an IndieGoGo campaign for a few hundred dollars
I tricked out my garden DIY style ~$200
I bought a garage fridge for $220
I bought a pull-up freestanding bar and under-desk elliptical and inversion bench used for $195 total
I spent $75 on a 4-week nutrition and health program

Fitness

Here are my fitness stats for Q2 of 2020:

Biking: 36.5 miles
Pole classes: 1
Stretch classes: 7
Other classes: 4 Pilates classes, 3 handstand conditioning classes, 1 Alexander Technique class
Other activities: Gardening, Beach Body Workouts!

Health goals 2020
1. Full P90X for 90 days!
2. Lose 3% body fat (I went from 26% to 29% using the BodyScan measurement 01/19 to 06/20)
3. 5+ pull-ups any format (I purchased a secondhand pull-up freestanding bar) and can currently do 4 chin ups, 3 pull-ups, 1 wide grip pull-up, 3 narrow pull-ups

Writing Goals for 2020:

Deplete my physical book inventory = I sold and gave away several books in January and February but still have significant numbers of print books left. I will perhaps run more giveaways or do something creative like sell a book along with a free ARC reading or x amount of words edited.
Break even on Ataxia and At One’s Beast = I met this goal in Q1!
Revamp my website = I haven’t made any substantial changes to my website yet
Write 4 short stories = I wrote 2 short stories thus far for two separate anthologies
Send out 4 newsletters = 1 sent out 1 newsletter and am working on my Q2 newsletter this week
Publish a new coloring book = Haven’t made any progress on this goal yet. I’m still deciding on the subject material.

Here is a list of my accomplishments for Q2:

Run a giveaway
Sell more print books (half of what I currently have in inventory)
Give out review copies of books
Redo all interior files for Seize the Donut, At One’s Beast, Ataxia and push to all marketplaces
Create another niche coloring book
Read 25 books
Write 6 book reviews on my blog
Create a promotion and marketing plan for the rest of 2020
Write 1 short story
Send out 1 newsletter

The view from 520 Bridge as I bike home from Seattle on my new e-bike!

My first forage in the PNW! Juneberries, Huckleberries, and Salmonberries

My favorite new breakfast! Grilled Portobello mushroom with egg and cheese on a bed of spinach surrounded by strawberries

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2020 Q1 Goals – Accountability, Check in, and Future Uncertainty

April 1, 2020 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, Financial Independence, fitness, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, stretching, Traveling, writing

I’ve decided to move from monthly updates to quarterly updates… Here is quarter one 2020 update that encompasses January – February – March.

Financial Independence Goals for 2020

Max out my Roth IRA, 401k and HSA contributions = My HSA contribution is deducted automatically from my paycheck every month and my Roth IRA is automatically transferred at $500/month
Build up my emergency savings to 6 months = I have just under 6 months emergency savings currently if I were to only spend $2500/month. I want to build this up to $18,000 by the end of the year
Save 50% of my income = Due to travel in February and the yearly car maintenance in March I have spent 79% of my income, however; I moved all my business/secondary income outside of these calculations and if I were to add that back in I have spent 70% of my total income from all sources. Subtract again my HSA (part of my savings plan) and the amount spent is closer to 66%. Q2 should be even closer to 50% as I won’t be doing any leisure traveling or have extra car expenses.
Don’t renew housing lease end of July (no rent spending 8/1 onwards = this is a new goal that I’ve already started preparing for by gathering a list of friends and family who are willing to host myself and my partner starting August. I will also be working on a combined post-housing budget and look at our finances together. We have already joined TrustedHousesitters and had our first house sit and are now verified. Closer to the summer I will start applying to house sits starting August and planning out our travel and where and who we will be staying with.

You can use this link to get 25% off a membership at Trusted Housesitters: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF286731/

Here is an updated snapshot of my budgeting goals and how I’m meeting them. Red indicates going over the monthly budgeted amount and green indicates staying under. I have also shifted the budgeted amount going forward from previous Q1 spending over/under amounts.

Notable spending:

AAA membership $138 for myself and my partner but we share 1 car so now that I think about it, it doesn’t make sense for both of us to each have an account and perhaps I can transfer to another family member or cancel one of ours and get some of the extra cost back.
Health category has ballooned as I have increased the amount of supplements I’m taking and storing as a precaution. My recommendation is to have a 3-month’s supply of all supplements, prescriptions, and medications where possible.
My grocery/eating out spending was significantly low in March due to categorizing all ‘eating’ expenses while in Mexico under ‘travel’
My gifts category is high because I sent money to my family
My partner and I spent $1041 on car maintenance (he got us a discount and I got them to take off some labor costs for several hundred in savings from the dealer – always check the invoice!)

My business earnings have significantly decreased due to the COVID-19 and has since reinforced my determination to find more passive income sources and work-from-home earning potentials. Some of my mystery shops and usability studies are available online but most of my income came from cat sitting and dog walking. When I have the mental motivation I will check out editing/ARC/reviews as a secondary source of active income.

Fitness

Here are my fitness stats for Q1 of 2020:

Biking: 16 miles
Pole classes: 8
Stretch classes: 2
Other classes: 1 Booty class, 1 boot camp class, 1 Boudoir class
Other activities: 1 soccer game and several soccer practice sessions

What are my fitness goals for 2020? A new fitness/health goal each month… Sigh. I made a general goal that isn’t very useful and I’m going to scrap it.

Fitness goals 2020
1. Stretch class 1x/week and stretching 10-15 minutes at least 4x/week
2. Ab exercise 4x/week
3. Cardio exercise/class 1x/week

Potential weekly fitness schedule:

Monday 4/6

Tuesday 4/7

Wednesday 4/8

Thursday 4/9

Friday 4/10

Saturday 4/11

Sunday 4/12

Handstands exercises and conditioning 15 minutes

Abs 5 minutes

Cardio (biking, boot camp, etc) 15+ minutes

Pilates 60 minutes

6pm-Divine Stretch class 60 minutes

Abs 5 minutes

Lower abs 7 minutes with 1 minute timed ARAP sit ups: Lower abs workout for strong and clean pole inverts (8min follow along)

Cardio (Boot camp, biking, etc) 15+ minutes

Pilates 60 minutes

Weights

Abs 5 minutes

1pm-Divine Stretch 60 minutes

Cardio (biking, boot camp, etc) 15+ minutes

Writing Goals for 2020:

Deplete my physical book inventory = I sold and gave away several books in January and February but still have significant numbers of print books left. I will perhaps run more giveaways or do something creative like sell a book along with a free ARC reading or x amount of words edited.
Break even on Ataxia and At One’s Beast = I met this goal!
Revamp my website = I haven’t made any substantial changes to my website yet
Write 4 short stories = I wrote 1 short story so I’m on track for this goal
Send out 4 newsletters = 1 sent out 1 newsletter and am working on my Q1 newsletter this week
Publish a new coloring book = Haven’t made any progress on this goal yet

Here is a list of my accomplishments for Q1:

Ran a birthday giveaway
Sold several print books
Had 1 author tea date
Sent beginning of year newsletter
Wrote a short story for the WCPNW anthology
Redid my interior files to fix a typo and editing issue from For the Love of Donuts Book 1
Wrote 6 book reviews on my blog
Read 12 books

Here are my goals for Q2:

Run a giveaway
Sell more print books (half of what I currently have in inventory)
Give out review copies of books
Redo all interior files for Seize the Donut, At One’s Beast, Ataxia and push to all marketplaces
Create another niche coloring book
Read 25 books
Write 6 book reviews on my blog
Create a promotion and marketing plan for the rest of 2020
Write 1 short story
Send out 1 newsletter

Enter my Q2 giveaway HERE:

Green GF pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast

GF homemade pizzas with a mix from my favorite section in the grocery story (the squished can section)

What are your goals and how are you meeting them?

2020 January Goals – Accountability, Check in, and Birthday Freebies!

February 7, 2020 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Blogilates, Budgeting, Financial Independence, fitness, Goals, Local Author, Resolution, Traveling, writing | 3 Comments

Financial Independence

First month of the year and I have budgeted $2589 per month. I spent $3006.75 because I prepaid for my flight and half an airBnB for 9 days in Mexico City. I have budgeted $300/month on ‘travel’ and I put $100/month into my Savings goal in Capital One for ‘travel.’ This account currently has $1704.80 so I moved the $940 I spent from that account and back into my general emergency savings fund in Capital One which leaves a balance of $767.14 for travel. I moved the money into emergency savings rather than use the money directly for paying the plane ticket and housing costs because I had some excess cash in my checking account already to pay for these travel expenses. I don’t plan on many more travel costs for the Mexico vacation because I plan to put food costs into my eating out/food budget and anything that isn’t directly travel related into their respective budget categories for the month.

I bought a year’s subscription to Trusted Housesitters, a website where you can find houses to sit or conversely for people to sit your house and watch your pets while you’re away on your own vacation and trip. You can use this link to get 25% off: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF286731/

I had to renew my driver’s license (cost of $78 cash for my enhanced renewal) which was absorbed into my transportation budget category

I signed my updated will (cost of $30 at Pony Express).

I still managed to earn $120.23 this month that wasn’t related to my business.

I continue to spend more than I want to for food – both eating out and groceries. I only spent $46.41 eating out (we went out many times but it was covered by mystery shopping). I spent $479.20 on groceries. I have been keeping a close eye on what I spend for food, but we often splurge at the grocery store for unnecessary items (ice cream) or new and exciting items (Thai chili Doritos). I do save money by going to Grocery Outlet and combing through my favorite squished cans section and making bulk meals with ingredients like rice and dried beans. Part of the issue is my partner and I both love trying new foods and eating a variety of different meals. We don’t eat the same thing every week. I did spend an average of $763/month on food last year, so just reducing that number down closer to $500 is a win and will end up saving me nearly $3000 in a year. Ultimately my conservative budget of $400 is not going to be easy or very realistic for our current lifestyle (I buy most of the groceries and half of the bill when we eat out).

One way I decrease my spending is to not pay money for what I will already spend money on. For instance, I like to eat out several times per month and I get to do it for free or nearly free through Mystery Shopping. We went out to eat 3x for mystery shops which cost me $19.86 plus my time. I also recently was hired as a trade at one of my dance studios where I get paid to clean the studio in class credit. I have already saved up enough for 6 classes! We are also working on reducing our rent and housing expenses to $0 after our lease is up in July with house sitting. Finally, it was my birthday last month and I was able to get a free specialty pancakes from Ihop ($8.99 value), a free coffee from Starbucks (a $6.77 value), and a free pastry from Panera (a $2.49 value)

My business earnings for January were $546.24 (as some payments were pending and didn’t clear until February so the next month will show a much higher earning). I’m not sure what I will be paying in taxes so I will plan to set aside at least 30% of all that money and put it into my savings account at BECU, to save around $500 to have in the account at all times to pay for expenses. I did spend $27.75 on a bus card refill as I sometimes use the bus to get to clients’ houses when it’s snowing. A bus costs $2.75 for unlimited rides within a 2-hour window so I can usually pay once for a round trip. I opened up a BECU business checking account at the end of last year to use for my business financials because they have ATMs (I sometimes get paid in cash) and they don’t charge fees.

Fitness

I started stretching every day in late December and have continued every day (minus one day where I was in a pole class). I follow this Blogilates video and spend anywhere from 10-15 minutes doing these stretches after completing her 2020 challenge! After finishing this challenge I went back to the 100 abs a day challenge from last year and am currently on day 15. It’s amazing the noticeable progress I can see with 6 weeks of daily targeted stretching! I can almost place my palm on the floor when trying to touch my toes (from just barely touching the floor with my fingers before). I’m not sure my pancake or splits stretches have made much progress but I’m absolutely thrilled with my hamstring flexibility progress! I have also unfortunately mildly injured my right upper leg/lower butt? I’m not sure what I injured exactly as normal walking or bending over doesn’t make it hurt, but pushing my right hip up and out makes it flare up right below my butt and when I do the pancake stretch it hurts in that area. Now I cannot stretch my pancake but do the legs one at a time and gently stretch that side.

Here are my fitness stats for the month:

Biking: 10 miles
Pole classes: 3

Writing

I sent out a 2019 summary and 2020 goals newsletter
I signed up to write a short story for my writing group’s next anthology (haven’t written it yet)
I sold 12 print books from my inventory
I ran a giveaway and gave away 2 Donuts Books, 2 of Nichole’s Book of Practical Things, and 2 Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things
I read and reviewed 2 Indie books

Don’t forget to come visit me this February at the following event:

Come see me and get all of my novels this Sunday from 12PM – 1PM at the Enso Center Winter Marketplace! The event goes from Saturday to Sunday, but I will only be there for a limited time on Sunday. All four of my novels will be on sale for just $10 each.

Since my partner and I plan to move out of our house at the end of June and stay with friends, family, or in house sits we have to par down our belongings. This means that I have lots of items to sell and donate! I have to say goodbye to my glass jar and box hoard. We are Tidying Up!

Here is a picture of my homemade (from a gluten free squished bag chocolate baking mix) and cheesecake frosting with Taro powder as coloring that I piped myself!

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

2019 November Goals – Accountability, Check in, and 2020 Budget

December 1, 2019 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, fitness, Goals, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, language learning, Local Author, pie, PSO, Resolution, Turkish, writing | 1 Comment

Zero-Waste

I have a lot of household items to gift and sell and I’m slowly working through that pile. I was very happy to gift out half my jar collection so they can live another life before eventually being recycled. I went through all my remaining junk mail from the past two months and tried to get onto the do not mail lists for all of them. We receive so much junk mailing at this rental address!

Fitness

I’m ready to tackle another fitness challenge for the month of December after a very light November. I was thinking of adding in a daily focused workout that would be the same every Monday but different day-to-day. For instance I would do abs on Monday, squats on Tuesday, etc.

Here are my fitness stats for the month:

Biking: 0 miles
Pole classes: 3
PSO volunteer: 1 shift as pole cleaner

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,480 Anki cards. I’ve done 6,698 reviews. I have spent 6:49:08 reviewing with an average of 53 reviews per day. My grade is 71% C (same as last month).

I’m almost finished with Rosetta Stone! Unit 12 is much more difficult than the other units and I still have 6/39 left to complete. Then I’m moving on to my Memrise subscription.

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’ve been tracking my spending and savings closely since November of 2018. I’m automating my money flow and prioritizing how I spend my money and where it goes. See this helpful post and chart from Reddit on how to prioritize spending your money:

How to prioritize spending your money – a flowchart (redesigned) from personalfinance

I created my monthly and yearly budget for 2020 this month which I will probably share in my year-end financial breakdown. I also wrote down my financial goals:

Daily financial goals:

To love what I buy and buy what I love

1-year financial goals:

Max out my Roth IRA, 401k, and HSA
Save and invest at least 50% of my income
Have 6-months living expenses worth of emergency savings

10-year financial goals:

Be a millionaire in combined assets, cash, retirement funds

I read a really good step-by-step finances book that I recommend:

I absolutely love making, saving, organizing, and talking about finances. How is your budgeting and money tracking going?

Writing

I spent time every day until I hit 50k words this month writing for National Novel Writing Month. I even hosted write-ins on Mondays. I still have several chapters left to write in this draft and then I’ll probably switch gears and work on another project.

Don’t forget to come visit me this December at the following events:

12/07 at the Si View Holiday Bazaar in xx from 12PM – 4PM.

12/14 at the Artisan’s Holiday Faire at the Monroe Fairgrounds from 12:30PM – 4PM.

I made pies this year!

A pumpkin (both GF and regular flour) and an apple (both GF and regular flour).

I have seen more and more mushrooms out during my dog walks…

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!

Here is my September goal check in blog post!

Here is my October goal check in blog post!

2019 October Goals – Accountability, Check in, and $$$

November 1, 2019 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, fitness, Goals, language learning, Local Author, PSO, Pub Crawl, Resolution, Thrill the World, Tiller, Turkish, writing, Zero Waste | 2 Comments

Zero-Waste

I’m going to table this goal for now as I haven’t made many changes in the last several months. I continue to reduce my waste and be more conscious of my purchases, my buying power, and footprint.

Fitness

October has been a cold month. Every year I forget how cold I get during fall/winter season. I still walk dogs every Monday – Thursday for 30 minutes/day and get quite a few steps in during the week in addition.

Here are my fitness stats for the month:

Biking: 5 miles
Pole classes: 5
Thriller dress rehearsal: 1

Turkish language progress:

I now have 1,437 Anki cards. I’ve done 6,647 reviews. I have spent 6:46:56 reviewing with an average of 53 reviews per day. My grade is 71% C (same as last month). I have definitely been slacking on my daily reviews and will have to figure out a way to review them at the same time every day so I can make it a habit again. The good news is that I finished Unit 11 in my Rosetta Stone on time! Woot woot! I now have one unit left in my Rosetta Stone before I switch to using Memrise. Potentially I had this idea that I could have my partner (who is from Turkey and fluent in Turkish) only use simple Turkish in January or to speak in Turklish to me. He may not agree to this or remember to do it though…

My main goal for the year was to save as much money as possible! I’ve been tracking my spending and savings closely since November of 2018. Recently I’ve tried out a couple of budgeting methods/trackers and have found one that is similar to my spreadsheet style – Tiller. It links your banks and credit cards that push data to your budget tracking spreadsheet. You can input categories of spending and delete what you don’t want and add what you do want. My categories for bills include the following:

Rent
Phone (including my actual phone bill and any ‘itunes’ money spent for apps). I recently purchased a $50 gift card for itunes from my credit card rewards points to put toward these expenses, especially my monthly cloud storage bill of $2.99/month)
Car gas
Car insurance
Car maintenance and legal
Car – transport – misc (such as parking, tolls, ride shares and anything transportation related -not including travel- that doesn’t fit into the other car categories)

I have deemed my other monthly ‘bills’ as living expenses

Health (some of which can be reimbursed through HSA) and I made the decision to cancel my monthly massage membership at $69.99 + $15 tip each month as it wasn’t making me as happy as it used to and now I can save that money and occasionally get massages without the pressure to get them monthly.
Food – eating out
Food – groceries
subscriptions/memberships not covered under other categories such as my Costco membership (but I may collapse this category as AAA membership falls into car misc. and my WordPress hosting falls under writing. Perhaps my Costco membership falls under food – groceries?

I have labeled all my other expenses as Discretionary (if I needed to cut spending this is the category I would go to first and then reduce my spending in the living categories)

Travel
Housing/consumables (this is where I put spending like toilet paper, laundry detergent, toothpaste, as well as clothing)
Dance and fitness
Writing
Charity/art support
Entertainment
Education
Gifts (giving money directly and buying useful and loved gifts for others makes me happy and I decided that I would put it into my budget)
Misc. (there are always items that cannot be categorized adequately like raffle tickets)

I have several categories for work that are both income and expenses

Primary income from my day job
Mystery shopping reimbursement that usually has additional money as payment
Work-related reimbursements
Other income (from side hustles)
Mystery shopping (expense)
Work-related expenses (expense)

I’ve opened a high-yield savings account and placed my emergency funds as well as my short term savings goals (Travel, New Car, New Computer, and New Phone, stock options that expire within 3 years) into that account and plan to automatically transfer certain amounts into each goal every month. I’m still working on the automation part but I have all my goals (between Betterment and my new Savings account) configured and dumped my initial starting amounts in those goals.

I am going to open my own 401k and fund it fully as well as my Roth IRA for 2019 if I can manage it with all my savings for the year. The max contribution for a 401k is $16,000 and the max contribution for my Roth IRA is $6000.

For the month of October I had quite a few side jobs and earned a lot of extra income in addition to my monthly primary income paycheck. I spent 56% of my primary income and 36% of my overall income for the month.

I absolutely love making, saving, organizing, and talking about finances. How is your budgeting and money tracking going?

Writing

Happy NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month. I plan to participate, win, and eventually finish the first draft of the second novel in my Romance Writers Series. This second book features a pole dancer and I’m very excited to share my knowledge and love of this hobby/sport/profession/passion/creative outlet. Dancing makes me very, very happy and I’ve taking pole dancing classes since 2014. If you happen to be in the Seattle area this weekend and are at all interested, you can go to Pole Sport Organization’s Seattle competition!

I’ve been working September to craft a useful outline and I’ve done the most thorough job I’ve ever done with an outline. Though I haven’t really written in two years, I’m very excited to get back into the habit.

Don’t forget to come visit me at the end of November!

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

Thrill the World! I’ve participated since 2015. Every year I’ve been Zombie Waldo – with various accessories and different makeup. See if you can spot me in this year’s video.

My partner and I did something new this month and had mixed feelings on the event. We went to a Harry Potter themed pub crawl!

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!

Here is my September goal check in blog post!

2019 September Goals – Accountability, Check in, and the Big Disneyland Vacation

October 4, 2019 by rachelauthorbarnard in Rachel Barnard and tagged Budgeting, fitness, Goals, language learning, Local Author, Resolution, Turkish, writing, Zero Waste | 4 Comments

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:

Biking: 15.2 miles
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:

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.