No Resolutions Here!

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I don't. I used to. I learned that every time I made a resolution, I just set myself up for complete and utter failure. Every. single. time. I do make goals, however. I have a long list of goals I would like to reach in 2009 Will I achieve them all? Maybe not. But it gives me something to work towards. Here are my goals for this year, it is a very long list but I have an entire year to reach these goals! Do you make goals?

1. Time with God

• more prayer time
• more bible reading~last year I had a goal to read the bible in one year. I did not reach it. I will try again this year.

2. School

• more consistent schooling
• more organization~more prep work so that when we are ready to work on something I have it ready and not have to run last minute to look something up or print something off
• all manuals in one place
• more nature walks
• more hands on
• make a craft and reading area for the boys

3. Home

• making our home more of a haven
• declutter~my goal this year is to go through every cabinet, drawer, closet, box, shed everything and get rid of what we don't love.
• organize what I do have make things I need on a daily basis more easily accessible
• reduce, reuse, recycle~this goes hand in hand with the decluttering above
• more consistent with daily chores~make a schedule of weekly, monthly, yearly chores
• organize my coupons. I have gotten pretty good in this area, but it does need some improvement

4. Cooking

• plan weekly menus
• use what we have on hand
• cook more from scratch
• learn to make some of our favorite restaurant meals at home
• work on recipe files and cookbooks~get rid of cookbooks I no longer want

5. Gardening

• plan a bigger garden
• involve the kids more in our gardening
• start a compost bin
• find areas of the yard I can use for gardening
• start our own seedlings from seeds

6. Computer

• Organize files, delete items I really don't want~well this is happening much faster than I anticipated since the computer crashed. As I am reloading items from Mozy I am deleting what I really don't want.
• plan computer time and blogging time better
• plan blog posts ahead of time

7. Finances

• SAVE MORE
• SPEND LESS
• Pay off debt
• make up budget~read Dave Ramsey book and watch videos I purchased just before Christmas implement his plan
• plan more long term savings
• work on sub accounts for savings: emergency fund, vacation fund, Christmas fund, Korea fund
• get grocery budget down to $50 weekly
• read all of my financial blogs and apply what I have learned
• reevaluate our needs vs. our wants
• regularly go to CVS. This has saved me a tremendous amount of money over the past year. Over $3000.00! It is very worth doing.
• Only shop sales. When shopping online always shop through sites like My Points, Cashbaq, Ebates to maximize my savings
• look for more ways to save/cut our expenses and apply those savings to our DEBT

8. Pictures

• make photobooks~I have switched over to digital scrapping and have several years of photos to scrap.
• decide on what type of storage I want to use for my picture files (I have tons of them)
• delete photos I really don't want

9. Justin and Kaden

• make life books for both boys
• start journaling for both boys~write down all those memories so they aren't forgotten

10. Personal

• Read more~this is a must for me. I feel so renewed and refreshed when I read for myself! I have a pile of new books just waiting for me!
• eat better
• walk more
• take better care of me
• plan out some time just for myself each week even if it is just to the library for an hour by myself
• make a special area in the house just for me.
• remember my word for 2009 and apply it. FOCUS
• remember my verse for the year: It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 2 Samuel 22:33