Sorry for the delay but I wasn’t able to write this in advance of our Memorial Day trip. The trip was more than a week and I didn’t have my laptop with me. It was a long drive to New Jersey and quite tiring. I’m thinking never to do anything more than 5 hours drive. I don’t know how I survived our west to east coast trip early last year. In any case here’s an update of my personal challenges. I’m telling you right now it’s not pretty.
Health:
- I failed in logging food, 10 flights of stairs a day, strength training, planking for 2 minutes for this month. Either I forgot to log them, I’m traveling or I don’t feel like exercising. Usually my motivation is when I see the scales going up.
- Average of 10,000 steps a day: I did hit the 10,000 steps a day during our travels but when I’m at home, I average 3,000 steps a day. I tried to keep it up to more than 3,000 steps a day and I hope I would be able to increase it to an average of 3,500 steps by next month. Slowly but surely. Also, I hope I won’t get sick or feel sick to lower my average.
- Eating fruits and vegetables: It’s strawberry season, so I have at least 1 cup of fruits a day for at least 2 days a week. Towards the latter part of the month, I saute mushroom and spinach with ground turkey (Healthy!)
- Health checkups: I was quite busy with doctor visits this month. On May 5 was my 6th month post op, the surgeon requested for an MRI and it came out clean. I had a mammogram the next day and nothing significant to report. I had my annual physical in the latter part of the month and my A1C is down by 0.1%. I’m not yet out of the pre-diabetes stage but 0.1% down is an achievement already. I’m happy to say that my cholesterol level which the doctors in China were asking me what I’m doing is keeping my doctor here happy.
Blog/Instagram:
- Blog posts: I was quite religious in the first part of the month but ran out of ideas to write towards the latter part of the month. I don’t have any photos of my food that I can’t write the recipes to go with it. I prefer writing blogs and scheduling them rather than catching up with missed post. I’m hoping that I would be able to write all my June posts in one seating.
- Instagram post every 3 days: I did it this month! I switch from travel photos and food photos every 3 days. I’m planning to create an IG page for our bear named Prototype. He’s our baby while we try for a child.
- Increase blog traffic to 1,000 visitors a month by year end: I’m happy to see my visitors went up to 110 this month from 72 last month. I just noticed that the 110 visitors is the total for the month. I’m hoping that I would reach 1,000 visitors a month by year end. Hopefully, it won’t take me the end of the year to reach that. March was the highest with 156. I can do this! Maybe you have some tips for me to increase traffic.
Finance:
- Cashback Apps: For ReceiptHog, my coins increased from 4,248 to 4,652. For Fetch Rewards, my points increased from 14,030 to 14,935. Referral codes – ReceiptHog (jut33746); Fetch Rewards (JBJQ1).
- Rakuten: I got my big fat check this month for $12.58. Most of the amount are from purchases for my balikbayan box side hustle.
- Balikbayan box: We were supposed to send box #4 in May but with all the traveling we did, dropping the box mid-week seems tiring. Also, the gas shortage due to the hack affected us and we didn’t want to travel far. Box #4 will be sent in June.
- Stock Market: My dividend income this month is $15.80. No buying or selling. My portfolio decreased by 2.5% compared to April.
- Budget Tracker: I haven’t had the chance to account everything for April but so far we’re still in the green. May is also in the green as we got a good tax refund amount.
Education:
- Payroll Specialist Class: School started this month and my memorial day traveling is setting me back from this class. I’m just glad that I don’t need to redo the excel part.
- Eat Smart, Move More Class: My teacher is happy with the 0.1% drop in my A1C. Our class this month focus on Fats and Mediterranean diet. Which means more fruits and veggies less sweets!
That’s it! I’m happy writing this at it helps me being accounted! Stay safe everyone! If you haven’t had your vaccine, do your role and get vaccinated!
Claudine on the Go 