Saturday, December 29, 2018

Climbing a Mountain in 2019

I've been slowly reviewing December and all of 2018 to see if the goals and aspirations I had last year were achieved, should be added to 2019, or scrapped for space for a new effort. I already developed my big financial plan for 2019 priorities with a target of $30,000.  in addition, I'm going out on a real limb and have a goal to top off the regular savings efforts with side schemes and hustles to earn another $500. I've committed to social goals to push me out of my comfort zone, or shall I better stay lazy zone. Where does this leave me for the year? I'm including the ones I wrote about above on my list, but have thought  again on five various buckets; financial, home, social, health and wellness, and growth (personal or professional). These all intermingle to  certain degree as there are home improvement goals in the savings plan, growth goals in the side scheme, and organization is a them throughout.

Financial: Acquire and Save for my families needs and priorities

Home: Create and maintain a living space that I am happy to come home to and proud to have guests visit
  • Number one is to declutter and clean out-Target June 8th, the week before DD2's grad party. How? Well, once strategy will be to ...
  • Practice the 90/52 project Anne at  Cooking and All that Jazz wrote about in which you commit  to 90 minutes a week decluttering. 
  • New front door
  • Repair deck (I'd like to replace the deck but unless we decide to tap into another fund, it will have to wait a year)
  • DIY bathroom updates-by June 8
  • Clear brush, fire pit area, and raspberry bush area-June 8
  • Fix fire place insert
  • Paint porch railings and new seating of bench or a couple chairs
  • Upcycle with paint, kitchen table and chairs
You may notice so much is not on here that I want to do with the house, but will need to wait unless there is a massive windfall. This includes new floor and counters in kitchen, new flooring, vanity, mirror, and tub in upstairs bath (a new bathroom), new flooring upstairs, a different bedroom set for our room (we've never had a set) and of course, the deck.

Social:Enjoy my life with family, friends, and colleagues
Be more externally engaged per my social goals as previously linked

Health and Wellness:improve my heath in ways that help me maximize the opportunities in my life
  • Overall lose 30 pounds, but aim for 15 by June 8. The rest of these are strategies to accomplish this goal. 
  • Use work place exercise equipment (stair stepper and treadmill) at least one day per week after work-particularly in the months where is dark by the time I get home
  • Add some sort of class, irregular if it must be, until I land on one that I like and motivates me. I'm trying a yoga class with DD1 on January 7th
  • Commit to 60 minutes of yoga per week- any increments or number of days. If this is successful, I can always increase
  • Plan and actually go on one hike of at least an hour each month-I have so many wonderful place to explore so close to not be taking advantage of the free mental and physical benefits this will provide me.
  • Pack and eat at least two servings of fruit and veg for lunch
  • Serve two vegetables with supper at least 4 times per week
  • Cook at least 1 vegetarian meal per week, increase to 2 if successful

Growth: Learn new things, be an interesting person, and fulfill personal ambitions
  • Read four non-fiction books authored by women-this is in addition to any book club reads that end up being non-fiction
  • Continue working on my UpcycledKitchen blog, in the works for the past 18 months! 
  • Finish the book!
  • Spend one Friday or Saturday afternoon a month (difficult during Show Choir Season and summer) at the library researching new recipes, DIY ideas for my home, general knowledge. I do not use the library enough as a learning institution
  • Continue with counseling as needed to help manage my mind clutter while I work on other clutter in my life
I am aware that this is a hefty list and some might say, a plan to fail. However, I think there really are very few actual goals, and more a list of strategies that support the overall objective. Most are just progressive or continuation from previous years actions that will lead to a more calm and serene life. I'm a pretty basic person and have no huge aspirations of conquering the world or even my part of it. I just want to be physically and mentally healthy enough, with financial means and people in which to enjoy what the world has to offer. Perhaps I am attempting to climb a mountain in 2019. I prefer to think about it as crossing over a bunch of consecutive hills. 

8 comments:

  1. You make more resolutions than I do but good luck to you. Oddly enough my first yoga class is on 7 January too so we can compare notes!

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    1. I like to think of it as making 5 goals then a challenge amd strategies to implement. My daughter corrected me-yoga starts 14th.

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  2. The Stairmaster is a great thing! May I make a suggestion? Just change your shoes after work, and commit yourself to ten minutes on it, 3 days/week after work. Bring a something you really WANT to read, (which you won't allow yourself to read any other time) pick an easy setting, and go. You might find you look forward to that time! When my eldest was a newborn, I would put him down for his nap in his carriage, push it to the fitness room in our apartment complex, set his carriage by the machine, and use the Stairmaster and read my book while he slept.

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    1. Good suggestion. I'll give it a try starting tomorrow.

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  3. I like Meg's suggestion on the working out. I think you have a great list of goals. And, maybe breaking them also out into a monthly cadence of what you need to accomplish will also help create momentum before the end of the year. You've got this!

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    1. I do need to transfer to a calendar, much like breaking down work projects. If those that require repetition can be the norm, I think I can be successful.

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  4. I like your goals. If you don't have goals it's difficult to measure achievements. Mine tend to be fairly lose ones other than our budget. That one I am constantly adjusting taking from one area to another each month to make sure we somewhat stay on overall track. I love reading, tend to do so more in winter time. Don't like kindle though, prefer old fashioned books that I pickup for 50 cents-$1 a pop. The library would be more of a hassle for me at this point in life - but later in life I will definitely take advantage of it.

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    1. The library gets me out of my comfort zone. I'll browse books and magazines, check out things I might not from home.

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