New Year - New Goals

On Sunday, January 6, I de-flocked my home of 99% of my Christmas decorations and on Monday night, I finished packing up the remaining one percent and tucked everything away in the basement until December.  So now I can officially kiss 2012 good-bye!  And now, like most every other red-blooded American, I look at the new year with resolutions and goals in mind.  And I have the usual plans to exercise more, loose a few pounds, be better organized, be more punctual, yada, yada, yada.  But my main focus this year is to finish what I start.  That means first and foremost, complete all unfinished projects from last year.  And trust me, that could take awhile.

The other specific goals that I would like to work on for this year are as follows:

Home projects:  Update our kitchen.  This will be a pretty major endeavor and I hope to post about each step like some of my favorite bloggers.

Fitness:  Quit wasting money on a yearly gym membership that I only use for about 4 to 5 months (this part also falls into my financial category).  Start working with a personal trainer/nutritionist to find an exercise routine that I will stick with, and incorporate more healthy meals into our monthly menus.

Financial: Start putting $100 a month into my 401K.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I like to start small, and I know my limitations.

Personal: Make date night with my husband more of a priority and be more creative with our date options than just dinner and a movie.  I have already started implementing this one.  For Christmas, I gave my husband a "Date Jar".  This was one of those terrific ideas that I found on Pinterest.  I used some of their ideas and painted 52 craft sticks four different colors for each of the following categories: Stay at Home Dates; Big Bucks or Advanced Planning; Standard Dates; and Warm Weather Dates.

Educational:  Learn how to use my camera better.  I took a photography class right after I got my new camera last year, but it really didn't teach me how to operate my specific camera.  And everything I learned about ISO and F-stop, I have already forgotten (or wonder if I really understood it in the first place.)

Dreams:  Blogging about all my efforts at least once a week.  I'm hoping I get a few followers that will help encourage me and keep me accountable.

Okay, I think that's about enough.  I already think I sound like an over achiever.  What about you?  Have you set any goals for yourself this year?