Goals 2022 Update #4

Well this quarter rushed by quickly, along with the good intentions I had to catch up on all the goals I had planned for this year.  I did have other things on my mind this quarter, such as trying to get everything ready for Christmas and dealing with multiple car issues.  I'm sure if I'd really put my mind to it I could have come along much further, but where's the fun in that.

Financial Fitness

Getting our two sinking funds sorted out early on in the year couldn't have been more of a blessing for this quarter as we were able to do Christmas shopping for all our family without having to stress about money.  The sinking fund for the car also meant we were able to get the tyres fixed without too much bother, deal with a couple of breakdown costs, and have money to help with the deposit for our new car.  It definitely meant that an already stressful situation wasn't made even more stressful, especially around this time of year.  They will need to be saved up again, but it's been worth it.

Unfortunately our attempt to save up our four months emergency savings went out the window.  This was partly due to me working less hours and my husband not having the extra hours available at his work over the winter.  However, it would be true to say that our spending on food and other things we didn't necessarily need also played quite a bit factor in this.  I've definitely spent more money on crafting than I probably should have and whilst it has produced items that I use all the time I could have done without them to reach this goal.  

I also haven't managed to work out an additional income as I had planned to do.  I would have needed to dedicate some of my free time towards it to get it to work, but I was too busy crafting to do that.  I had set myself quite a few crafting goals this year, which I'm not doing next year which might make it a much better time to get that done.  I also haven't gotten around to changing my bank over to a more ethical one, though I have done all the research into it that I wanted to do and have decided that Triodos is going to be the best one to go to.  I still have a little time before 2023 arrives and I'll be off for part of that so that'll probably be the perfect time to make this change as it shouldn't actually take that long.

To end this section on a plus I have managed to pay a full year of pension this year and we've managed to end the year with our credit cards being zero.  In the last week of 2022 I'm going to have a real in depth look at our finances to get an honest idea at how we've been doing and where we've been sending our money.  There will need to be quite a few changes next year even just to ensure that we can pay our bills.

Sailing Around the World

We haven't been able to take any sailing lessons this year, but we knew that was going to be a bit of a long shot anyway.  However, I have been doing more research into electric motors on sailing boats.  Do I completely understand how they work - not really.  Do I at least have a better understanding - definitely.  Maybe sailing lessons could be one of our sinking funds for next year, but we'll see how that goes. 

Long Distance Walking

I've done everything on this that I had planned to do.  Our finances and fitness levels means that this won't be anything we can do anytime soon.  Good to have a distant carrot to work towards though.

Learning New Skills

We haven't managed to get any more surfing in this year, but we have asked people to put money towards surfing lessons for our Christmas present so hopefully we'll be able to get back to that soon.  Possibly another sinking fund.

The skateboarding has gone right out the window.  I am annoyed with myself on this one as I seem to get better at it each time I practice, but I'm just being lazy when it comes to getting up and giving it a go.  I'm not going to let this one go though as I'm still keen to learn.  I just need to make it a habit that we do.  At least my husband is also wanting to get back into it so that's a partner in crime now.

I'm aware that this year I did give myself a lot to do on both the goals and crafting front.  In fact, I probably gave myself a little bit too much to do and, though I'm disappointed I didn't get more done, I know that what I have managed to do is still good.  I am at least a little bit further forward than I was last year and that's the most important thing to me.