December Goals, Pictures From Joshua Tree and Red Rock Canyon, and Life Update

Even though November was a great month overall, it was VERY expensive. The traveling we did wasn’t too expensive mainly thanks to credit card rewards, but due to rock climbing and buying all the gear we wanted, everything added up quickly.

Thankfully I think we are done buying things for now, so rock climbing will be a fairly cheap sport for us until we need to replace what we need.

We also just received our annual property tax bill, and that’s not a pretty sight either. I won’t lie, I completely forgot about this until I received the bill. Personal finance blogger fail right here.

Also, one major thing we do need to do this month is decide on our health insurance. Our current health insurance plan expires soon. Instead of paying $191 for health insurance with a crazy high deductible ($12,700), we now get to pay around $350 a month for the exact same plan because of health insurance increases. How much do you pay for health insurance? I know it varies, but I would love to hear what others pay.

November Goals Update

• Work out! PASS! This goal has been going very well. We have been going to the climbing gym around 3 to 4 times a week, and for around 2 to 3 hours each time. It’s a great workout and it’s a lot of fun. I look forward to it every time.
• Work ahead on MakingSenseofCents posts. PASS. I’m doing okay with this. I’m one week ahead, which isn’t amazing, but it is better than usual.
• Eat in 4 days a week. PASS. We still aren’t doing fantastic in this area, but we are doing better. I made a meal plan for this week and already went grocery shopping. We only seem to be going out to eat after we go to the climbing gym. We usually get sandwiches after from Jimmy John’s, so it’s not too terribly expensive but it is something we need to improve on.
• Successfully complete a 5.10a at the rock climbing gym. PASS. I did this one as well! I did my very first 5.10a on the 29th on my very first try. I’m definitely not an expert rock climber but I’m having fun and learning a lot, so I am happy with myself. I recently published an article related to rock climbing if you are interested in hearing more as well – How I Conquered My Fear and Went Rock Climbing Outdoors in Joshua Tree National Park.

December Goals

• Work out! This will be an easy goal now because of indoor rock climbing, but I like having it on here since I went months (maybe years) with this being a major FAIL.
• Work ahead on MakingSenseofCents posts. I am still working on this. After December is over, I would like to be one month ahead with my more beefier posts. Of course, some posts cannot be done ahead of time such as with my life update posts and my monthly income posts. Another goal that is related to this is that I would like to complete going through my old blog posts. I am trying to format and replace bad pictures on old blog posts.
• Successfully complete a 5.10c at the rock climbing gym. I’m not sure if this will happen, but if I’m going 3 to 4 times a week then maybe it’s possible? I’m not sure! We are taking a lead climbing class at our rock climbing gym next week, and I’m terrified of when the lead climber falls (Wes weighs around 75 pounds more than I do, so if he falls, I WILL go flying into the air). Anyone else scared or is it just me? Flying into the wall is something I guess you have to get used to.
• Stay on budget for the holidays. We don’t really have a budget set for the holidays, but we don’t really plan on spending anything either. We pretty much said that the climbing gear was our Christmas present (it was well over $1,000 for all the gear), so December shouldn’t be too much of a budget killer.

What amazing things are going on in your life?

How did you do in November? What is your main goal for December?