I’m going to be honest – I actually highly debated skipping this month’s income recap as it wasn’t the greatest. But, I want to look back and see how far we’ve come so here goes…
First, let’s take a look back at my November goals. Income goals were $3000 for John and $1800 for me but before I get into what we hit, I’m going to recap our other goals.
Business goals
Learn more about affiliate marketing. Eh, I’m going to say I half-way completed this. I’m constantly reading about blogging, making money online and how to make money from a blog. I didn’t really narrow in on just affiliate marketing, but I did learn a lot about blogging in general.
Get two new freelance writing positions. I wrote an article for Personal Income – 8 Creative Side Hustles to Bring in Extra Money and am hoping to hear back on another freelance position. I’ve also applied for about 3 more and am still on the lookout. If you need anyone to write personal finance articles, edit your blog/site or help manage social media, don’t hesitate to reach out!
100 Twitter followers. CHECK! I am at 149 Twitter followers!
Promote more on Pinterest. CHECK! I’m creating pinnable images for each post and pin to my own board plus a few other personal finance group boards.
Personal goals
Cook an incredible Thanksgiving dinner. CHECK! Thanksgiving was great! I missed my family in AZ a ton, but we had a great day just the four of us.
Wake up earlier. Today I woke up at 6:15 but other than that I slept until the girls woke up.
Spend less money. Huge CHECK! I said in October how we spent nearly $2,100 on food, gas and household items. This month, we came in right around $1200. That is a HUGE difference and we didn’t even feel like we were “missing out.” We actually signed up for an account on Mint.com and have been tracking all of our expenses. I highly recommend that site for anyone that’s looking to save money or stick to their budget. It links all of your bank accounts, bills, mortgage, car loan, etc onto one page so you can see exactly how much money is coming in and how much is going out.
Income goals
So, I said earlier John’s goal was $3000. While he was busy, he did come up short. I also came up a bit short of my goal of $1800.
John’s November Income: $2,565
Sarah’s November Income: $1,675
The good news is John is set to make a really good amount of money in December. He’s currently working on a huge job that he started over a week ago and will finish this coming week. He is also close to being fully booked in December, which is incredible considering business is usually slower over the holidays. I’m very proud of my husband and so thankful he is such a hard worker for our family.
TOTAL INCOME: $4,240
I will also say that we were able to save a few hundred this month due to our water and electric bill being very low and living cheaply. Thank goodness we added up our miscellaneous spending last month. Had we not done that, we would have been in for a big surprise with a $2,000 decrease in income from October.
How did your November look? Did you make more or less than you strived for?
Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says
atYou were super close in reaching your goal income and kudos to you for reducing your expenses! Yay! Our income stays the same for the most part. We spent too much on Black Friday but we’ll catch up;0)
sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
atYou’ll definitely catch up! Money is an interesting thing haha – I’m always stressed and I always want more (who doesn’t?!), but month after month we survive and save. I need to stop stressing so much!!
Chela says
atSounds to me like you had a pretty successful month! I’m curious how you cut your spending from $2100 to $1200? That IS a huge difference! Well done.
I’ve used Mint, but I don’t like that it always takes a day or two to update. When I check in on my finances I like to have figures that are current. I’m more comfortable with my own Excel spreadsheets 🙂
sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
atHi Chela! Thanks for the comment 🙂 I will do a post on how we cut our spending so much! But basically, we had wayyyy too many “random” expenses when it came to food. A big one for us was eliminated shopping trips at The Fresh Market (a produce/bakery/grocery store). We would go “just for cookies” a few times a week and end up spending $30+ per trip. Didn’t seem like much, but that coupled with buying whatever we wanted at the grocery store, my husband going out to eat and me getting coffee, it really added up!!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom says
atI’ve been considering switching to Mint for next year so thanks for the recommendation.
Great job on the spending this month!
sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
atThanks!! Hopefully we will be able to keep spending low in December!
EL @ Moneywatch101 says
atEven though you came up short for November income, its still a good income. As long as expenses are less and you can save the difference, that is progress in my book. Good Luck in profitable December.
sbrooks52111@yahoo.com says
atThanks!! Eh, income is OK haha. This is before taxes too, so there isn’t much wiggle room. But it was a weird month with Thanksgiving and my husband working a week on a job he’s still working on. Oh the joys of self-employment!!
Holly@ClubThrifty says
atAwesome job on your income- don’t be hard on yourself! You just have to keep at it for December. We all have bad months.