November 2013 Goals Update

Let's see how we did in the month of November with our 2013 goals:

Here are our 2013 Goals: (in no particular order):

1) To not eat out or at least to not pay out of pocket, with the exception of tips. If we want to treat the family to a meal out, we will make sure we have a gift card to cover all of us.~ Did awesome with this:)

2) Pay off 2 credit cards~ We did it- we are so very excited. We paid off 2 credit cards in March- WOOHOO:) And we just merged 1 credit card into another with a super low interest rate. We are now down to making 2 credit card payments instead of 6:)

3) Not to use any of our credit cards for 2013. To pay cash for everything.~ Still doing great with this goal.

4) To lower our grocery budget. Our current grocery budget is $400 month for our family of 6. Our goal is to lower that amount and to save the remainder. We are still trying to get a feel of a good grocery budget out here. Some of the prices are higher than what we paid in Virginia :(

5) To create a monthly meal plan for our family, to use leftovers more efficiently and to make use of everything in our pantry and freezer.~ Doing great with this goal.

6) Lose weight- I need to get motivated to lose this baby weight- my goal is to lose 20 lbs this year.~ We are not going to a gym here.  I am riding my exercise bike almost every morning for 30 minutes and then doing an exercise video for 30 minutes that I checked out from our library.  I have 10 more pounds to go to get to hit my weight goal :)

7) Morning devotions, prayer time and more bible reading~ Doing awesome with this goal.  The church we have been attending gives weekly prayer guides to do at home.  I feel great when I get up in the morning with my morning coffee and dive right in to devotions and prayer :)

8) Monthly date night with hubby- whether we go out or stay at home, pop popcorn and rent a movie~ Didn't do any type of date night with hubby in November- need to schedule that as soon as possible.

9) To spend quality family time together. With everyone's schedule and us running all over creation, I would love to spend more quality time together- no TV- us playing games, talking, enjoying each others company. I think we are going to claim Saturday's as family fun day:)~ For Thanksgiving since we were home bound and sick, we played dominos, did puzzles with the boys and had a great time being together.

10) Not to use our dryer to save on electricity and lower our electricity bill~ With just moving, we have no clue what to expect our electric to be.  While our house is still on the market in Virginia, we are paying electric bills for 2 houses :( 

11) To make a better effort to blog more regularly and to make a blogging schedule~ Need to get better organized and actually make a blogging schedule and keep up with it.

12) To do 1 project a month and blog about it~ I need to look at the remaining months we have left and see what we projects we can do.

How did you do with your goals for November?