Would you believe it?! It’s already 3 months into 2020, and what a year it’s been! Seriously, the year could end now, and it would be enough.
My year has incrementally grind to a halt, because of…COVID-19. Most of my plans have been postponed, delayed or cancelled, in the hope that I’ll be able to pick it up when all this calms down. If it ever calms down.
But a promise I made, and a promise I shall keep. Here’s an update on my personal and financial goals for 2020 and how I’m doing with all of them (plus anecdotes).
Financial Goals
Complete the 53 Week Challenge in 2 Currencies
I’m proud to report that I currently have 182,000 UGX saved up in my account for this challenge. This means that I am up to date with the savings for my UGX account. Unfortunately, I am on ZERO for the other currency, Reason being, I haven’t been working due to COVID-19, and I still have bills and expenses to pay. Hopefully I’ll be able to play catch up sometime before this year ends.
Purchase (at least) one plot of land
I haven’t done this yet, and by the looks of it this might not happen this year because of the financial landscape at the moment. Also though, there’s an issue with squatters on the land I wanted and I know to not touch that with a ten foot pole. I’ve got other ideas of where else I’d like to purchase but this isn’t a priority anymore.
Break even and earn income from a new business
Happily, the business earned some income at the beginning of the year, but nowhere near the numbers projected. With countries on lockdown now, and consumers tightening their purses for non-essentials I wasn’t able to break even this quarter. Even I am wary of spending unnecessarily and I don’t want to bombard people with insensitive ads either. I’ll wait it out.
Have 3 months of my expenses saved in my emergency fund
Now would have been the time to have an emergency fund! And I do not! Luckily, all my bills had been paid for in advance before I was furloughed and suffered a reduction in my income. And I’m currently trying to spend as little as possible. I don’t know how long it’ll go on and how much leeway I have but I definitely feel the anxiety of not having a separate bank account already funded for times like this. This is def going to be one of my priorities once life goes back to normal.
Personal Goals
Review at least 12 books on the Fiery Ugandan blog
Listen!! Have I even reviewed one? Have I? And with all the free time I’ve had too! It’s a shame, and I have no excuses. I shall rectify this ASAP and make me proud. I’ve been reading a lot, but nothing worth reviewing, trust me.
Do 30 minutes of workouts at least twice a week
I’ve been trying. I really have. But I even lost my workouts frequency tracker and now can’t accurately tell you how I’m doing with this. I’ll make a new tracker for the next quarter but all I’ll say for now is that being on lockdown at home has helped with this. I’m working out a bit.
Go on at least one trip every quarter
I went on a trip…or 3! All before I knew how serious the COVID-19 situation would get. I even made it to Rwanda, for the first time. Kigali was on my African City Bucket List, so yay me! I also had to cancel a trip I’d booked for around the end of this month because of the travel restrictions. It sucks, but I’m happy I’m currently with people that I love – safe and healthy. I hope everyone is staying home to reduce the spread of the virus.
See my family in Uganda at least twice in the year
Well this goal got accomplished in a roundabout way. Because of the pandemic, I’ve been blessed with the chance to see my family in Uganda for way more than we’d planned. I’m staying with the fam, in Kampala, for the lockdown and with boarding school kids back home too, it’s a win. When I do finally leave again, we’ll have spent months of quality time together. We also ended up doing a trip together to a national park that was lots of fun.
That’s it for the goals I wrote here! As you can see, some are still ontrack for me, and others, not so much.
How are yours going now that the year took the WRONG TURN? Are you holding up okay?