Final 2010 Goal Update
I pretty much fell off the wagon with goal updates in the latter part of this past year. In fact, my last one was in August. Whoops.
I felt like I should write an update even though the year is now officially over, so here I am. I still need to ponder how exactly I'm going to approach next year's goals, and depending on how that goes, I might post about that later today or maybe tomorrow.
Or maybe not until Monday.
How's that for specificity?*
*specificity is my most favorite word in the whole entire world simply because it is so much fun to say**. I purposely use it as much as is humanly possible. It's so bad that when our pastor used it in a sermon, my children all looked over at me and grinned.
**reciprocity is a close second. But it is harder to find appropriate places to use it in a sentence.
1. Eat non-cereal breakfast 4 days a week and eat more fruit at breakfast
I fell off of the wagon with this some during the month of December, but I wasn't a complete failure....we ate more cereal than usual, but our breakfasts weren't 100% cereal (to be clear, I don't consider a Caramel Monkey Bread breakfast to be a triumph. Delicious? Yes. Healthy? Um, no.)
We have been eating quite a bit of fruit in the way of clementines, grapfruits, and bananas. There's definitely not as much wonderful fruit available at this time of year, though...how I miss the peaches of summer!
2. Save for a replacement van.
I have a really happy update here. My goal was to get 30% of my goal saved (I thought that might be a reach), but I'm happy to say that my van fund is now sitting at 35% complete! Yay!
Depending on how things go this year, it's possible that my account will be fully funded by the end of 2011, which would be super-duper fabulous.
3. Buy more organic, local food.
I'm doing pretty well here...I bought a quarter of a cow from a local farm and I also bought several pounds of breakfast sausage from them. I've been buying unpackaged local chicken at the local organic store too.
Local produce is sort of a problem these days because farmer's markets and produce stands are closed and it's certainly to cold to grow anything in my back yard. We are still eating some homegrown and local produce that I froze, and we still have plenty of freezer jam, which I made with local fruits.
4. Keep Quicken updated once a week.
I can't say that I've managed to do this once a week, but I can tell you that my Quicken files are all updated as of right now, and that's better than the usual.
I'm pretty sure this goal is going to have to stay on my goal list for the third year in a row, which is good for my humility levels.
Ok! So, stay tuned for my new goal list which is coming....sometime.
P.S. I am feeling much, much, much better today. Still coughing, and my head hurts when I bend over, but mercy of mercies, the achiness is gone. Woohoo!
P.P.S. Did you not even know that I was sick? Well, you must not be keeping up with me on Facebook or Twitter. I share important* information like the state of my health at those places.
*by which I mean, "not important"
Today's 365 post: Sonia's Turtle (s)
Have you ever checked out YNAB for budgeting? I used to use Quicken but I didn't need all it had and really just wanted a budget. YNAB lets you lay out a budget for the month and then you can download or enter transactions along the way so you always know how much is left in a certain category. It also has several philosophies that I like where you live on last month's income (this takes a while) and you set up funds (like you did for your van), etc. I don't have any affiliation with it or anything, just really happy with it. I don't know that I am allowed to post links so you can just search YNAB and find it.
i haven't tried that before...I wonder if it has all the stuff I need to keep track of self-employment income. I need to track blog income and piano teaching income for tax purposes.
I'll have to check it out!
Just wanted to thank Melissa for mentioning YNAB. After reading her suggestion, I went and checked it out. After looking it over, I decided to download the trial. I am really lovin' it and will be dropping Quicken. I used to dread balancing my accounts, but holy smokes, this is so easy. Thank You Melissa!
Please keep the 365 project going! I have no idea if that ever was an actual goal of yours or not, but please keep it going!
Oh yeah, I plan to keep doing that. It's a lot of fun for me to do and it's super easy and not stressful. And you all seem to enjoy it as much as I do, so I see no reason to stop!
I almost made the same request. Then I checked the archives and was reminded that this project started in March of 2010. I breathed a sigh of relief. Glad to hear you're planning on continuing the project beyond 365 days!
I'm not making yearly goals, I'm taking baby steps and working on one thing and then adding more as I accomplish each step. I have chosen a word this year, which is "Beautify", and every step I take will to be beautify myself and my family from the inside out and our surroundings. Eating healthier is my first goal. I've blogged about it and will continue to do so if you want to check up on me. 🙂
Happy New Year Kristen. I have now been reading your blog daily for an entire year. Thank you so much for all the inspirtion and motivation you have given me this last year. I'm excited about the coming year, having set myself goals which incorporate a lot of what I've learned from you. Here's to another year of fabulous blogging! 🙂
It's an anniversary of sorts! lol And you are very welcome...I'm delighted that my blog has served you. 🙂
Happy New Year! I am working on some of the same goals as you. After my daughter's (she's barely 15) emergency gall bladder removal last week, I realized that even though I cook fairly healthy meals it's time to eliminate as many preservatives and "Dirty Dozen" foods out of our diets as possible. We have also had a rash of huge medical bills this year, so I am planning on rebuilding our Emergency Fund. Thanks for your fabulous and relevant posts. They have really helped me keep focused.
Totally off the point, but your comment about 'specificity' reminded me of something. My boyfriend uses the phrase 'as it were' all the time, and it seems to be catching. On more than one occasion the pastor of our church has used the phrase, and I can guarantee that any time he does the friends we sit with sneak a glance over at Zach!
I've been following your blog for a few months now, but this is my first hello. Happy new year! 🙂
Oh, I love it when people de-lurk! Yay!
I need to budget better, eat better and get more work done. You have great goals too.