I hate New Year's "resolutions". I never keep 'em. But I do need some goals to work towards. Here's what I've come up with so far:
Immediate goals (i.e. this week):
Take down all Christmas decorations and get them back in storage - NEATLY! I'm getting my bedroom walk-in closet somewhat more decluttered and organized and need to keep up with that. About half of my xmas decorations are stored in the closet. I think I might look for some of those under bed plastic storage units to move the decorations to. I have quite a bit of room underneath my side of the bed.
Take bagged up clothes and old floor lamp not used to Goodwill
Keep working on getting through the boxes of old papers and misc junk.
Short-term goals (i.e. January):
Make dh an eye dr appt.
Keep up with current paperwork filing away or tossing.
Keep my desk clean (so far so good from my cleaning a couple of weeks ago)
Long-term goals for the year:
Bring EF to at least $2000
Set aside $30 a month for next year's Christmas gifts - or use money to start buying gifts and stocking stuffers ahead of time
Start getting a big stockpile of food and household and personal care supplies from sales
Stop wasting and throwing out extra food
Start contributing to my company's 401k plan again
Eat healthier foods (and hopefully reduce the exhaustion I feel daily)
Less fast food/take out dinners for Dh
Comments on the above:
I think I've got Dh on board with starting to stockpile. I haven't done much of it because I just don't have enough storage space in the house. It's not the "good deals" he cares about, but the thought of being prepared for a big emergency appeals to him. He's even agreed to give me some shelf space in the garage. Our neighbor has a huge shop and I guess he has really started stocking up on emergency food and supplies and I think that helped convince Dh. So, I can satisfy my need to get good deals and he can feel like he is getting prepared :-)
We waste so much food. No one (but me) will eat leftovers and I don't know how I will ever get them to. Dh just plain refuses (he said he grew up with his Mom's crappy cooking and there was no way he was going to eat it a 2nd night in a row!). I have a bunch of plastic containers and I just need to start using them. I can always have leftovers for lunch or dinners for me when I do get Dh take out, since I rarely eat from fast food places like McDonalds and Wendy's.
I had to stop contributing to my 401k plan when Dh had to quit work and my company stopped their bonus program (all around beginning of 2009). I was really hoping that I'd get that raise now so I could at least start putting in a little bit each paycheck, but now I am just going to have to hope for getting a raise in June. At least when I had to stop contributing my account my company started an annual profit sharing contribution of 3.4% of our salary into our 401k, so at least something is going in there each year. If I can start contributing again, my company will also match 1/2, up to 3%.
The main reason I hate making dinner is because by that time of day I have almost no energy left. I really need to find something to help with that. Doctor tests show no problems but I'm sure my diet has a lot to do with it - too much sugar, I'm assuming - and I need to drink more water. So, I need to start doing some research on a better diet plan so that by 3pm I am not drained of energy. I have a lot of energy for about the first 6 hours I am awake - the rest of the day is just downhill from there until I go to bed around 9:30. I just started taking a multi-vitamin last week (for better energy support per the bottle), so maybe that will help too. I am allergic to caffeine, so that is not an option for me to help stay awake, as it seems most people I know do. I can handle a small cup of coffee but more than that and my heart is beating like crazy. Most of the time I just have decaf. I am just terrible about eating healthy foods. I hate most vegetables and don't eat enough fruits either. Ugh! Diet and exercise I've never been good at, though until a few years ago I've never had to worry about dieting for weight - I'm petite and was 105 pounds since I was a teenager until I had a car accident 5 years ago. I've put on 15 pounds and seem stuck at that weight now. My whole life I have never had a lot of energy, but I got less active after my car accident and it has been worse since then.
So, that's my start of goals for 2012. Hopefully I can start seeing some progress!
That's too bad that Dh wont eat leftovers. I eat more leftovers than I eat regular meals! Have you tried repurposing dinner to make it into lunches? Like using baked chicken to make sandwiches the next day or a salad, and pack that for him as lunch. I found that it is so much easier to just pack lunch as you're cleaning up for dinner or while waiting for food to cooldown before storing it. Perhaps he will be a lot more willing to just take something out of the fridge if it is always packed and ready to go. And who said lunches have to be leftovers? You can make new smaller meals as you're cooking dinner and pack those for his lunch, like veggie muffins and simple stirfries or salads.
ReplyDeleteFor eating more fruits and veggies, I hate to push it, but just start with a piece of fruit a week and go from there. They make such simple and great snacks that any method that gets you eating more of them is worth it. Vegetables are a bit easier since stirfries can be done solely of veggies, so adding meat or potatoes will create enough of a diversion you wont see them. Good luck with your goals!
I re purpose dinner sometimes for my lunches (but half the time my tiredness has taken over and I don't take the time to save it), but it's a no-go on Dh. Since he can't work he just eats here at home everyday - and even when he worked he has eaten the same lunch for 30 years! A ham and cheese sandwich and chips. At least he made it easy and I didn't have to think of different lunches to make him :-) He is very picky about food.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying the past week to grab a banana or a small orange and eat it during the day. We bought some of those small Clementine oranges and they are the perfect size. I'm not doing it every day, but at least it's a start.