I’ve been meaning to write this post for two months now, but somehow it’s already December and the beginning of the third quarter of the year seems like it was FOREVER ago. A lot’s happened since then; here’s where I stood on my goals at the end of September.

The goals:

Money

1. Max out Roth IRA contribution for 2019

Status: in progress. Q3 saw some movement on this front, and if you follow me on Twitter, you know I recently (spoiler alert) completed this one!

2. Change my title and get a raise

Status: completed in Q1.

3. Find another source of income

Yeah still no.

Status: needs work.

4. Do two no-spend months

Also still no.

Status: needs work slash ain’t happening because it’s already December.

5. Reach a 48% savings rate for the year

In the first two quarters of the year I just barely had an average of 48%: 56% for January, 47% for February, and 57% for March, 44% in April, 38% in May, and 47% in June.

Q3 saw 28% in July, followed by the lifesaver of 61% in August, and 41% in September. Which brings me down to an average of 47% (46.6% if you wanna get technical) for the year so far. So I’m going to need to do pretty well in Q4 to get back up to 48% for the year.

Status: on track, hopefully.

Travel/experiences

6. See tulips in Amsterdam

Status: not completed, not for lack of trying in Q1.

7. Visit Sainte-Chapelle

Status: completed in Q1.

8. Do something/go somewhere new once a month

In July I moved in with my partner. In August, see #19 below. Also I carried a dresser six goddamn blocks home with my partner because it didn’t fit in the car, which hopefully was the first and last time that ever happens. Oh right, and then there were the couches… Moving resulted in some situations we’ll be able to laugh at one day 😅

In September I couldn’t remember having done anything new, but then I scrolled through my spending post to see what my savings rate was for that month so I could calculate my average. And I remembered that in September my retirement contributions exceeded my paychecks/other assorted income through the month like interest; obviously not my side hustle income, but I break that out into a separate line on my spending reports anyway. So that’s pretty awesome.

See also #10 below.

Status: on track.

9. Visit a new state

Nowhere new so far.

Status: needs work slash ain’t happening.

10. Visit a new national park

Status: completed Q2 since I counted the trip to Manassas. Q3 saw a trip to Letchworth State Park, which isn’t a national park but is goddamn gorgeous.

11. Go camping

Status: completed Q2.

Personal growth

Once again, it’s a lot easier to hit my money and experience goals than it is my personal growth goals, but some good stuff happened here, too.

12. More single-tasking

I’m not even sure what this means anymore 🤷‍♀️

Status: needs work. Lots of work.

13. Go to barre three times per week

Status: needs work. Moving throws a huge wrench into everything, and FinCon didn’t help.

14. Get back on learning languages

As of December 2nd, I have an 85-day streak on Duolingo, which means I started that streak back in early or mid-September!

Status: in progress.

15. Declutter my shit

I didn’t let go of a ton of stuff before moving like I wanted to, but I am slowly, slowly getting to things.

What even is the end goal here?—this was an extremely non-specific or measurable goal haha. But if you ask my partner I’m not done because I still have a box or three in the closet of assorted shit I need to go through 🤷‍♀️

Status: in progress.

16. Average a book a week

Q3 saw some reduction on the reading front because it turns out moving is a massive pain in the ass and a time suck, but I’m making up for that in Q4 (thanks, holidays!).

Status: on track (hopefully).

17. Go through A Simple Year

I keep forgetting about this one, whoops.

Status: needs work.

18. Add some more recipes to my usual rotation

I think my partner and I are definitely making progress on this. Sure, we also have tacos all the time, but I’ve repeated a few new recipes lately too.

Status: in progress.

19. Try something totally new/out of the ordinary for me

Remember that time I bought a bikeshare membership? Yeah, that’s completely out of the ordinary. And my habit tracker app says I’ve taken at least four rides a month (the amount to make my $7/month membership worth it versus four $2 single rides) since I started! It’s definitely coming in handy on my way home from barre, plus on the rare occasion I leave for barre from my apartment instead of work, it’s super fast to bike since it’s all downhill. I don’t love biking (and goddamn, hills are still hard), but I can’t deny it’s come in handy.

Status: completed Q3.

The verdict

Hey, I’ve definitely made some progress. Trying something new was a big one, since I’d spent a lot of the year wondering what on earth I would do for that one. Turns out I just needed to pack up my things and leave the apartment I’d been in for five years to find the answer to that!

It’s interesting looking at my Q3 status in December since it gives me a pretty good idea of which goals I will or won’t reach by the end of the year. But that’s another post for a few weeks from now!