How I did on my January Goals (plus some for February)

I know it’s Wednesday, but I don’t have a baking recipe photographed and ready to share. So instead, I’m going to do a goal update.

January Goals

I had 4 goals for January (you can read more about them if you want).

1. Make Crackers

I get partial credit here. I made one batch of graham crackers, but that was it. I really wanted to try a bunch of different cracker recipes and get this process down pat, but it didn’t happen. I can put some of the blame for that on the black plague that took us down for part of the month, but the rest of the blame can be put on me. 😉

The graham crackers that I made were pretty good, but I can see that cracker baking is going to take some practice. Knowing how thin to roll the dough and how long to bake the crackers (so they’re crispy but not burnt) is something that seems to require an eye of experience.

I didn’t learn how to bake great bread overnight, though, so I’m willing to keep at this.

So, instead of learning to bake another thing from my list for the year, I’m going to keep working on crackers this month. If I find any really fabulous recipes, I will be sure to share them in Wednesday Baking posts.

2. Fix the cracked drywall

I don’t even get partial credit here. I didn’t touch that corner!

I did, however, talk to my very home-project-savvy older brother, and he suggested scraping out the cracked and chipped material and using caulk instead of spackle to fix the corner (a reader suggested that too, if I recall correctly).

This was very happy news for me because I would so much rather deal with caulk than with spackle. Yay! So, now we just need to get ourselves some caulk and we’ll be in business.

3. Set up a new college and retirement savings plan

I did great with this! I set up a college savings account through ING Direct for each of the kids and I also set up automatic deposits for their accounts each month. Right now we’re not able to put a ton of money in each month, but something is better than nothing, I say.

I also set up a retirement account through ING, and I’ve got automatic deposits going into that account too.

I’m so pleased to have this done because I’ve been meaning to do it forever! And I’m so grateful that we’re at a point where we are able to funnel more money towards these goals.

4. A little selling

I didn’t do well with this, but Mr. FG did! He and my brother listed a bunch of laptops on Ebay (they fix up broken ones and sell them), and Mr. FG also sold a propane heater of ours.

Joshua and I did list some of his Transformer toys on Craig’sList but we had no bites.

February Goals

1. Make more crackers

I want to makes graham crackers again, try a wheat cracker recipe, and make a cinnamon oatmeal cracker recipe that I made a while back.

2. Fix the drywall

For real this time!

3. Finish up our taxes

I use TurboTax, which I love to pieces. Looking at actual tax documents makes me feel uber-confused, but Turbo Tax makes it so easy! I can even manage to do my self-employment taxes without a problem.

I’ve got our return started, but I’m still waiting on a few documents to show up, and I need to pull together the rest of my self-employment records. I want to get this finished and filed before February is up.

4. Sell some stuff

Even though Mr. FG did so well with this, I still want to contribute by selling more of our un-needed items. There’s a small pile of stuff taking up precious real estate in our under-the-steps closet, and I want it gone! If you’ve got some Ebay/Craig’s List tips for me, leave ’em in the comments. I need help, apparently.

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Hopefully February will be a more healthy month for me than January was, and I can have a happy report for you at the beginning of March.

disclosure

Today’s 365 post: Aren’t my shoes cute??