If there is anytime to regain our footing, that time is now. What a mess of a month. Truthfully, we started off July pretty strong. Brian and I tried to slow down a bit while on vacation; we read some books, enjoyed family time, and ate to our hearts’ content. And then, as quickly as we left work behind, we were faced with it two-fold.
Between intense work schedules, an unexpected (but exciting!) investment, a near offer on a house, planning for a bachelorette party, and trying to plan for Italy…we barely had any down time! It’s not to say that these weren’t great experiences, but we can certainly go for a breather. I don’t think I have slept comfortably for more than 6 hours any night this past month. We HAVE to make some time for ourselves in August.
Revisiting July 2019 Goals
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Clean & set up our deck
Couldn’t do it! We ran out of energy (and time) again! Personally, I feel sad every time I look at the deck. We only got a year out of it before it got trashed by the contractors. I know we just have to set aside a day to do some serious scrubbing and retouching. Hopefully, it won’t be too much of a pain to get the tile dust out of the wood…I would love to be able to spend time on our deck before the summer ends. Especially since we JUST got it all repainted and set up last year.
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Finalize Italy plans
We’ve nearly run out of time to plan for our trip. Yikes! Brian and I attempted to plan our trip with a travel agency, one that my family had used in the past. Unfortunately, after weeks of corresponding and price comparison, we determined late last night that the trip would be more affordable for us to plan on our own!
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Have a low expense month
We kept a handle on our finances this month! Our entertainment budget was limited to tasty bowls of pho and at-home beverages!
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Get invested
Brian decided to keep his brokerage account with Ally. He did some reading and found a few companies to invest in!
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Mini to-do lists
We had a good run with to-do lists for the first week. However, after the chaos hit, we SERIOUSLY struggled with keeping ourselves above water. I will say that our first few attempts were successful. Brian and I would cross off what we accomplished, which kept us motivated and looking ahead.
August 2019 Goals
Finalize our Italian Adventure:
Now that we’ve decided forego a travel agency, Brian and I need to hustle to get our plans situated for Italy! We fly in and out of Milan. While we originally planned to hit the north and travel down to the south, we decided to change up our route and fly from Milan to Palermo, Sicily for our first day! We have already booked our Palermo portion of the trip.
To save on costs, we are utilizing reward points, staying in Airbnbs, and visiting more off-the-beaten path sites. Personally, I am beyond thrilled to be visiting the Catacombe dei Cappuccini!!
Spend some time on ourselves:
When life gets busy, it’s easy to fall into the rhythm of putting yourself last. Have a deadline? Let’s pull a couple of all-nighters! Celebrating friends and family? Let’s make sure we’re there! Need to work overtime? Roger that! Life has been one chaotic thing rolled into another lately. We are going to make sure we take some time for ourselves this month!
Prepare to fund my 2020 IRA:
I like to get a head start on my investments. Since I cannot fund my 2020 IRA until January 2020, I like to stow extra funds in one of my Synchrony High Yield Savings Accounts.
Make easy, bulk meals:
Because we’ve been so busy, bulk meals will help us enjoy more time together! Easy prep and easy clean up for more time on whatever else we want to focus on!
Get our house prepped for the market:
Lastly, we decided to move on from our home. We originally intended to hold onto this house as a rental property, but have since decided to sell and use the funds for other investments and a new home for ourselves. Other than a little curb appeal and a new AC, we don’t have much we need to work on. Here’s to a new adventure.
If there is anything I’ve learned from July, it’s to love fiercely and live slowly. I am forever grateful for my family, who constantly answer my phone calls (as annoying as I can be) and are always there for me. To our friends, who we build years of adventure, laughter, and love with – you guys are great. Truly. July has been a month. We are SO looking forward to getting on with August and enjoying the rest of summer. Here’s to planning for Italy and everything else we have to celebrate. We hope all of you enjoy yourselves this month. Cheers!
