I’ve decided to really commit myself to accomplishing the 2013 goals that I decided to set for the New Year, so I have decided to take note of my progress once a month on the ol’ blog. Gives me more incentive since if I FAIL, I will FAIL PUBLICLY. Fun!
1) Stop Rewarding Myself with Shopping: I did okay on this one, only buying some new workout pants for pilates class (LOVE pilates) on sale at Gap, new bras because I have to retire mine out of rotation pretty frequently, and the white jeans that I bought on super sale at Madewell. I’m not counting the Madewell silk blouse since I returned it, but I did also buy the new Sailor Pants and Sera Top from J.Crew (am going to return the top because it’s too big), not as a reward but because I just plain wanted them.
2) Pay Off Half of My Personal Loan Before 2014: I’m on a monthly payment plan, so this goal is on track!
3) Fold/Iron Clothes As Soon As They Emerge From Dryer: 50/50 on this one…not really enough to establish a pattern of improvement. Must do better!
4) Start Savings Account: YES! And I have set up my payroll Auto-pay through work to deposit 10% into my savings account each paycheck. Goal accomplished!
5) Create Upholstered Headboard: No, but it’s only February.
6) Re-upholster Chair: See above.
7) Organize My E-mail Inbox: Ugh, not yet. I have a feeling that this goal will be accomplished on a random Tuesday at 1am because I can’t sleep. Hooray for insomnia productivity?
8) Better Meal Management: I did an AWESOME job at this in January and barely spent any money on groceries…but that’s because the BF worked nights all month. His meals at home consisted of cereal, chips + salsa, and canned soup, while I basically made a batch of quinoa, lentils, or pasta + kale for dinner, then ate whatever I made until it was gone. Real test begins this month.
9) Make More Art/Do More Designing: I helped a friend with some ideas for her kitchen remodel, and another friend with her living room remodel, so that made me happy. I also did a watercolor of another friend’s home and plan to surprise her for her birthday.
10) Stop Envying the Lives of Others: I’ve honestly spent so much time trying to improve myself that I forgot to be jealous of others, so maybe that’s the key, haha. Will try to keep this up, but I’m sure it will change as Spring gets closer and bloggers start showing off all of the new crap they’ve bought :/
Achieving goals is fun. For inspiration, here is someone who is my age and is really terrific at accomplishing goals:
And here is someone my age who still needs her dad to monitor her phone calls:
Images of Bey and Brit from Fabsugar.
I love that mirror of a TIME magazine cover, hilarious. My father used to have one with a Wanted poster that, as a child I thought was pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteGood progress on your goals, we all start somewhere and it's important to acknowledge what you have achieved, not just examine what you haven't. Good luck with continuing your goals.
Thanks, xoxo! I've always been good at accomplishing goals, checking items off lists, etc, so I think this will really help me. The past few years have been kinda tough because I feel like I was on track, and then some guy in a ninja costume with "housing bubble" printed on it jumped me and kicked me into the bushes on the side of the road. Then I made some bad decisions, blah-blah-blah. Time to dust myself off and get back on track.
DeleteWhat a good idea to keep track. I think you are doing amazing! Doing automatic saving and loan payments is the only way to go, and it really works. This way spending the money is not an option, that's the kind of enforcement I need.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea to do more creative stuff. I've got my easel set up in my living room as I am trying not to shop much this year... I think shopping is a super-lazy creative outlet for me, I'm trying to replace it with painting and drawing again. I'm not very good at it but I like working with colours.
Beyonce is amazing isn't she.
Thanks DaniBP! Creativity is a funny thing - the more you do, the more you're inspired to do, so having free time also helps...and that's harder to come up with, haha. I'll find myself messing around on Pinterest and think, "Go create your own work instead of looking at other peoples' work, dummy!"
DeleteLOL, I love Beyonce so much. She is such a badass. I am with you on number 3. My fiance and I both need to work on this. It's such a small/dumb thing but next thing you know, everything's been sitting in the dryer for a week and is a wrinkled mess!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are doing great so far.
Thank you, J.CrewJD! My downfall re: laundry is that I have to iron EVERYTHING. It's a sickness that I inherited from my mom and my grandmother that gets less insane with each generation. Currently, there are 5 cotton blouses and 4 tee shirts hanging limply across the back of the purgatory chair, waiting for me to make them nice and crisp again :/
DeleteHi, I'm new here.
ReplyDeleteLove the first photo. Did you hear that Jeff Bridges released a book with his friend, a zen master, basically about life lessons from The Dude? It's called "The Dude and the Zen Master."
I liked reading about your goals. Great job opening the account and setting up automatic savings - that will make such a difference to your year!
Welcome Abby, and thank you! I REALLY have to check that book out! "The Big Lebowski" is one of my favorites, and I've loved Jeff Bridges since I saw "Starman" on HBO as a little girl, haha.
DeleteAs I type this, I am looking at a hamper full of clean clothes that needs to be put away. I need help with #3 for sure!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with this problem!
DeleteOMG. You are so funny. Love your blog. You seriously overanalyze EVERYTHING. Good luck with all of your goals. I set goals at my birthday rather than New Year's. And I love lists.
ReplyDelete"You seriously overanalyze EVERYTHING." Man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I could probably swim through my money Scrooge McDuck style. Thanks, Susan :)
DeleteWe have some similar goals! I also need to stop rewarding myself with shopping...because I make too many "mini goals" that I fulfill! Cooking at home has saved me so much money, but like you, I also make a large amount of similar things (like kale salad) and just eat it until it's gone. In fact...kale is what is for lunch tomorrow. At least kale is healthy right? :) Hahaha Whitney, love the end of your post!! It made me LOL (for real)! Good luck with your goals! 2013 will be a good year!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Celena! I've become such a kale addict, but I don't think that's a bad thing ;) One of the things I really miss about living in the city is shopping for smaller amounts of groceries more frequently so I can buy fresh stuff on the fly, as opposed to ONE GIANT FOOD HAUL every week. I'm not very good at planning meals like that yet.
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