I have two months left for my leave of absence. It is time to check in and see how I am doing on the goals I have set for myself to achieve by the end of August.
Only use up 50% of our savings while on leave. So far, we have only spent 9%, thanks in large part to our No Spending Month. I still have roughly 7 more weeks to go before I get my first paycheck.
Get grocery bill down to at least $300/month. I am still spending roughly $350 for groceries. I must learn not to stock up whenever there is a sale. It is okay to miss some sales, especially for junk food.
Create a list of 50-90 meals we enjoy and organize the recipes for them. I have 50 recipes in a binder, organized by category with an index, so technically this goal is complete. However, I want to aim for 90 instead of 50, so I will mark this goal 55% completed.
Grow my eBay business to 2700-2800 items. I started the month at 2560 items; I am now at 2586, so I have completed 43% of my goal to have at least 2700 items.
Declutter the house!! I cleaned and decluttered the kitchen, bathroom and kids’ room. The dining room/living room is next. (No progress was made on this goal this month.)
Sell $300 to $500 worth of household items on eBay that we no longer use. Thus far I have sold $166, so I am almost 56% of the way to this goal.
Lose 25 to 30 pounds. I have lost four pounds. I am, therefore, 16% of the way to completing this goal. (No progress was made on this goal this month. This will be the topic of my July challenge, which I will post soon.)
Get a dishwasher. Done.
Get a full night’s sleep. Getting closer to this one. A few nights a week we get to sleep from 10 pm to 5 am. The baby is 8 months old, so hopefully it will continue to get better.
NEW: Have 15 to 30 meals made & in the freezer. This will help me during the first 8 weeks when my work load will be heaviest, I will be readjusting to being back to work and I will be more likely to want to go out to eat.
If I can accomplish these goals before August, it should help our lives run more smoothly when I am back at work. I tend to blow money more easily when working because I don’t have time and I am stressed. If I can keep that impulse under control with careful planning now, hopefully I can fulfill my goal of being a stay at home mom in 2010.

Great job! I am impressed with your ebay store.
Do you buy chance have anything from the zebra line gymboree had last winter?
Hi. Yes, I have quite a few from the Wild One line. You can just type "Wild One" in my home page search engine to find them.