Yes, I did say I would post about these today, but today I'm simply not in the mood. I've been pondering them and do have lots to tell you, but you'll have to check back tomorrow. I've thought too much today and am now needing to get ready for a fun evening with family and friends celebrating the blessings of 2010 and welcoming the blessings ahead in 2011! :)
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Recap on 2010 Goals
Here is a recap on my goals for 2010.
-Pay off 2 student loans--> DONE & then some... :) Very exciting.
-De-clutter the garage--> DONE and then messed up a bit and then re organized again...For now it's looking good. :)
-Scrapbook: 1. Family--not really finished, haven't been working on it much. This will probably go on 2011 goal sheet too. 2. Asher's--It's mostly up to date. I did "cheat" a little and ordered some kodak books to help me keep up through the fall and winter, but it's all to date. :) 3. Audrey's-Same as Asher's. I do intend to work on finishing up some of the spring pictures I have for both of them that have been printed and are waiting to be scrapbooked. Hopefully that'll happen at the beginning of this year so I can have their books ready for their birthdays. 4. Our Wedding--not even touched. We've been married 8 1/2 years and this one is still not even close to being done. Maybe in 2011?!?! ;)
-Spiritual/Personal Growth reading once a week & Daily Bible reading-->Did pretty well on that. There were a few patches where reading wasn't as consistent, but for the most part I was able to do several Bible studies and a few books like The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey & Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham. I also got started on the Karen Kingsbury books and read the entire Redemption Series and am on the second book of the Firstborn Series. So, I'd say my reading goal has been satisfied! :)
-Make a healthy diet change/month-->This is a mixed review. We did make some great changes to our diet this year, but I'm not sure it would total 12. We did switch to better dairy products, we also have been getting farm fresh meats & eating game meat which is also healthier for you. We've continued to have a healthy supply of fruits and vegetables, but I've worked on getting them from local and/or organic sources more regularly this year. I think this is a goal I will continue through the next year, but maybe not expect a full 12 changes.
-Deep clean one room per month--> That was going really well for about 1/2 the year! Throughout the fall I haven't been as consistent on it, so I think my new goal will be to find a good cleaning service! ;) I actually do think the goal was good, life just happened and cleaning didn't make the top of the priority list.
-Redecorate/Fix something in the house (3 projects this year)--> We did several things in our room to add some updates, but I don't think it's finished. I'm not really happy with the result of this goal. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to do more of these things that I think are fun and add life to our home. I have some clear ideas of what I'd like to do, but time &/or money seem to keep them from happening just yet. Hopefully this year some of those things will happen!
So, there's my recap. This year I'm going to set goals under specific categories, so we'll see how that works. I'll write more about that tomorrow! :)
How'd you do this year? Did you have goals that you set? Did you do a good job completing them?
-Pay off 2 student loans--> DONE & then some... :) Very exciting.
-De-clutter the garage--> DONE and then messed up a bit and then re organized again...For now it's looking good. :)
-Scrapbook: 1. Family--not really finished, haven't been working on it much. This will probably go on 2011 goal sheet too. 2. Asher's--It's mostly up to date. I did "cheat" a little and ordered some kodak books to help me keep up through the fall and winter, but it's all to date. :) 3. Audrey's-Same as Asher's. I do intend to work on finishing up some of the spring pictures I have for both of them that have been printed and are waiting to be scrapbooked. Hopefully that'll happen at the beginning of this year so I can have their books ready for their birthdays. 4. Our Wedding--not even touched. We've been married 8 1/2 years and this one is still not even close to being done. Maybe in 2011?!?! ;)
-Spiritual/Personal Growth reading once a week & Daily Bible reading-->Did pretty well on that. There were a few patches where reading wasn't as consistent, but for the most part I was able to do several Bible studies and a few books like The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey & Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham. I also got started on the Karen Kingsbury books and read the entire Redemption Series and am on the second book of the Firstborn Series. So, I'd say my reading goal has been satisfied! :)
-Make a healthy diet change/month-->This is a mixed review. We did make some great changes to our diet this year, but I'm not sure it would total 12. We did switch to better dairy products, we also have been getting farm fresh meats & eating game meat which is also healthier for you. We've continued to have a healthy supply of fruits and vegetables, but I've worked on getting them from local and/or organic sources more regularly this year. I think this is a goal I will continue through the next year, but maybe not expect a full 12 changes.
-Deep clean one room per month--> That was going really well for about 1/2 the year! Throughout the fall I haven't been as consistent on it, so I think my new goal will be to find a good cleaning service! ;) I actually do think the goal was good, life just happened and cleaning didn't make the top of the priority list.
-Redecorate/Fix something in the house (3 projects this year)--> We did several things in our room to add some updates, but I don't think it's finished. I'm not really happy with the result of this goal. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to do more of these things that I think are fun and add life to our home. I have some clear ideas of what I'd like to do, but time &/or money seem to keep them from happening just yet. Hopefully this year some of those things will happen!
So, there's my recap. This year I'm going to set goals under specific categories, so we'll see how that works. I'll write more about that tomorrow! :)
How'd you do this year? Did you have goals that you set? Did you do a good job completing them?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tips for Setting Goals
One of the biggest problems with doing new years resolutions is that people expect too much of themselves and try to change everything in their lives in a week! It doesn't work that way and it ends up making people feel like failures because they weren't able to make the changes they had hoped to make.
Here are some of the things I like to keep in mind while setting goals:
-Make them realistic
-Allow a reasonable amount of time for them to be completed
-Add some goals that will be exciting/fun--not just work
-Write them down in a place where you can revisit them throughout the year to re-evaluate them; be willing to make changes to them if necessary.
-Allow for flexibility and "life to happen" so that you won't be discouraged if you didn't do a perfect job--no one can see a year down the road, so it's likely not all of your goals will happen just the way you'd like them to.
-See it as an opportunity to grow and mature in specific areas of your life, not as a standard you have to meet.
Here are some of the things I like to keep in mind while setting goals:
-Make them realistic
-Allow a reasonable amount of time for them to be completed
-Add some goals that will be exciting/fun--not just work
-Write them down in a place where you can revisit them throughout the year to re-evaluate them; be willing to make changes to them if necessary.
-Allow for flexibility and "life to happen" so that you won't be discouraged if you didn't do a perfect job--no one can see a year down the road, so it's likely not all of your goals will happen just the way you'd like them to.
-See it as an opportunity to grow and mature in specific areas of your life, not as a standard you have to meet.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
New Years Resolutions?
Do you make New Years Resolutions? Do you keep them? Do you make a long list of things you want to do and then have nearly the same list the next year? How do you feel about them? Do you think they are helpful?
I'm curious about what you guys think.
I've never been much of a resolutions girl myself, but in the last couple years my husband and I have set some goals for the year. It's been helpful in a lot of ways and it's helped us move forward and grow in areas we may not have with out them.
I'll be posting about setting goals this week & some of my tips, plus what my goals will be for the new year and a recap on last years goals. Follow along and post some of yours too!
I'm curious about what you guys think.
I've never been much of a resolutions girl myself, but in the last couple years my husband and I have set some goals for the year. It's been helpful in a lot of ways and it's helped us move forward and grow in areas we may not have with out them.
I'll be posting about setting goals this week & some of my tips, plus what my goals will be for the new year and a recap on last years goals. Follow along and post some of yours too!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Groupon Deal!
I just got this Shutterfly deal on Groupon. It'll be 2 calendars for $20. These make great grandparent gifts with pictures of the kids for them to enjoy each month.
Forgotten Update
As I was browsing back through some older posts, I noticed that I forgot to give you a car update ! It was a mixture of good news and bad news, but mostly good considering the circumstances. As I shared before, the repair was quite an expensive one. The price the mechanic quoted us was any where between $800 and $1,700 depending on the damage they could discover as they went along. As you can imagine we were far less then thrilled by the quote. We were very discouraged to say the least, not only was it in the midst of our Christmas shopping, but it also happened right after our computer started failing too!
Now, the good news, the actual cost of the repair was $759. I know, it was A LOT, but compared to the numbers they had told us, not only was it on the lowest end, it was BELOW the lowest end!! :) I like to think God threw that in as an extra bonus just for me! ;) Since I had been praying for it to be less then what we were expecting. The other piece of good news is that we didn't even TOUCH our emergency fund. Since we'd had some extra in our budget for those two weeks, it completely covered the whole bill. AND, just because we have an awesome mechanic who is so good to us, he fixed my power steering problem (that was completely unrelated & just an extra thing we mentioned to him to look at) for FREE!
As crummy as it is to have car problems, we saw God's hand in all of it. Taking care of us, providing all of the finances for it and even giving us a few extra blessings in the midst of the troubles.
Now, the good news, the actual cost of the repair was $759. I know, it was A LOT, but compared to the numbers they had told us, not only was it on the lowest end, it was BELOW the lowest end!! :) I like to think God threw that in as an extra bonus just for me! ;) Since I had been praying for it to be less then what we were expecting. The other piece of good news is that we didn't even TOUCH our emergency fund. Since we'd had some extra in our budget for those two weeks, it completely covered the whole bill. AND, just because we have an awesome mechanic who is so good to us, he fixed my power steering problem (that was completely unrelated & just an extra thing we mentioned to him to look at) for FREE!
As crummy as it is to have car problems, we saw God's hand in all of it. Taking care of us, providing all of the finances for it and even giving us a few extra blessings in the midst of the troubles.
Debt Update
It's been a while since I've given a debt update, so I thought now would be a good time to do so. We started our debt diet on July 27th, so it's been exactly 5 months. I'm happy to share with you that to date we've paid off just under $16,000 of debt!!! Isn't that exciting?!?!
Here's a quick run down on how we've done it:
-Emptied all our savings (leaving only the $1,000 emergency fund)
-Withdrawing some investment accounts that weren't doing well and/or weren't active any more
-Lived on a cash only budget
-Saved and applied every spare penny we could find in our income toward debt
-Sold stuff we weren't using
-Picked up extra jobs/shifts
-Applied for higher paying jobs and asked for raises
-Cut back on bills or non-essentials any where we could
We still have a long road ahead of us, but the progress has been amazing and we are so thrilled!
Here's a quick run down on how we've done it:
-Emptied all our savings (leaving only the $1,000 emergency fund)
-Withdrawing some investment accounts that weren't doing well and/or weren't active any more
-Lived on a cash only budget
-Saved and applied every spare penny we could find in our income toward debt
-Sold stuff we weren't using
-Picked up extra jobs/shifts
-Applied for higher paying jobs and asked for raises
-Cut back on bills or non-essentials any where we could
We still have a long road ahead of us, but the progress has been amazing and we are so thrilled!
Friday, December 24, 2010
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