Friday, December 29, 2017

New Year's Resolutions

When I first made up a list of goals for the coming year it was long (408 to be exact), it would have been a challenge (basically traveling here, there and everywhere to complete each task), but the problem was that they were conflicting (pay off car was one yet another was travel to each of the 50 states; one was don't eat any junk food yet another was bake a crepe cake and a princess cake).  So after giving it more thought I decided to make a small list of resolutions that didn't conflict with each other yet when all were completed I will have made great strides in my life by the end of the year.  Here they are:

  1. No spend year (food, toiletries, and the Goodwill are OK).  I have so much stuff.  When we sold everything to travel for a while some years ago I had very few things yet had everything I needed.  Since we settled down again we have acquired so much stuff!  This goal should keep my spending in check, help me stop buying stuff I don't need, and help me save money, yet assure I have the basics (food, clothing, soap, etc).  Plus when I told hubby we wouldn't be traveling anywhere next year he was supremely happy (after two months of travel this year he was exhausted).  The only caveat to this is that I can buy any really really necessary items (like printer ink if I run out during the year).
  2. Walk five miles a day, eat better, and do some sort of activity every day.  I think it will be a challenge to walk five miles a day but it is quite possible between my walking group, my treadmill, and the nine months of perfect weather we have here so I just need to motivate myself to do this every day.  Eating better should work itself out since if I am not spending money I can't buy Starbucks and Baskin Robbins almost daily.  As for activities, there are so many free things to do in Las Vegas that we can entertain ourselves for the entire year without spending any money.
  3. Post to this blog and a couple other blogs every single day next year.  I've always wondered if I had the discipline to write every single day, I guess I will find out!
  4. Learn to knit and play the piano.  I have yarn and knitting needles and I have a piano keyboard but I have never learned how to do these things so I will hit up YouTube and learn some useful skills this year.
  5. Pay off my car and two credit cards.  The credit cards should be easy to pay off (yeah tax return) but the car should be a bit of a challenge.  Getting back to debt free is THE premier goal of mine this year.
  6. Write five books.  This may be the most impossible goal but if I work on this daily it may happen (it would also increase my income and help me with getting back to debt free).  I know some writers churn out 5000 words a day which would get this huge goal done but I don't know if I have the discipline to do this.  We'll see.
  7. Renew my driver's license, military ID, and concealed carry permit.  All of these expire this year so I need to get them renewed.
  8. Do every single one of the scheduled walks this year with my walking group.  My local walking group does about 20 group walks a year (basically every other Saturday except in the summer).  But I am usually so lazy on Saturday mornings that getting up at 7am to meet up with the group means I only make it maybe a third of the time.  This year I want to force myself to do these walks which will both improve my health, improve my participation with the group, and help me hit my walking goal (#2 above).
  9. Do our family reunion.  For the last few years I have paid for our family reunion.  Usually about 40 to 50 people show up at a buffet in Portland to catch up with each other.  Most everyone is in my family is poor and even going to a buffet puts a strain on their finances so I am happy to pay for this event to get everyone together.  So while we may not show up this year (yeah Facetime), I still want to make it a point to organize and pay for this event.
  10. Visit all of the state parks in Nevada.  There are 26 state parks in Nevada and our parks system offers a free yearly pass to anyone who visits all of the parks and gets their "parks passport" stamped at each park.  This will require a few day trips and a few overnight trips to hit all of the parks (yeah camping) but this is something I have wanted to do for a long time and since this may be our only vacation this year I think it is a good goal.
  11. Limit social media to less than an hour a day.  Between Facebook and reddit I can kill HOURS each day.  And not only is social media a huge time suck, but I'm really tired of all of the politics, bad news, and arguing with random strangers on the internet that takes place on social media.  Plus if I am not on social media for hours each day I can use that time to accomplish my other goals listed above.
  12. Save $10,000 by the end of the year.  I make money, I spend money, and have minimal savings.  I want a nice comfortable financial cushion of non-emergency fund savings so this is another big financial goal but I am hoping to reach it anyway.

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