As April transitioned into May, we found ourselves more intentional with our time. Work was lighter, we made time to go on walks, and our friends understood when we opted to postpone our get-togethers.
I personally tried to focus on eating and sleeping better. My alcohol intake was limited to a sip here and there of Brian’s – I stayed away from having any drinks of my own. We intended this last month to be more easy-going, with the exception of completing an exciting house project. Unfortunately, for a project that was supposed to last 3 days, we have found ourselves dealing with one that is still on-going from the first week of April.
Ordinarily, we would try to figure out how to do things on our own. Because we were so busy and stressed with work in March, we decided to hire out to have our kitchen backsplash and flooring redone. Turns out, we should have done it ourselves anyway!
The company we hired ended up contracting a couple of inexperienced guys to do the work. Not only did the company have to hire a different (more professional) team to come in to correct mistakes, but they are now also steam-cleaning our carpets and pressure-washing our deck to clean up some of these mistakes. Lesson learned – after this experience, Brian and I are most certainly tackling reasonable house projects on our own!
Revisiting April 2019 Goals
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Brian will open a brokerage account
While he DID successfully open a brokerage account with Ally, Ally has still not transferred the money into the account after 3 weeks(?!?!)! Not only that, but Ally’s brokerage research portion and user interface is lacking. Brian is planning to close this account and transfer to Fidelity.
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Limit our social outings
Brian and I only had 3 plans set to visit with friends from March into April. We kept those plans and did not plan for anymore!
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Complete a house project
No, we did not manage to COMPLETE a house project (not for the lack of trying!), but we are currently in the middle of one. We are hoping to be finished this week.
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Catch up on sleep
Because things have been more calm this month, we were able to sleep better. This last week of April was pretty trying, though, as we were irritated at the state of our house and the lack of progress with our house project.
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Get outdoors
Without the blazing sun and heavy rain, we found ourselves heading outside to enjoy the weather. We ventured on a couple of walks, hikes, and strolled through some outdoor markets.
May 2019 Goals
Read 2 Books:
I seriously experienced pure happiness walking out of the library with 3 new books to read. This month, I plan to read through at least 2 of them.
Have a new experience:
It can be easy to get wrapped up in a routine, especially if you’re used to the mundane everyday way of ‘commute, work, sleep, and repeat’. Whether we decide to rock climb, visit a new city, or take a huge chance on a new investment, we are going to experience something new this May!
Complete a house project:
Not counting this on-going house project of new flooring, Brian and I have 2 more house projects on deck. We would like to paint our kitchen cabinets and construct some kind of drainage system along our driveway to redirect rain water and install landscaping gravel in the front and along side the house. We aim to do at least one of these this month.
Sell on eBay:
We purged our closets and have a handful of items we can list on eBay. Extra income is always nice!
House purge:
In addition to lightening our closets, we are going to sift through the rest of our house to see what we can unload.
We’re looking forward to entering the unknown: Tackling new projects, experiencing new adventures, and bringing in a little extra cash with what we have on hand. It’s nearly the halfway point of the year – time has flown by! We hope everyone enjoys their May!
