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Progress on goals

January 3rd, 2017 at 02:53 am

Had a lazy and off-kilter day today (probably just sad about going back to work tomorrow) but made some progress on 2017 goals:

- Attempt refi on US duplex if it appears home values are strong enough to give us 80% LTV
I checked on a home across the street from us that's sort of comparable (smaller but slightly better condition duplex) that's listed for $515K...status has been pending for about a week. When it sells I feel like I'll know whether a refi is possible in the near future.

- Explore possibility of selling lower unit of duplex to friends.
I posted these goals to a FB group and my friend thought I was talking about selling it to someone else...it gave him a fright and he said it was the kick in the pants he needed to send me an outline of the agreement he's been drafting. In response I emailed him all my concerns (including the ones about his back taxes and no renters' insurance). We had dinner together tonight and he briefly acknowledged that I'd responded to his outline but didn't say anything about the actual contents of the email. Hoping he actually responds and doesn't just ignore the issues I raised...that would unfortunately give me further pause about selling part of the duplex to him and his partner. We shall see...

- Continue home renovations:
Upstairs bathroom (complete redo)
Insulation for whole house
Save up as much as we can for kitchen (complete redo)
I did some brainstorming with a friend and later with NT and AS today about ideas for the kitchen reno. Although it's far in the future, it's going to be complex, so it's good to start talking about it now. We also settled on a color scheme for the upstairs bathroom (white tiles & walls with green accessories & natural wood accents).

- Re-establish nearly daily walking and no breakfast/snacks habits; get weight below 130
On Sunday I did 60 minutes on the treadmill and today I accumulated over 11,000 steps, reaching one of the stretch goals on the first real day of my Stepbet challenge. I was up 4 lbs. (from two weeks of bad eating and no exercise) at yesterday's weigh-in, up to 137, but feeling good about re-establishing good habits and getting my weight down again.

- Self-publish two novels (already written, need editing) and write at least one more
I asked AS if she'd be able to give my first novel I want to publish a quick run-through and give me some guidance, and she said she'd be able to tackle it in February. So I'll kind of set this goal aside until then; I do want someone to look at it (but not ready to show it to anyone but AS yet! although I thank everyone who offered).

I didn't make activism a formal goal but it is one of my focuses this year (and at least for the next four years); after the very ambitious protest at the Vikings game I've decided to leave my bank (which invests in the Dakota Access Pipeline) and join a credit union. I took the first steps today and hope to make more progress tomorrow.

This wasn't one of my formal goals either, but a couple of conversations recently have made me realize I need to start shopping for life insurance for me and my partners soon. I'm thinking I'll wait until Jan. 15 and see how much NT's raise is; that will help me decide what we can afford.

6 Responses to “Progress on goals”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1483444375

    I cancelled my Citi card that I wasn't using anymore because of the DAPL. Great goal progress for just two days into the new year.

  2. s nafu Says:
    1483487876

    Great work! Having a plan for bathrm reno is a huge step forward. Will this be DIY or contracted out? Do you visit model homes to examine how they put it together? Our big Home Improvement Shows are in March this year. I'll miss them as we'll be away. The last show was amazing, so many new products and new techniques. It was so huge we were totally overwhelmed. It needed 4 visits to have covered it all. I wished they'd film part as I can't absorb so much information in such a compressed time frame.

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1483493500

    Oh, contracted out for sure! This bathroom is so small that we pretty much want to keep everything basic and where it is--just nicer and with a tub instead of shower stall. Now the kitchen we're thinking big--like maybe walling off one of the doorways! But that'll be a long ways out because we want to basically tear it down to the studs and start over.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1483500040

    Which Stepbet are you in?

  5. ceejay74 Says:
    1483501126

    It didn't give me an option; just assigned me one. Is that normal? It's called "Super Steppers" and runs through Feb. 5.

  6. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1483534229

    Maybe for new people, but I chose all the ones I've done so far. I'm in Fitbit for Weight loss - Fitbitten, which ends January 29.

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