End of Year Goals Round-Up: Financial and Miscellaneous
It is the end of the year, and therefore time to wrap up some of my goals for the year! I started doing this last year, and I really liked taking the time to look back at each category of goals, so here we go. (December goal round-ups will happen by category.)
Today's two topics are my financial goals, and my miscellaneous goals.
Financial
In December
* Pay off $2k of credit cards
* Buy Christmas presents in cash
* Continue to pack lunch and cook dinner
I mostly did this! Some of my presents were bought with cards because of where I bought them, but I have the cash on hand to pay off those few things. Since this is a three-paycheck month, I did make that large payment on my credit card (and it's a relief to have done that.) I have also done a lot of cooking, though not quite as much as I might have done, but looking at my tracking sheet, up through today there were only 2 days in the entire month that I didn't provide myself at least one meal (breakfast excluded) at home, so I'm counting that a win. Good job, me!
Looking back at my annual goals, I met a decent number of them:
Primary Goals
* Get my savings cushion back up to the double mark by June
* Pay off second credit card in its entirety by June
* Pay off 10% of the third credit card.
* Do not allow a balance to build on either of the first two cards
Stretch Goals
* Save half of what I need for a new laptop
* Pay off 20% of the third credit card
I had determined that I would get my savings cushion back up to double my minimum by June, which I did. (I then promptly spent that money but saved again.) I also didn't let a balance build on the credit card I had already paid off. I have not paid off the second credit card or made the kind of progress I wanted to on the third one, but overall, I keep moving forward, if in smaller increments than I would have preferred. I did not save for a new laptop, but I did get a new iPad which is fulfilling many of the same functions, so I'm okay with that. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job with this goal set.
Thinking ahead to next year, I know that husband and I will be looking at remodeling the kitchen, so I'm going to have to take a hard look at my budget and cut it down in areas where I'm used to having more flexibility, because I am getting really tired of paying off these credit cards and I want to make more progress on them. (Granted, I'll have more money in the new year because contributions to insurance-related things at work will drop substantially, but that money will probably be eaten up by kitchen remodel, so I still gotta make decisions.) Specific goals are still to be determined, but I think that will be the theme.
Miscellaneous
In December
* Get the TiVo down to 60%
* Apply for passport
* Tidy desk
* Arrange a cleaning service for the house
* Decorate for Christmas
* Read and review at least five books.
I'm applying for the passport later this week (the nearest location to me at work is not very speedy, so I'm doing it while I'm on vacation this week.) The TiVo is down to 62% and we'll have some time in the next couple days to work on that, so I think I'll clear that solidly, and I did all the rest, which means--100% completion rate! I'm super thrilled about that, to be honest. I didn't expect to get much stuff done this month (and in some goal categories, I really didn't), but this one I kicked ass. Hurrah, me!
Looking back at my annual goals:
Primary Goals
* Declutter my life
* Work on my backlog of books (fortunately this one goes a lot faster than games!)
* Do something new every month - new recipe, new restaurant, new place to go, etc.
* Work on being a more compassionate and caring person
* Practice French once a week with Duolingo
* Start running my Exalted game again, or wrap it up if the players are no longer interested
* Start my Dark Ages game
* Get back to playing piano
* Practice and improve skills at Ruby on Rails - build that character system I keep talking about
* Read 50 books
Stretch Goals
* Post reviews to GoodReads for each thing I read
* Get better at balancing alone/recharge time with social time
* Wrap up Exalted chron, and start a Mage game
* Get back to playing flute
* Keep up on my magazine pile a little better
All right. WELL. I have been doing some decluttering--I have been working my way through my closet and other things, and putting things away better or getting rid of them when they no longer suit my life. I did read a fair number of books this year--64, according to GoodReads, of which only four were re-reads!--and I reviewed all of them on GoodReads, therefore conquering both a base goal and a stretch goal. We definitely did something new every month, and I have been trying to actively incorporate compassion more in everything that I do, which I think is going to be even more necessary going forward. It's hard, to remember to actively do that, but I also think it's very worthwhile and it's something i want to keep doing.
I did not start running my Exalted game again or start up my Dark Ages game (never mind a Mage game), but I did get a lot better at having a good amount of alone/recharge time. I did play a little piano, but not much flute. I didn't practice French; that goal got jettisoned early on when I realized I had overcommitted myself. Also, the magazine pile simply continued to grow, because ha ha ha what is keeping up with things. I didn't do the Rails project I was thinking of, either.
This category is always a wild catch-all, and this year is no different. However, I am really proud of the things I did accomplish.
Next year I think I want to keep up the reading challenge--I read a lot, but keeping track of it keeps me accountable (and I did very well with not letting the reading itself become a chore. Reviews sometimes were, but the reading itself was always enjoyable and I never let the fact that I needed to write a review stop me from moving forward with a different book, which is good progress for my general attitude toward things.) I think several of these goals will be carry-overs, actually.
And on that note, I'm going to go play video games.
I've posted this at http://lassarina.dreamwidth.org/1166559.html and you may comment there or here. On Dreamwidth, this entry has
comments.
Today's two topics are my financial goals, and my miscellaneous goals.
Financial
In December
* Pay off $2k of credit cards
* Buy Christmas presents in cash
* Continue to pack lunch and cook dinner
I mostly did this! Some of my presents were bought with cards because of where I bought them, but I have the cash on hand to pay off those few things. Since this is a three-paycheck month, I did make that large payment on my credit card (and it's a relief to have done that.) I have also done a lot of cooking, though not quite as much as I might have done, but looking at my tracking sheet, up through today there were only 2 days in the entire month that I didn't provide myself at least one meal (breakfast excluded) at home, so I'm counting that a win. Good job, me!
Looking back at my annual goals, I met a decent number of them:
Primary Goals
* Get my savings cushion back up to the double mark by June
* Pay off second credit card in its entirety by June
* Pay off 10% of the third credit card.
* Do not allow a balance to build on either of the first two cards
Stretch Goals
* Save half of what I need for a new laptop
* Pay off 20% of the third credit card
I had determined that I would get my savings cushion back up to double my minimum by June, which I did. (I then promptly spent that money but saved again.) I also didn't let a balance build on the credit card I had already paid off. I have not paid off the second credit card or made the kind of progress I wanted to on the third one, but overall, I keep moving forward, if in smaller increments than I would have preferred. I did not save for a new laptop, but I did get a new iPad which is fulfilling many of the same functions, so I'm okay with that. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job with this goal set.
Thinking ahead to next year, I know that husband and I will be looking at remodeling the kitchen, so I'm going to have to take a hard look at my budget and cut it down in areas where I'm used to having more flexibility, because I am getting really tired of paying off these credit cards and I want to make more progress on them. (Granted, I'll have more money in the new year because contributions to insurance-related things at work will drop substantially, but that money will probably be eaten up by kitchen remodel, so I still gotta make decisions.) Specific goals are still to be determined, but I think that will be the theme.
Miscellaneous
In December
* Get the TiVo down to 60%
* Apply for passport
* Tidy desk
* Arrange a cleaning service for the house
* Decorate for Christmas
* Read and review at least five books.
I'm applying for the passport later this week (the nearest location to me at work is not very speedy, so I'm doing it while I'm on vacation this week.) The TiVo is down to 62% and we'll have some time in the next couple days to work on that, so I think I'll clear that solidly, and I did all the rest, which means--100% completion rate! I'm super thrilled about that, to be honest. I didn't expect to get much stuff done this month (and in some goal categories, I really didn't), but this one I kicked ass. Hurrah, me!
Looking back at my annual goals:
Primary Goals
* Declutter my life
* Work on my backlog of books (fortunately this one goes a lot faster than games!)
* Do something new every month - new recipe, new restaurant, new place to go, etc.
* Work on being a more compassionate and caring person
* Practice French once a week with Duolingo
* Start running my Exalted game again, or wrap it up if the players are no longer interested
* Start my Dark Ages game
* Get back to playing piano
* Practice and improve skills at Ruby on Rails - build that character system I keep talking about
* Read 50 books
Stretch Goals
* Post reviews to GoodReads for each thing I read
* Get better at balancing alone/recharge time with social time
* Wrap up Exalted chron, and start a Mage game
* Get back to playing flute
* Keep up on my magazine pile a little better
All right. WELL. I have been doing some decluttering--I have been working my way through my closet and other things, and putting things away better or getting rid of them when they no longer suit my life. I did read a fair number of books this year--64, according to GoodReads, of which only four were re-reads!--and I reviewed all of them on GoodReads, therefore conquering both a base goal and a stretch goal. We definitely did something new every month, and I have been trying to actively incorporate compassion more in everything that I do, which I think is going to be even more necessary going forward. It's hard, to remember to actively do that, but I also think it's very worthwhile and it's something i want to keep doing.
I did not start running my Exalted game again or start up my Dark Ages game (never mind a Mage game), but I did get a lot better at having a good amount of alone/recharge time. I did play a little piano, but not much flute. I didn't practice French; that goal got jettisoned early on when I realized I had overcommitted myself. Also, the magazine pile simply continued to grow, because ha ha ha what is keeping up with things. I didn't do the Rails project I was thinking of, either.
This category is always a wild catch-all, and this year is no different. However, I am really proud of the things I did accomplish.
Next year I think I want to keep up the reading challenge--I read a lot, but keeping track of it keeps me accountable (and I did very well with not letting the reading itself become a chore. Reviews sometimes were, but the reading itself was always enjoyable and I never let the fact that I needed to write a review stop me from moving forward with a different book, which is good progress for my general attitude toward things.) I think several of these goals will be carry-overs, actually.
And on that note, I'm going to go play video games.
I've posted this at http://lassarina.dreamwidth.org/1166559.html and you may comment there or here. On Dreamwidth, this entry has
comments.