Happy Monday everyone! Welcome to another Weekly Update — I haven’t posted one in a couple of weeks, so I’m excited to share what’s been going on.
We enjoyed all the holiday festivities: Christmas, a second celebration with W’s family, and New Year’s Eve. We probably spent more than planned (who doesn’t around the holidays?), but it was worth the memories.
Thank you to everyone who reads my blog — I appreciate you and hope you’ll continue following along in 2013.
My weekly updates were very popular in 2012, likely because of the extra income reports I include. My Extra Income page also drew a lot of interest and I plan to keep expanding it. My travel posts were well received too; I recently created a TRAVEL tab (it’s a work in progress), so check that out when you can.
Below are some of my most-read posts from 2012 based on page views (not ranked). I wanted to share these again for anyone who missed them:
- My $38,000 Student Loan Payoff Plan
- Buying a House at 20
Here are a few Instagram photos from our trip to St. Thomas and St. John. The balcony photo below was the actual view from our room!
My updates
Spending:
We did well with spending since my last update — I don’t think I bought anything. I went to the mall to use a couple of gift cards but couldn’t find anything I liked. Ever notice how that happens? You have gift cards and then nothing appeals, which can tempt you to buy something you only might like just because you can.
Extra Income (this is extra income and does not include salary from our jobs):
I tracked only the first five days of January so I could start the year fresh and separate 2013 earnings from 2012. Last week I earned $868 in extra income and my sister paid $325 in rent, so I’ve made $1,193 in extra income so far in 2013.
That’s a solid start. Keep in mind the first week overlapped the holidays, so things were slower; I expect next week will be busier.
Food:
No formal meal plan this week — I’ve been winging it. It hasn’t exploded our food budget, but I’ve been a bit lazy about planning. If you have simple recipes or recent blog posts with ideas, please share them in the comments — I’m always looking for something new to try.
Being healthy:
I haven’t been great about fitness lately and noticed a couple of pounds since my last weigh-in. We still haven’t bought gym equipment for our small home gym, but we already own the Insanity DVDs and I really want to start the program. I just need to make myself follow through and begin.