New Year 2011

It's that time of the year again: time to look over my prior year's goals and see how I did, and set new goals for the new year.

Okay here are last year's goals:

1. Make a new budget, including debt reduction and retirement and household stuff (and stick to it, of course) 
2. Remove everything from the house that isn't mine or doesn't fit my new life and goals, and make room for DF and his things/life/goals but without sacrificing me and mine. 
3. Continue to make my home (soon to be our home, I hope) into a place of peace and joy that is as pleasant to me as a day in a resort. 
4. Continue to find and practice hobbies and interests that bring me fulfillment and pride. 
5. Make time every month for family and friends 
6. Take some time - maybe every day - to consciously relax and let things go.  
7. Schedule things more carefully so that I'm not as rushed and my time doesn't feel as limited.

And how did I do?

1. Budget: fail.  Seriously fail.  I don't even know what the budget is anymore, let alone how far off I might be.  I haven't been spending wildly, and I'm making progress (slowly) on the debt reduction, but that isn't the same as making and following a budget.
2. Clear out the crap: fail.  I spent a couple of hours getting rid of stuff, and that's all I've done.  This has got to get done!
3. Home as a resort: I actually made a little progress here.  Mostly by buying a (used) jacuzzi for the back patio.  And I've kept the bathroom fairly well decluttered.  And the diningroom stays perfect because I never use it.  The rest of the house has slid slowly into clutter and chaos.  Not terrible, but bad enough to embarrass me.
4. Hobbies: SUCCESS!  I learned about aquaponics, built a small system, and just completed my large system.  I feel a ton of pride and fulfullment here so this is a complete success to me.
5. Family and friends: So so.  Not as much time as I should have, but I do talk to my parents every week, and I take time to visit friends now and then.  And I keep up with them on Facebook.  All in all, not too bad.  If I'd done more, I'd run into problems with goal 7.
6. Relax every day: SUCCESS!  Thanks to the jacuzzi, which I get into nearly every evening, I am actually taking time to unwind regularly.  And it's wonderful.
7. Don't overschedule: SUCCESS!  I even refused all Christmas and New Year invitations so I'd have the time to myself that I need.  Not that I got as much done in that time as I'd planned, but it was MY time.  And boy do I need that.

Okay, time for the new goals for the year:

1. Budget.  Time to get back on the wagon here.  If I don't have a concrete goal there's no way to hit it.  Time to break out the YNAB again.
2. Declutter.  For this I think I need to set some simple, achievable goals.  I can do this.  And hopefully DF will have moved in by the end of the year, so I *really* need to get it done before that.
3. Get the divorce finalized.  I was hoping that with xDH wanting to file BK and not having a day job or anything to tie up all his time, that he'd actually set us the appointment to get this done.  But evidently not.  I'll just have to figure out how to take time off work and do it myself.  A good reminder in itself of why it's getting done.
4. Aquaponics.  Now that I've got the system built out there, it's time to make it work for me.  By the end of the year I want to be growing at least 50% of the veggies I eat.  Oh, and I have to figure out how to handle the fish also.
5. Housekeeping.  I let this one slide too far this year.  Time to get back on my schedule.
6. Goals.  Clearly it's not enough to *have* them, I need to be reviewing them.  I'll set up a monthly goal review, and use that time to set mini-goals for the following month so that I stay on track.  With my new Smart Phone, this will be easier to do.

Okay, time to get on it!  It's still a few days from the first of the year, and I want to have all of my systems in place when it gets here so that I'm not starting off already behind.

Happy New Year!