The first day of 2019 blessed us with a quiet, sunshiney day to focus our sights on our goals for the year.  Considering we spent the first day of 2019 painting kitchen cabinets in a furious attempt to get the housework completed as soon as possible, I feel like the mantra Josh picked for 2019, “Get Shit Done,” is going to be quite fitting for 2019!  While our “to do” list for 2019 is a bit shorter than it has been the past few years, the amount of work involved in completing the goals we’ve set for the year is a bit intimidating.  It’s going to take all we’ve got to buckle down, stay motivated and determined and get shit done in 2019!  Here’s the plan:

• Shop for and secure boat slip.  We’ve done some thinking about our original “shop for and purchase boat slip” goal over the past few years.  At this point, we’re not confident that purchasing a boat slip falls in line with our potential future plans.  We may end up just leasing a slip as opposed to purchasing one.  But, we know we’re going to need somewhere to keep the boat between when we buy it and when we leave, whether it’s purchased or leased.  So, in 2019, we’ll be shopping prices, location and amenities and hoping to secure a boat slip.
• Begin boat shopping.  Say what?!  Really?!  Already?!  It seems like it hasn’t been that long since I started writing here about Josh’s “crazy idea” to sell everything, quit our jobs, buy a boat and leave Central PA.  And it’s already time to start boat shopping!  Time flies when you’re having fun, right?!  This is Josh’s favorite part of our five year plan (next to leaving, of course).  We’re super, SUPER excited about starting to shop for a boat in 2019!  When we originally hatched our plan, we planned to begin shopping in 2019 but not actually purchase a boat until 2020.  But, since we’ve done so well with paying off our debt, saving money and getting work done on the house, it is entirely possible that we may be purchasing a boat in 2019.  HOLY SHIT, is this for real?!
• Winter 2019 – Finish left-over small tasks associated with renovations in our current home.  Oy…the amount of work involved with this is going to be insane!  It’s not that there’s a ton of big things left to get done, but, it’s the amount of small, pain in the ass, time consuming things that need taken care of.  Staining, finishing and installing trim and window casing and repainting walls are going to monopolize our lives for a while with this one in late 2019.
• December 2019 – Savings goal of $63,000 from saved monthly debt payments (estimated $3,500 per month) since July 2018.  Our original plan called for us to start saving in February 2019, but thanks to our accelerated progress in paying off our debt, we were able to start saving in July 2018, which will positively impact our savings goal.  Our original savings goal by December 2019 was $25,500 and we were pretty stoked about that.  But, at our current savings rate, we hope to have $63,000 saved by December 2019.  Based on the amount we’ve already saved and what we’re saving each month, meeting the $63,000 savings goals by December 2019 should be an easy victory for us in 2019.  The only thing that may impact the actual saving would be if we end up purchasing our boat in 2019.  The money we would be saving each month will then be rerouted toward paying for the boat.  I’m excited to see where we end up with this one at the end of 2019!

We’re adding a few goals to 2019 that we didn’t have on our five year plan again this year, too.  Going to Bonaire in January 2019 and going to Tortuga Music Fest in April 2019 are our two travel goals for 2019.  And Josh has also set his sights on getting his Divemaster certification in 2019 in order to have another skill set with which to earn money while we’re vagabonding around.

A few years ago, I would have never guessed that working toward minimizing our lives would have been so much work, but, each year, our goal plans seem to get more intense.  In order for us to be successful in getting shit done achieving our goals in 2019, focus, determination and keeping our eye on the prize are going to be our motivators.  Cheers to a fantastic 2019 and rapidly approaching our end game!