Well... January's challenge ends today. (Yes, January ends tomorrow, but I have to work tomorrow, so I'm not going to suddenly change the status of my progress.)
First, the minor challenge. I did not record all of my discresionary spending here, but I did record all of it. During January, I spent $62 on dining out (that's everything that was just me, and 1/2 of any meal that we both ate). Of that $29 was meals we ate together. I also spent $50 on going out. That included a movie, 2 bar visits, some music and new batteries for my camera. I also spent $35 on gifts. I can do better on the dining out. I don't normally go to the bar twice in a month, and we don't go to movies often. All in all, I think I did pretty good. Recording is the hard part.
For the major challenge, I didn't do as well. There are a couple reasons. I think I overestimated what I'd be able to do in the time I alloted myself. I've learned that things that I have to do by myself, take a lot longer than things I can do in the livingroom with TBWITWW. So I'll set a bit more realistic goals next month. I did not get the computer stuff finished, and I did not get the file cabinets sorted. I did however get all of the papers of the desk, I got the tool shelves sorted, and I got all of the bookshelves cleaned up. I eliminated a small shelf from the office, and I switche d a bookshelf and the file cabinets, which make shte office look much larger. Although I didn't reach the goal I set for myself, I am quite happy with what I did get done.

I'll be sending a check for $10 to Acappellago (my mom's nomination).

February's projects will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for the support so far.

So, my brother thinks I've done nothing, my Mother-In-Law thinks I'm completely done. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. After a very good first week, I've been a bit slow since then. The second week, TBWITWW and I kind of rested on our laurels, so to speak. We'd done such a good job of sticking with our goals, we let them slide. We regreted it at once, of course. But like all habits, they take time to develop and break. We're still working on it. The important stuff is still happening. Dishes, making the bed (most days) and such we're doing with good regularity, as well as keeping things tidy. However the "Big Goals" we're still needing to motivate ourselves to accomplish. I'm still learning what does, and doesn't work for me... and for us. One of the things I've noticed is that my 15 minutes a day portion is sometimes inconvienient for "us-time". So it goes by the wayside more often than I'd like. It's more a matter of scheduling it into other parts of my day than anything. So, it's a learning experience.

As far as the minor goal is concerned, I think we're doing really well. As expected, by watching discretionary spending carefully, we're actually doing very little of it. Here's a question though. It's just after Christmas, and we've got several gift cards that we've been using for things that would definitely fall under the discretionary spending category. Should I be posting those?

Finally, my brother mentioned the chart in the sidebar from Joe's Goals. He noticed that it's flatlined for a few days. I'm blaming that on my being ill and not updating it. For reference though, the items on that chart are not just my Major and Minor goals for the month. I like the chart, but since I'm not publishing details, I don't know if it's worth keeping displayed. Opinions?

Finally (some more), I've gotten no votes for the alternate charity. Send 'em.

One of my co-workers and friends left the company this week, so we went out to celebrate.

We spent $13 on dinner, $22 on drinks, and $4 on tips.

I finished the first week of my January Accountability Project. I think I've made good progress, but not quite as much as I had hoped. I also think I get more out of the 15 minute sessions than the long session. My attention span is short, so I can work for a solid 15 minutes with the goal firm in my mind, and get quite a bit done. Today I sorted through my tool shelf and also sorted the screws, nails and other hardware. It took much longer than it should have, and there is still some sorting of that stuff to do. The nice thing is that I feel that I've really made noticeable progress in this room, and I feel good about what I've done so far.

This system seems like it's going to work well for me. TBWITWW and I have also been a lot more motivated in keeping the regular housework done. We're both happier, and more relaxed. We've got a lot left to do, but we're making progress. Now that we've got the ball rolling, we'll have to work on keeping it going.