A Single October Challenge-And September Update

October will be here in a few days. And round here, the October calendar is filling up, or s much as I let it anyway. I want to see the new version of Oklahoma! That's making the rounds. There's a pottery painting afternoon, a movie date, an October fest. Along with fall crafting, some serious baking and nestling inside with the fire.

Which, my friends, brings me in a roundabout way to my single October goal. And that is this: To document all my non-regular spending. Including groceries, and especially all those optional items like lunches festivals and the like.

Why?  Well first, because I don't normally track that spending (judge ye not). I have my individual monthly line items like utilities, phone, cable, rent, water and such and do not have line items for food, or whatever (I have a travel and a health fund for long term travel but that doesn't include day trips or over night).

Second, because I want to see if I actually do spend as little on the "entertainment/recreation/culture" portion of my life as I say I do on the blog. And third, so that you the reader can really see what I spend on everything. The proof, as they say is in the pudding. I'll include all groceries, dining out, fun stuff, charity things, and all crafting stuff that does NOT include things I'll make for gifting-I'll have a separate gift post later. Or maybe I'll change that up. 

And there you have it. My single written goal for October. Which means that November will probably be full, full, full of things to do for the holidays and my little trip.

 Meanwhile, about those September goals, dear readers:

Money goals:

• Return to the aim of between five and ten dollars a day average casual income. Casual as in no more than an hour spent on the computer researching or whatever and only mystery shopping when I feel like it. Nope, nope, nope. I decided that my time was more important than the money by far, and that I can do this at any given time I feel the need or want, which will probably increase a bit as the evenings get darker and the TV time longer.
• Make a quarterly budget Needs fine tuning and finalization, but yes, more or less.
• See if the grocery budget can be tightened a wee bit as we move away from grilling and more to other kinds of cooking Yes, through no real effort of mine in truth. Slowly moving from steaks and chops and seafood on the grill to pot roast at 2.00 on sale, stew meat and you name it did it naturally. Although I need to fine tune and plan for baking.

House goals:

• Get the carpets cleaned  We have carpet in one room on the floor level of the house, but it is the living room that goes directly out on the patio and we have dogs with health issues. So we need this room,  the steps to the basement and my sister's carpets cleaned sometime before we start moving things around for fall and winter decorating.Not yet. It's on the radar but I think we've decided to wait until the leaves are up and the dead crab apples on the front walk and in the yard and on the patio are not there to drag in.
• Get my bedroom purged and closet organized, a bag at a time.Most of the way there, and yep, it was a bag at a time or fifteen minutes at a time,

Family Goals

• Plan an October long weekend trip for my birthday with my sister. This year we are looking at Glenwood Springs or Santa Fe, because of all the smoke anywhere further north.Going but no real planning done. Fairly sure a train ride to Glenwood springs in Oct or early November.
• Try and see if I can even get a half a day to do something special with my son. He's working forty plus hours a week as a restaurant shift manager, and going to school 3/4 time so this may be 
• Get back to doing something small for my daughter, who I saw in April but will not see again until the holidays because of mutual traveling and the fact that she also goes to school full time in a master's program and works full time.Eh, he's working forty hours with no nights off except for today which he took as a mental health day and next week when he is going to see Ozzy Osbourne. This may be wishful thinking.
Social/Community Goals
• Cut my volunteering at the homeless shelter back from one three hour morning to a longer day every other week (I drive a half hour to get there and these allows me to provide staff support and do something with the residents but lessens my "running round" time and energy). Done. I'll volunteer a day or two at the most a month doing closer to a full day than a morning and not feel guilty about only getting there once a month.
• Cut back my sponsorship and activities in my women of a certain age group to no more than one event a week (plus happy hour or coffee on occasion) if that.. Both because it works for me to cut back (for more nesting and creative time) and because I want to encourage other members to step up on this and suggest things that I might not, like a bike trip or a regular walking group. I deliberately made this a Facebook group so that, unlike Meetup, anyone could suggest anything and members could get together on their own. Not as good on this one as I would like to be. We have a weekly happy hour and a weekly coffee time and two lunches and one craft outing in October. I'm happy to do all, and will probably just cut down to two events in Oct. I like the happy hour and coffee as they break up my at home, crafty days.
• Get to the pool at least three times per week and plan my cooler weather workout routine so that I can work out at home if it's dreary or cold.No, but I have a working home routine and will hit the pool when I can (I know its only in my head but going outside immediately after showering is a no no for me, which means I take sweats, change out of my suit and shower at home).
• Complete one online course this month (Great courses usually have anywhere from seven to twenty lessons). Right now I'm looking at a seventeen session on sacred music as the most likely option.Not finished, but working on Sacred Music history when I sew.
• Read one book that is out of my mystery/whodunit/police procedural comfort level (open to suggestions as long as it's not  romancy or anything Regency).Not read, but I have the Great American Read list at hand.
• Try and blog thrice a week (I'm channeling a stage musical song here). My goal is to move the blog even more to lifestyle stuff  with some frugal creativity and other things thrown in. We'll see how that goes.Doing better on this I think?
• Choose a big project. I have a lot of small, creative and other projects in my life, but I have decided I need a larger, long term project. At this point I know it will probably have to do with writing and/or genealogy, but we'll see. Chosen but not started
• Add five minutes of meditation/contemplative prayer to my morning and evening routines.Started but not regularly
• Get my mammogram done (oh, Joy!!) Today is my birthday and I had both my mammogram (3D) and a Thyroid sonogram. Tonight we are chilling and having frozen Scallops and bacon from Trader Joe's and Pie to make up for my pain.
Creative/DIY goals
• Finish one knitted shawl (for a gift), one scarf for the meals on wheels folks, and choose the next project. I knit really fast these days and this is my TV time, so it's an easy no brainier. One shawl finished (but not off the needles cause I don't know what the heck a Russian Cast Off is and need to meet with my group next week, the next one on another set of needles.
• Finish one larger projects (probably a fall quilt) and one smaller project (still to be chosen! Working but not finished, and I'll finish it when it's finished.
There you have it. There is nothing not done that bothers me at night except for wishing for more one on one with the son. I'm not going to "move" these to a new goals list as they are all slowly progressing or stuff I obviously really wasn't into.


Meanwhile, happy almost October!