June 2016 Adoption and Goals Update

Can you believe another month has passed so quickly?  I've been super busy.  I've been finishing up the Elite Blogging Academy course, trying to get things ready for the work group who are going to help us install the windows, AND I was in the hospital overnight in May.  I had a severe dental infection, and the dentists were perplexed as to what to do, and decided to admit me for observation and to give me IV antibiotics.  Needless to say, I felt out of commission for a little over a week so not as much got done as I had hoped.




*Note*  This post does contain affiliate links.


Adoption / House Goals

*We need to get the 89 year old windows replaced. 
We are still waiting to hear back from the Church who said they would help us install these.  From my understanding, we were approved, but thus far I haven't heard when they will be here.

*A new furnace since ours quit working the last snowstorm of winter.
*Declutter the house.
*Homestudy and paperwork finished  My husband and I spent an evening working on this.  Still lots more to go.
*drywall installed in rest of the house
*vinyl plank installed in the rest of the house.


Financial

*I want to be out of debt and have a fully funded emergency fund by the end of the year.
*I am taking stuff on a regular basis to a consignment store until the house is decluttered. I took more over in the month of May, and have 20 gallons of stuff to take next time I am in that town.
*I have a flea market booth that I would like to be making a profit from it.  Flea Market booth is nearly full.
*I want to list at least 100 new items a month on eBay.  Certainly not accomplished in May.  I still made a decent amount for listing almost nothing.  As one of my favorite podcasters (Scavenger Life) always says, you feed the pipeline.  
*I want to make five or more sales on Amazon each month. No sales in May, but of course, I didn't have anything listed, so can't sell what isn't listed.  I did finish May off with two boxes of books being sent in to FBA so hopefully this is a start back into Amazon selling for me.
*I want to have written five e-books by the end of the year and have published five of my mother's. How to Raise Money From a Missions Trip hasn't been selling as well as I had hoped.  I am anticipating the release of a short story of my mother's on Kindle in the next week or so.  
*I want to increase my Facebook fan page to 3,000 followers by July 1st, and to 5,000 by December.  Currently at 1409.  I think this might be a little high of a goal but going to try and hit it!
*I want to increase my blog income to at least $200 a month by the end of the year.  Income dropped for the month of May.
Savings

*I want to see how much I can save through iBotta each month. $2.00 saved
*I also want to see how much I save through SavingStar each month. $7.76 saved
*I want to make a concentrated effort to use SwagBucks regularly.  Have enough to cash out again.
*I want to invest in a shower timer to help save water.  I would like our water bill to be at $75 a month. (This includes our trash bill as well.)  No shower timer yet, but our bill went from $143 in the winter -- I have no idea how it was that high -- to $69 this month.

Learning:

I want to stay up to date on the youtube "what sold on eBay" videos I watch.
*I want to try and listen to two podcasts a day as I do other things.  I've been mainly listening to The Side Hustle Show and Brilliant Business Moms.
*I want to read two books a month at minimum.   I have been devouring ebooks from Kindle Unlimited about frugality, early retirement, ebook publishing, and blogging.