It seems that everywhere I look bloggers are posting their resolutions for the year 2010 and I realized that I did not make any resolutions. Last year I had a few Simple Goals For 2009 and I have decided to adopt that strategy again for 2010.
My goals last year were
- Simplify
- Live
- Learn
and I think that if I honestly look at what I accomplished for the year I only really worked on ONE out of the three. This means that I need to extend those goals to 2010 so that I can keep improving on Simplify and catch up on Live and Learn.
Simplify
I simplified my budgets last year and tweaked my spending and created a zero based budget to the point where automating my finances made me bored.
I have been working on purging items that I have not used in a long time as well. This includes clothing that I have not worn in YEARS especially. I grew up poor and was taught to hold on to everything because you don’t know when you can use it again. That is part of the reason why I buy in bulk and stock up on so much toilet paper. However, I still have clothes from 10 years ago…that I last wore 10 years ago….just sitting in the closet. I have no idea why I am holding on to some of them because they no longer fit………………..
Live
I took my mother’s death a lot harder than I thought I would and even though I was not overly emotional I was indeed drained of that joie de vivre that I should be experiencing. I was bored with a lot of things and generally unimpressed with people in general so I did not want to go out or do anything fun most of the time.
I will continue to mourn my mother but I cannot let her passing zap me of my energy and prevent me from doing the things I want to do. There is really no need to depress myself and become a hermit once I leave work.
Learn
I started a new program to further my career and because it is so time consuming I have not made time to learn SQL or HTML like I said I wanted to last year. I have just been so overwhelmed with classes that at the end of the day I was mentally drained and not in the mood to learn anything else unless it pertained to my courses.
I need to break out of that mindset and generate more energy to get my mental juices flowing so that I can gain some new knowledge that I did not have before…and not just to pass a test.
I have decided to add in a few more goals for 2010 as follows:
- Reduce
- Leave
- Magnetize
Reduce
I need to reduce the debt that I carry because I am tired of carrying it. I used my credit cards to pay for my education and I have been slowly chipping away at the debt for as long as I have been blogging but it is time to get rid of it. I have been using my sub account in ING called the snowflake account to put any extra money that I get (e.g. Pinecone) towards my debts but something always seems to come up and I use the money.
I also need to reduce my weight because since I had my surgery I have been gaining weight and I am sick not feeling like I look my best. I am not overweight by any means…..but if I keep gaining like I have been then I might soon fall into that category.
I need to reduce my waste as well because I sometimes find myself throwing away food because it has gone bad. I refuse to eat anything past the expiry date printed on the container but I was also taught to shop in bulk. These two values sometimes conflict because I will buy 20 packs of yogurt but then not be able to eat them all before they expire. I will need to go back to my Sunday only shopping day to reduce the amount of ‘stuff’ that I buy….and throw away.
Leave
Last year I had a very bad experience when I went home and I was very angry for a while. I have not forgiven the person who hurt me, but I have decided to leave that anger behind and work on just existing in peace with myself. I am not at the point where I can extend an olive branch but it is doing me no good to have anger festering inside so I am leaving what happened in 2009 there…and shall not speak of it again.
I am also working on my feelings towards other people who may not have wronged me but I still have some underlying tension. I need to leave EVERYTHING that happened in the past in 2009 and look forward to a better 2010.
Magnetize
I reviewed a book last year called 101 Ways To Magnetize Money and I think I need to revisit what I read there. The book was really an excellent read and very easy to follow. It is sort of a financial feng shui guide and I started to follow some of the tips given and did see money being magnetized into my life.
I not only need to magnetize money but all sorts of GOOD into my life and I think that this will make me a better person overall. In this vein I will be looking at yoga for dummies so I can practice a little bit of yoga at home to keep me relaxed because I have been very stressed out. Over the Christmas break last year, my best friend treated me to a professional massage and I think this is something I can also use my Splurge Fund to help me out here every few months.
I need to PRAY more because I have been slacking on that sometimes as well. I missed a few Sundays of church simply because I got up late. I need to treat going to church just like going to work…set that alarm and DO NOT hit snooze!!! I guess God thinks in terms of ‘better late than never’ as well as we do.
Speaking of church….since I ordered new checks specifically for the purpose of making my church donations I need to write out four checks every month and put them in my church purse so I have no reason to forget my offering money again. That task needs to be scheduled on Google calendar just like everything else that I do.
I know these may seem too broad for most people but this is how I choose to work on improving myself and my blog for this year. There are more small changes that I will be making in my life that have not been spelled out here but I will still be working on them as the year goes on. Come along with me on my journey as I look for even more ways to save money, reduce debt and live a better life.
I know exactly how you feel about church! But ever since I’ve changed the time that I went to church, waking up hasn’t been a problem because now I go to church either on Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon because I’m definitely not a morning person either.
I think it’s great that you’re making more general goals that way you leave room to fix more specific things within those goals. It’s better to set broad goals than to set detailed ones and fail at doing it and then quit altogether.
They sound like the perfect goals to be honest – really nice and simple and it sounds like you are on your way to fulfilling some of these already!
I don’t think they are too broad at all either 🙂
Thank you! I thought I was the only one… I caved though.