Hope for your financial life and beyond

2013 Goals Update – March Madness Edition

Just like Florida Gulf Coast and Wichita State (my poor Buckeyes…) busted many NCAA brackets, so was my Time Bracket busted this past month. March roared in like a lion and brought with it extra family activities that included:

MFF_2013_FINAL_LOGO

Image courtesy of CBSSports.com

After school basketball league for my son,

County rec-league soccer for my youngest daughter,

Easter church cantata play practices for my two oldest,

Renovations to be completed by April 1st on one of our rental houses, and

School poetry recital for my youngest son in K4 (that was a hoot!).

While extremely fun, all these activities ate into much of our down time spent at home. And while this past week was Spring Break for the kids and I, that didn’t cut down on the busyness. I had a ton of work around the house to catch up on, including several awesome manly activities.

So here is my update on where I am at presently with my 2013 goals…

Goal #1: Read through the entire New Testament of the Bible and the book of Proverbs by May 31st.

So far, so good on goal #1. I have read through the book of Colossians. My scheduled plan calls for me to finish the rest of the New Testament in April, which leaves me the book of Proverbs for May.

Goal #2: Pay off our mortgage debt by the end of the year.

It’s looking like this is going to be more of challenge than anticipated. The funds we were anticipating using to help pay down this debt have gone to some much needed renovations at one of our rental properties. And to top it off, this past week we discovered we most likely need to drill a new well at this rental property. The drought conditions in Georgia have reduced the level of water in our bored well to only 7 ft. That’s only about 100 gallons of usable water a time which is not really a workable situation.

In case you guessed it, a drilled well ain’t cheap.

So we will be spending the next three to four months rebuilding our emergency fund cash positions for our rental business and not diverting that money to our home mortgage.

Goal #3: To support Mrs. Luke1428 as she obtains her CPA license and MBA by December, 2013

Tax season truly is brutal. It has to be one of the busiest four months for any profession out there. All we are praying for right now is for April 15th to get here…ASAP! At that point, all returns not finished are extended and the frantic work pace levels out. And my wife gets her Saturdays back. Woo-hoo!

Goal #4: To run a half-marathon in under 2 hours, a full marathon in under 4 hours and run 1,000 miles for the year.

I finished part one of this goal on March 17th with a time of 1:46 minutes. You can read the cool details here.

Overall, I ran only 47.44 miles in March (I took a week+ plus off after the half-marathon). That puts me at 196 miles for the year, which is a little behind where I wanted to be at this point. Once I start marathon training in a month or so, the monthly mile totals will really pick up.

Speaking of marathons, I’m looking at running the Baltimore Marathon in October. I could just stay close to home and run Atlanta in October, but 1) Atlanta is very hilly, 2) my sister lives near Baltimore, and 3) I think part of the fun of running is traveling to new cities and experiencing the local flavor.

Goal #5: Redo the Luke1428 blog design by August, 2013.

This is a summer project once school is over.

Goal #6: Join a local running club by March.

Finished. Went to the first official meeting this past week and enjoyed myself very much. I’m looking forward to volunteering at local events and running with the other members.

Anyone pick the Final Four teams? Who do you think wins the National Championship Monday night?

I hope you enjoyed that post. Want more?
Sign up to receive my blog posts via email and get your free gift...
99 Ways to Spend Less and Save More

Privacy Guarantee: I will not share your email with anyone.

Comments

  1. You’ve got some great goals there Brian. I’ve been working on my financial goals lately, but now I should focus more on my personal ones as well.

    Good luck with the well. I hope that you don’t have to go too deep.

    • Thanks! The well is going to be WAY deep…probably 100s of feet. They drill down into the bedrock where there is pretty much an endless supply of water. We should never have a problem running out again.

  2. It was really fun to pull for the underdogs since Kentucky wasn’t even in this year. I guess I’m a little happy for Louisville. Good luck with your goals. Rental repairs can sure creep up at any time, but I still think they’re a good investment.

    • I agree Kim. Anyone who wants to get into rental real estate has to be prepared for repairs, even ones that are major. It’s just part of the business you have to accept.

  3. Sorry about the new well you have to drill =/ Hey, at least you have the cash to pay for it!!1 =) And I’m sure you’ll get right back on track with the mortgage prepayment!

  4. I’m not that into the basketball thing but being from Michigan I have to say, “Go Blue!” 🙂 Nice job with the running. I can understand the trip to Baltimore. Destination runs are always a nice change of pace.

    • Ha-Ha! Yeah…I see how you are…sticking it to a Buckeye fan 🙂 It goes against every fiber of my being to pull for that team up north, but it would be nice to see the Big Ten bring it home.

  5. Looks like you’ve made great progress with your goals overall. I hate it when things pop-up to derail goals, but that’s life, I guess! 🙂 On the plus side, having your rental property in good working order means that it can earn you money to reimburse those renovations costs and payoff your mortgage!

    • Your right…it is life and there is no reason getting upset about it. The drilled well was a no brainer as tenants have to have water. Ignoring that could get me in legal trouble as a landlord. It will improve the property long term as well.

Speak Your Mind

*