2024 Goals

Happy 2024 everyone!

It's almost hard to believe that we've almost reached the end of the first week of the year. It's crazy how time just seems to fly by.

The good news is that DS finally went back to school this week. The bad news is that he needs surgery. The other bad news is that I'm now sick and I'm pretty sure (99%) that I have Covid. I felt terrible yesterday and went to bed at 9. Today I'm even worse. I have very mild cold symptoms, but the fatigue & sore body are overwhelming. I've had Covid enough times to know what the fatigue means. I slept most of the day and I'm going back to bed after this post. 

I only have a few goals to share, because BF & I need to discuss our plans for our future together. We're both on the same page about what we want, we just need to figure out our plan. Here are a few things I've decided on.

• Move! well, this is a no brainer & part of that discussion with BF.
  
  
• $600 (average) monthly grocery budget for 3 (DS, BF & myself). This includes HBA & cleaning products. I'm going to show BF how we can live well on a little. We're fully stocked on HBA, so there won't  be much spending in that category. I'm hoping to come in at $500 p/m, but the ever increasing grocery prices make it hard. 
  
  Heck, throw in another $100-200 per person to cover dining out/entertainment & clothing. That's $300-400 pp for food (meals at home & school/work. I cook from scratch, so there's no junk involved), dining out/entertainment, personal care (HBA), cleaning products & clothing. I can make it work 😉
  
  
• Zero $ clothing budget for me. We can probably do this for all of us, but I don't know what BF's needs/wants are in this category. DS & I don't need ANY more clothing. I mean it! I have so much stuff, I actually find it hard to spend the current rewards I have (that's a first for me 😂). I guess it's a good problem to have. The only thing I'll be on the lookout for, is new athletic shoes. I still have a few new pairs, but I need to find a new brand for when these wear out. So, if we need anything, it's got to be paid for with our sold personal items income. I really don't want to spend any other cash on clothes or shoes. 
  
  
• Our sold personal items also has to cover Christmas gifts this year. My budget is $1000 again. I'm a little ahead this year. I, once again, set aside $200 discounted Target gcs & have other gcs (I need to do an inventory of everything I have). 
  
  
• Save all my change, $1 & $5 bills. Not sure what I'll do with this, but it can probably help pay for vacation. I need a vacation this year. DS & I miss the beach, cause we didn't go on vacation last year. I don't plan on skipping vacation again this year. We're both very happy at the water. 
  
  
• Take full advantage of all drugstore deals this year. The drugstores (HBA & cleaning) will help offset those high grocery prices. I have a large amount of Wags rewards and I plan on rolling it into more. I'm doing the same with RA. I need to build up my BC (I only have a small amount from the BCC I earned), so I'll be buying more gcs to earn free money. My goal is $0 OOP at RA this year. Gonna be interesting to see how much I can get without spending any money. 
  
  
• Try to earn at least $10 p/m at P&G. If I can do it every month, then I can add another $120 to my Christmas fund. 
  
  
• Use CC points for discounted gcs to be added to Christmas fund. 
  
  
• Add all Rakuten checks (I'm expecting a 'Big Fat Check' next month, thank so all those 10-20% Rakuten offers) & rebates to Christmas fund. At this rate I'm going to have a big Christmas fund 😂
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• Earn as much as I can on point earning sites. It's hard to do since the offers are pretty much non-existent. I'm trying to maximise my Microsoft rewards searches every day. I've been slacking with that, but I'm determined to get back into earning again. Every $ counts. 
  
  
• Try to do a "Stockpiling items of the week post" every week, so others can stock up at low prices too. 
  
  
• Plant a garden. I missed doing it last year. There's nothing better than eating homegrown produce. 
  
  
• Less food waste. I already eat leftovers for lunch, but I'm going to try to do a lot better with this. This normally goes sideways when one of us are ill. I need to plan better for those times.
  
  
• Lose weight & maintain new weight. I'm hoping to reach my target weight by the end of the month. Yes, it sounds like a lot, but I know how easy it is for me to lose weight when I stick to my plan (not starving myself or cutting out carbs). I gained 4 lbs over the holidays (that darned dessert & cookies were too good 😂). Thankfully, I'm down 2 lbs since Wednesday. 
  
  

That's all I can think of for now. Have a wonderful evening peeps!