So the ‘blogging more here’ goal is not panning out very well. But elsewhere it hasn’t been too bad.

I’m working away on my goals of saving up for my NYC trip, as well as general savings – except now those general saving goals have more specific monetary amounts and purposes in mind. $200,000 towards a house and $30,000 towards a wedding[1. Not engaged yet, but we decided to both be saving for it.]. With those goals in mind, I’ve been picking up extra shifts here and there. Because I’m already full time, any extra shifts are automatically double time – and I’ve even managed to pick up a few shifts at triple time. My goal is to do 1-2 extra shifts per month. I was originally thinking 2-3 extra per month, but some months it gets a bit difficult with the fact that I just don’t want to and I want to have something that resembles a life. I’m hoping to do 1-2 this month, and then a few in April since I have time off (and no plans to go anywhere – yet). The extra money is nice, I shuffle it away into savings as soon as the direct deposit hits. Out of sight, out of mind.

I will also be halfway to my 6 month emergency fund goal this month. Because of the stability of my job, I’m not sure if I want to continue padding the emergency fund or not. I may shuffle extra money towards my other saving goals in the mean time since I don’t really need a full 6 months at this time – this will probably change when a house is actually a reality, or when I have children – mostly because emergency house expenses are just so much more than my current expenses are at this time.

As for my eating out goals/budgeting – so far so good. I’ve been keeping at or just under $100/month on eating out, and I’ve managed to keep my grocery budget pretty much on the nose. I budget $150/month for groceries and household goods (household goods being things like: shampoo/conditioner, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.), and have been pretty good on it. It was like the ultimate adult realization when I came to terms with the fact that if I don’t do the grocery shopping, there’s nothing eat. I have a tiny pantry stockpile of food for when there’s nothing fresh in the fridge – so like boxed dried pasta, jarred pasta sauce, canned tuna, condensed soups and the like. I also only buy meats now when it’s on sale, invested in a box of freezer bags, and portion things out. I could spend more on eating out or groceries, but the saving goals are more tangible to me now that there’s an actual purpose behind it and I’m far more focused on that. I figured as long as I eat well, that’s what really matters.

Works been going pretty well. Still striving to find the balance between work-family-friends-hobbies, so many hats to wear, so little time.