Resolution Re-cap- 6 Months In

It's time for a RESOLUTION RECAP.

Sorry to shout- but it's officially well into the 'new' year. That makes it time to find out how well those well-intentioned New Year's Resolutions are holding up. According to Psychology Today most New Year's Resolutions fall to the wayside pretty quickly. Specifically over time, 22% fail after one week, 40% after one month, 50% after three months, 60% after six months, and 81% after twenty-four months. Ouch! So if you made a resolution to exercise more or eat less, chances are you (and the rest of America) stuck with that for maybe a few weeks!

Don't let that bring you down though because the same research on why resolutions fail gives us good insight in how to be successful. The research shows that people who had solid concrete goals- with measurable and trackable outcomes were more likely to be successful. When personal motivation is lacking, the use of a support system for personal accountability also comes into play!

So how'd Ms. Frugal Rock do on those resolutions? Here's a status report:

1. Do something with that old 401K account.

I'm embarrassed to start with this one, because until I started this post- I had completely forgotten about this resolution. Whoops. Probably the easiest out of the 5 resolution goals there is nothing sexy about exploring your 401k roll-over options. That being said, it should be a pretty simple way to condense my portfolio and get all of my accounts in the same place. I'm adding it to my list for this next week and will report back!

2. Find a way to reduce my commute by biking 1 day a week.

Sweet, sweet progress. I had initially mentioned my hope of purchasing an electric bike, but super-savy, Mr. Frugal Rock managed to find a pretty reasonable kit online to outfit my current bike into an electric. As of about two monhs ago, I can be found zooming along the bike trails knocking over pedestrians with my speed...well not quite, but I'm able to cruise at about 13mph without pedaling, and with pedaling am able to make a pretty nice clip. I have been buzzing back and forth to work now 10+ times and have stuck with my goal of biking at least once a week. Now that it's truly summer (with less damp weather going around hopefully!) I'll be able to bike in more often.  Finger's crossed!

As someone who has never been a confident street biker- being able to bike downtown fairly confidently feels like a huge milestone for me, as I could not have imagined myself biking to work even a year ago! Life is funny sometimes!

3. Aggressively save to pay off our mortgage early

I posted in January on our goals for our mortgage, and am proud to announce that we have knocked our mortgage down to 5 figures, instead of 6. It's satisfying to see one less digit at the end of our loan amount. In addition, there is a super-saving-scheme (alliteration makes saving more fun, I promise) in the works that if followed will keep us on track to knock even more off this year. One potential set-back in our saving is a new roof, which is needed for the Frugal Rock home this year. While an expected expense, anytime you have to spend thousands of dollars on a home improvement project it hurts a bit!

4. Continue to explore side jobs or 'side hustles'

No new updates on this for Ms. Frugal Rock yet to share. BUT, I hope to have news to share soon about a potential side hustle. Mr. Frugal Rock has been leaving me in the dust and has developed his own Etsy Store to sell Nintendo Themed Wood Block Sets- no joke, they are the best!

5. Embrace budget travel.

This one has been thoroughly embraced. As I shared in a previous Frugal Road Trip post, I loved going on a cross-country road trip, and the fact that also didn't deplete our bank accounts was another huge bonus. Last month brought on a last minute road trip to the corn-loving state of Iowa, to see a friend in on business. While no means the most exciting vacation destination I've ever been to- it was a great time anyway! Frugal trips have been planned for this summer including some camping and backpacking, so stay tuned for posts on those, as well as other Frugal Travel features.

How have your resolutions been going? Any frugal resolution you have made and stuck with?