Resolution update

Something I love about blogging is that I can quickly look back at what we were up to last year, assuming that I blogged.    So as we approach the end of the year I find myself wondering how we did on resolutions.....usually a mix of good and bad.  How did we do with the 2012 resolutions? 
           
2012 resolutions

Stick with our budget - we did pretty well, I'll admit I feel more secure being on two incomes again and want to really buckle down and work on saving in 2013.

Travel somewhere neither of us have ever been – we did it!  Neither of us had ever been to Tahoe, in fact K had never been to Nevada so we did great on this one and had a memorable birthday for K while we were on our trip.

find quick, easy, healthy meals to cook and get a good group of 'go to' meals we can rotate to have a good mix of meals  fail, we did try some new recipes but we still struggle with what to make each day.  I need to find a better way to approach looking for new meals to try (NOT when I’m trying to make the grocery list).  Something to keep working on in 2013.

Make fitness a regular part of our day – we’re making improvements, as always something to continue to work on.

2012 has been really good to us, K finished grad school and started in his new career.  I’ve continued to grow in my career and we’ve grown as a couple.  We even welcomed a new member of the family – a fish!   I hope that 2013 has just as many good times waiting for us!



I’m becoming more and more of a believer that I should make a change when I want to and not wait for the beginning of a new year. I like the idea of short and long term goals and hope to make an effort to make both types of goals and accomplish them, but still find myself feeling like I should make New Year’s resolutions- if nothing else that dates sticks in your head as a starting point.  I will use some apps because I like to track my progress and they'll keep me honest, also help make it measurable

2013 Resolutions

1) Make fitness a regular part of our days -- we both need to get back into a routine and I need weights as well as cardio in my routine

 - track my workouts and my food on myfitnesspal in an effort to help me finally lose the weight I’ve been wanting to lose for years --- let me know if you're on this service, I need pals to keep me honest!

2) Instead of the vague 'save money', we will set up automatic savings to pull money into savings each month, as an easy start we'll use the money we had been allocating to the car payment since we'll have it PAID OFF next month!  
 - I also plan to set up our finances through an online system to be able to track it more consistently.  I already track with Excel, but want to see what tools these online (free) programs have


3) meal planning - find a different time during the week to look at meal possibilities and:

-          Try one new main dish each month

-          Try a new vegetable (or way to fix it) each month - if we succeed that'd be 12 new ways/dishes

-  find a better way to track meals we like...right now its all paper and excel  

4) Read more, watch less TV - I almost reached the 20 book goal this year (on goodreads), so I’ll use that same goal for 2013 - find me on goodreads!   I picked up a bunch of books on hold at the library today, cannot wait to get into them....I need to stagger them as there is no way I will read 5 books by the time they are due, but I put in a bunch of requests at the same time, if you haven't used your hold system at the library I highly recommend it!
  - K also plans to start his reading plan with the books he already has.

5) Organize one area of the house each month.  We are staying put in this house and so I want to make the best use of the space we have.   I've already started this one over the holiday, and will continue in small chunks - that is how I work best.   I already love the small changes made - a storage unit we had upstairs has been rearranged and is being put to better use in our bedroom closet.

The to do list will get much longer, but for now I have a few items on it:

- call our cable company to reduce our bill – called in Dec but they mentioned a better deal starting in January and gave me a $15 discount per month to hold me over
 - select and start to use an online financial system
- organize (may mean toss and start over) our tupperware collection

 HAPPY 2013!!!