Checking in on my February goals

Being on a bi-weekly pay schedule means that, in terms of progress toward financial goals, not a whole lot changes between paycheques. Once the money has come in, there's very little, beyond sticking to my budget, that I can do to hinder or help my financial progress. As a result, I only update my financial progress bars on payday.

My non-financial goals, however, are another story altogether. I can generally act on these at any time, as they do not consume financial resources. I often fall into the trap of scurrying around at the last minute trying to wrap these up, but this month I've actually been more or less on top of these goals:

• Obtain copies of my credit report from each of the three Canadian reporting agencies - I faxed and mailed my requests to the bureaus last Thursday. Given that I already know (or at least strongly suspect) that Equifax and TransUnion have outdated address information on my file, I'll be very interested to see how smoothly this transaction goes.


• Set up an automatic monthly charitable donation - This afternoon, I set up a monthly $20 donation to Jazz.FM91, a listener-supported Toronto radio station. I've been listening to this station for a long time, and I figure it's about time I contribute. Later in the year, I'll be looking into sending some money to my alma mater, as well as some humanitarian causes. Meeting my 2008 goal of $2,000 in donations is important to me.


• Walk to and from work every day, and work out at least three times a week - I've walked to and from work every day in February, and I played squash three times in the past week. I'll have a weekly weigh-in tomorrow.


• Blog 30 times in February - I crossed the half-way mark today, so I seem to be on-track.

More than two weeks remain in February, but so far it looks like I'm positioned to hit my targets.