Start with one of the most common and traditional goals - lose 14 pounds. I was reading that you should limit this goal to 5% of your current weight. This is slightly more, but I like having the goal be 14 in '14. While I would love to lose a lot more, this is more realistic. We are redesigning the Light Weigh group to start in January with on line meetings. This group helped me before (but I regained weight when we stopped). I've also restarted the running in the right way - I'm dong the Couch to 5K program with some friends through a facebook private group - this has helped keep me accountable and motivated. I've signed up for the Ice Age Half Marathon again. I'm optimistic and positive about this change.
Another common and traditional goal is financial based. Overall my finances are in good shape - thanks mainly to delegating much of that to my financial planner. But where I get sloppy is the more routine day to day stuff. Last year I wasted about $175 on bank fees mainly on late payments - very frustrating for me. I had the money. There is little to no excuse for this waste. So I'm setting the 2014 goal to be no more than $50 in bank fees. I've added a 45 minute tasks every other week to my calendar to keep track of bills and updating quicken -- hopefully this will help to keep things in sync. Also on my 2014 list is to get a new personal laptop. The one I have is old and slow, and to be honest I know I would update my quicken more frequently if it wasn't such a hassle to work with that old laptop.
A third goal for myself is pay closer attention to my food usage. I've been trying to eat healthier and cleaner - with less processed foods. I also find I sometimes overbuy when its a good deal and then the stuff gets wasted. I'm going to set a 2014 goal to spend $30 per week on groceries - this comes to about $130 per month (and note in 2013 I averaged $32.50 per week so this is not a big change) . This is a bit hard to track and qualify because I don't break out my purchases - anything purchased at Aldi or Pick n Save is "grocery" and often those purchases include non grocery items - for example I just purchased 80 pounds of water softener salt with my last Aldi stop. And anything purchased at Target type stores are Household, even if it includes grocery food type items. Plus as I try to move even further from packaged food to more unprocessed foods it could have an impact on this number. The ongoing resolution to eat cleaner is a higher priority than the grocery totals so this goal by go by the way side. The goal's main focus is really to help stop me from overbuying and wasting foods.
Last goal set up this one - spend $400 per month on Household. The Household category is a bit of a catch all for me. In 2013 I averaged $417 per month - so again this is not a huge change. But in this category I also tend to over purchase, and with my on going goal to declutter the house - the year of use it and/or lose it - another tracking point will be to watch how much I'm spending on Household. This number can greatly be influenced by the category selected - so I have to be careful that I'm not just reclassifying things out of the catch all category. And up front I'm going to exclude a planned TV purchase. The current one is about 12+ years old and is starting to go. Normally a TV purchase would fit into the Household category - but I don't want that large purchase made once every 10 years, or so, to impact these numbers.
And don't forget the weirdest resolution ... for the next year I will not purchase soap until Nov 11, 2014.
That should do it for me - so in summary: this is the Year of Use It or (and) Lose It
and my goals are:
- Lose 14 pounds
- Keep bank fees under $50 for the year
- Average $30 or less per week on Groceries
- Average $400 or less per month on Household
- Do not purchase soap before Nov 11
The unmeasurable goals are to live a healthier life - need to get back in shape for the hiking trip and general overall better health and to prepare the house for selling (declutter, organize and stage, and landscape). This second goal is a long term goal - 3 to 8 years out. But I do want to keep a focus on it and to have my annual goals help lead up to it. By reducing my Household purchases this should reduce the amount of 'stuff' in the house, etc.
