Wow, I can’t believe it’s already 2016. The years really do fly by so much more quickly the older you get. I think I’m less sad about myself aging and more so that my kids keeping older and more independent. It won’t be long before I have an empty nest and I can assure you that I will not do well with that.
Okay, enough with the melancholy. Despite my earlier words, I LOVE New Year’s. I love the idea of a new year and new possibilities and setting new goals. I am a firm believer in setting goals/resolutions for the new year. 2015 was one of those horrible, no good years for me. My oldest son graduated from high school (good) and moved into a dorm (bad) and his Social Security funds stopped (very bad). Our house and two cars flooded, which was financially and emotionally devastating for me. I am determined to make 2016 a better year.
I have quite a few things I want to work on this year and some would say too many but I think they are pretty manageable and I think they are all pretty important to setting me on a better path so I might figure out down the road that I need to postpone a few but I’m going to give it the old college try and work on them all right now.
Living a more healthy life style is one goal. I am 5’10 and blessed with a wonderful metabolism so I get some grief when I eat like a football linebacker and it’s not that noticeable but just because I don’t look unhealthy doesn’t make it so. If you catch me eating a salad it’s because I’m bored waiting for my steak to arrive. I just don’t like eating rabbit food. I am a country fried steak type of girl and I drink entirely too much diet coke. Water is boring. I don’t know how to put it any other way. I bought myself a Fitbit for Christmas and I’ve set a goal of 50,000 steps a week. I am NOT giving up diet coke because I don’t believe in setting myself up to fail, lol. I do plan on drinking a minimum of 3 glasses of water a day. I also am a major night owl, so I’m aiming to work on that by shooting for a minimum of 6 hours of sleep a night.
Home-wise I want to clean, purge, and organize my home once and for all and KEEP IT THAT WAY!! Martha Stewart (and my mother most days) would have a stroke if they were to show up at my house uninvited. I am not a natural born housekeeper. I am very lazy in that regards. My oldest son is even worse then me. We drive my youngest son crazy with how messy our house always is, even though admittedly, he has gotten a little lazier about housekeeping himself over the years. It’s possible Michael and I are contagious… I want to be able to have friends over on a whim and more importantly I would like to put my house up for sale this summer so we’ve got some work to do.
On a personal level I want to blog consistently at least three times a week, submit at least one piece of my writing a month for publication somewhere and catch at least one movie a month. I need to make some big decisions this year about my career and I want to have some options. If I were to hit the lottery (also hopefully in my life plans for this year!), and I was lucky enough to have the option of redesigning my life with no money concerns, I would choose to take a year off from work and try to write a novel. I love to write. As a single mom, I need to have a traditional job right now with healthcare benefits and a steady paycheck but I hope by focusing on this blog and writing on a regular basis I can at least develop some side income doing something I love.
And lastly finances. Ugh, who doesn’t have financial resolutions every year? I want to stop using my credit cards, KEEP $1,000 in my emergency fund, and put at least $3,000 in my HSA to cover Michael’s deductible (which we’ll meet by March/April even if he’s healthy since Diabetes is a crazy expensive disease). Lastly, I want to increase my monthly income by $250 every quarter this year. So I want to make at least $250 extra in January, February, and March, $500 extra April through June, $750 July through September, and a $1,000 extra October through December. These additional funds can be made through whatever methods I come up with, surveys, pay raises, side hustles, second jobs, etc.
I know, it seems like a lot of goals and maybe I’m crazy. Well, I’m definitely a little crazy but I’m talking about a little crazy setting all these resolutions and goals but I think they’re achievable. I just need to hustle. Truthfully I’ve gotten a little lazy this year. The flood really threw me for a loop and I’ve battled some anxiety and depression as a result and it’s been way too convenient to just get home and settle on my couch and watch too much TV and play way too much Candy Crush this year. This needs to be a big year for me because I lose another huge chunk of money in 2017 when Nick graduates and I need to have a game plan in place since I’m already running short each month trying to figure out how to live without Michael’s Social Security funds. I’m comfortable at my current job and I love my coworkers and the flexibility of the job but it’s no longer paying the bills so I need to stop doubting myself and aim higher.
