The start of a new year is always a good time to reflect and reset things. We’ve just wrapped up one hot mess of a year. Unfortunately the first week, at least in the US, has also been a bit of a dumpster fire. Always the optimist, I’m hopeful it settles down soon though. And let’s go ahead and get this disclaimer out of the way…no political comments on my blog or they will be deleted…don’t care what side of the fence you’re on. This blog is about positivity and progress.
So…now that we got that little bit of housekeeping out of the way. What am I reflecting on and resetting for January?
Finances
I could write 100 posts on the dangers of spending too much for Christmas and telling everyone not to do it but guess what I do EVERY SINGLE YEAR? To be fair, this year I really didn’t overspend per se, but I had $900 in unexpected car repairs during a 10 day period that hit the budget hard. The end result is the same, January becomes the month I really focus on a budget lockdown.
Fortunately, January is a fairly easy month to spend less. I am always crazy busy at work. More hours in the office means less time spending money at the stores. I usually have some Christmas gift cards I can use when I do want to hit up the stores for a little retail therapy. Working longer hours usually means it’s cold and dark when I get off work so I’m even more inclined to head home instead of going to the bookstore or Target or even out to eat.
Actions Steps for Resetting the Finances in January
- Eat out less (batch cook, have a few easy meals ready for late work nights)
- Reduce entertainment category of the budget
- Less time window shopping
- Read more
- Sell a couple books to Half Price
Life Goals
January is also a great time to get started on those New Year’s resolutions you just set. You did set some resolutions, right?? Planning is a big part of your success (or failure). Take a look at the month and make a plan at what steps you want to take this month towards your resolutions or life goals. Take those big goals and dreams and break them down into some bite-size action steps you can take this month or even this week.
My habit tracker for January has spots to track my daily water intake, exercise, and writing. So far I don’t have a lot of check marks in either of those 3 categories and that makes me sad and truthfully a little irritated at myself so far this year. The result is that this planner is going to be left open on the tracker page every day to serve as a reminder that I need to drink my damn water, get a little exercise in, and write something every day.
Action Steps for Life Goals in January
- One story submitted for publication
- Get some pages outlined for my Legacy binder
- 4 blog posts
- Exercise habit started (even if it’s stretching until my foot heals)
- Water drank daily
Final Reflections
Balancing the work/life thing will be tricky through the end of this month at least. It’s just a busy time anyway at work and throwing in an annual audit that was postponed due to Covid is going to make it even crazier. I’m determined this year though to really carve out time for what’s important to me. I think it’s especially important with both boys living out of town now. Writing in my spare time, trying to monetize my writing in order to pay off some debts, and finding time to travel a bit to see the boys and maybe even carve out a little writers retreat for myself for a few days.
How are you spending January? Any big plans or projects? Just waiting on the cold weather if that’s how your area is too in January?
