October Progress & November Goals!

I have been so excited to write this post because I'm blown away at how amazing October was! I wrote earlier in the month about my grand plan for finance - one that I am actually going to stick to.

As a refresher, I only reach my goals with extra income. My regular paycheck covers my expenses exactly and then extra income through side jobs is where I can get ahead financially.

I set aside the $150 for upcoming weddings/travel right away. Easy enough.

Then I set to work on building my savings to $9,000, starting at $0. Sometimes starting from scratch is intimidating and any initial progress feels so small compared to the end goal. But the little victories and progress I made continued to motivate me to do more and that strategy certainly worked!

I can't believe these numbers but in just the first month I was able to save $2,484.53 in extra income!

This is certainly not typical, but a few extra circumstances helped this happen! Here's how I did it:

• October was a 3-Paycheck month
• My God-mother unnecessarily paid me for helping her recover from surgery
• I babysat for a family in NJ that paid more than my regular job pays per hour!
• KPR revenue
• Selling concert tickets that I would miss while in NJ
• Dog sitting on weekend
• A few babysitting jobs once I was back in MN

A small sliver of me was hopelessly trying to find an extra $15.47 to make it an even $2,500 but being simply thrilled at what I have is enough for me.

So what are my goals for November? Honestly, my expectations aren't outrageous. In addition to the $150 I save off the top, my goal is to save $515.47 to make an even $3,000.

It's a much smaller number than October but I don't have nearly the same amount of opportunities for November. I have a few babysitting jobs lined up already, starting tonight in fact. I'm also working to grow my client base for my resume business. 

I'm hoping to reach my goal of $9,000 by the end of April, 2014. Cheers to a new month and more progress ahead! What are your goals for November??