getting ready for march in my office

On Monday, I spent time in my office physically cleaning up the space and taking care of the March bills. This is the first time I’ve tried this task, and I liked it. Though I still have a pile of papers to finish filing. I liked setting up my space, my intention (as my favorite sister-in-law would say) for the month.

So, let’s set the intentions:

Housing for my son at college next year

Unfortunately, housing is not guaranteed at the university my second son attends in Pennsylvania for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Since my son doesn’t know how to drive, his options are limited by how far he can walk.

Finish our 2022 taxes

I finally have all the documents I need to finish our taxes. At the beginning of January, I started updating and entering information into TurboTax. Fortunately, our tax situation is back to simple this year, with no complications of moving or buying and selling a home.

Review current bills for savings

When we moved in 2021, I had to pull together a list of current bills in order to update the address on them. I used that as an opportunity to review the bills and reduce or eliminate what I could.

I’m circling back to review our current bills with an eye to the future. With Fios coming to our area, I need to have the data to evaluate whether to stay with our current cable service and streaming services or switch to Fios and a tv bundle or Fios and the same streaming services.

I also decided to wait on upgrading my iPhone for as long as possible. I’m managing to keep the battery charged long enough that I don’t worry when I’m out of the house for a while. Ideally, I’d like to get another year out of the phone, but it depends on how fast the battery wears out.

Continue to work on the grocery budget

We’ve done well using up items in the pantry which I’ll continue to do; I’m also making progress with making items instead of buying them. I’ve set aside $350 in my grocery envelope since the end of January. Thanks to the Costco rewards program, we’re getting back $431.39 which we’ll use this month to buy items at Costco.

Progress on 2023 Annual Review plan

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of my plan for 2023, just a quick overview.

Overall, I’ve been continuing to work on my fitness goals, though I think I’m adjusting them for now. I’m not sure I have the stamina to do a half marathon at the beginning of May, in large part because of getting COVID again. I’m giving myself until the end of March to make the final decision.

Greg and I have been working on our relationship including spending time together on our new hobby, hiking. We had a great time hiking to McAfee’s Knob last weekend. I’ve been deepening my knowledge of my Catholic faith including following the Lent #pray40 challenge on the Hallow app.

We have 3 house renovation projects going right now – the powder room, upstairs hallway, and breakfast room. I started working on the yard this week, liming the lawn. Financially, I’ve been working on the grocery budget and our taxes. I’ll be doing a review of our bills as I mentioned above.

Finally, once we get the 3 house projects done, I plan to start on the office. Oh, my goodness, that wallpaper is just too much!