Goals: 2010 vs. 2011

Last year I had some really good goals and worked hard at holding myself accountable by posting about them on the blog regularly.  Some things I actually did well on, some not so much.  So to start this year I figured that it would be good to evaluate how I did last year and set some new (or more defined) goals for 2011.

So first--the goals of 2010:

1.  Improve my Overall Health.  Mostly a fail, with some postitive changes made.  I really did start last year w/good intentions but constant illness really hampered my progress.  I think the best and most consistent change that I made was started my water aerobics class which gives a guaranteed 2 days/week to exercise.  I'm still fatter than I was at this time last year though :/

2. Be a better steward of our money.  I can confidently say that I greatly improved in this area!  (well, I kinda had to with the whole dropping to only one primary income...).  I severely cut back on shopping and have made a conscious effort to consider things before buying them, and also to return things if I get home and realize that it was a bad purchase.  And I let most of my magazine subscriptions lapse! woohoo!!

3.  Let things go.  Much improved in this area as well. We had a yard sale in October and got rid of lots of junk--and the things that didn't sell went to consignment or donations: not back into the house.  I've also purged a lot of the magazines that I had saved.

4.  Waste less time.  I still have a problem w/computer games!!  I unsubscribed to a lot of blogs though and have honestly been more busy during my evenings to the time wasting isn't as bad.  Still could use progress though.

5.  Read books.  Another success!  (though I have fallen back into the Harry Potter series again rather than reading new books...).  I should have kept a list but I know I read at least 10.  Much better than previous years!

6.  Organize/cleaning.  Eh...i've done better about having a cleaning routine for our common areas, and have purged a lot of junk, but I am just never going to be a neatnick.  Some progress, but much more room for improvement.

7.  Spend more time w/hubs.  Hmm...it comes and goes in spurts.  I don't know how well we did about quantity of time together, but I think we did a little better at quality time together when we could have it.  Still needs work though.

8.  Spend time with God daily.  Much improved over the previous year--I actually read through the whole Bible this year!  And with my job now being ministry, making it a priority has been much more important.  I did not do it every day, but am doing much better!

Alright, so to my goals for this year.  Much of the same, but this year I want to add a new focus to several of them:  must accomplish/work on goal before we can start a family.  We are not ready for kids yet, but are getting emotionally closer to that point and several things really need to happen before my body can handle pregnancy (if God blesses us in that way) and before our housse will have room for a child!


So here are the goals for 2011:
1.  Lose at least 30 pounds.  I've just got to do this.  I would like to lose more but want to be realistic (and that is still a big number to me).  I am no longer working at my old job so I have time to devote to eating well & excercising.  There is no room for excuses!  And I need to take care of my body in order to be physically able to handle potentially carrying a child and also caring for one.  It's not just about how I feel, it's about our future.  

2.  Eat a salad for at least 4 meals each week & exercise at least 5 times a week.  (and mayonnaise based chicken & tuna salads don't count...nor do jello salads ;) ) I feel like these are realistic steps that I can take to mindfully work towards my goals.

3. Focus on quality time w/hubs & a focused dinner at least once a week.  We are bad about eating in front of the TV and when I did our candlelight dinner on Christmas I realized how much just moving into the other room changes things.  Even if his work keeps him too busy to go out on a date each week, we can have an in-house date at the dining room table.  And I need to focus on him when he makes the time to be w/me rather than trying to multi-task.

4.  Give myself freedom to throw things away.  I've talked about my hoarding tendencies, and part of that is that I really struggle w/throwing things in the trash that are not food products or packaging.  I recycle ALL accepted plastics & paper products and even recycle any plastic grocery bags from when i forget my reusable bags.  What this means is that I have kept broken things b/c I couldn't find a way to recycle them...and that I have a HUGE bags of socks, undershirts, and underwear with holes in them b/c I feel guilty to throw away cloth products.  I've even contacted pet shelters to try to see if they would take them for pet beds! (they said no)  It's a little bit absurd.  So this year, I'm allowing myself to throw away the broken fan, the bag of holey undergarments, and Butch's toys that she has pulled the stuffing out of!.  No reason to clutter up my life with garbage right??

5. Declutter & organize.  Despite progress that we've made, we still have too much stuff and I need to continue to work on the house.  At this point, though we have a decent sized house w/3 bedrooms, there is room for no more stuff!  If we ever want to have a child we need a place to put it lol!  and I've heard that babies come w/a lot of stuff too ;)

6.  Start a cleaning schedule for non "common areas".  I'm pretty good about cleaning our living room, dining room, kitchen, and guest bath each week since I have the Bible study girls coming to motivate me.  Our bedroom & bathroom and the craft room however, are a nightmare.  I need to get a schedule for doing that, even if it's rotating areas every other week or something.

7.  Time w/God daily.  A continuation from last year.  Something that I have an inward battle over is idolizing what that time has to look like though.  I tell my Bible study girls all the time that a marriage or isn't defined by having romantic dates every day, but instead living our lives together day in and day out--some days it is a quick kiss in the morning and a few minutes to chat before bed, others are really focused on each other.  In the same way, our walks with the Lord shouldn't be a formula of a one-hour quiet time with reading/journaling/prayer and then we're done, but instead learning to intertwine our faith into every part of the our lives.  In that analogy we give ourselves the freedom to some days have more intense study while in other times it is mulling over a verse as we go about our day, but all the while keeping connected to the Lord through prayer. This balance is something I need to work on, and I also feel it is the only way to prevent ourselves from having an all or nothing attitude about it (aka, I don't have time to spend an hour with the Lord, therefore I'm gonna skip it altogether).  My goal for the majority of the year will be to read a chapter of the Bible or work on my Isaiah BSF study, and also to read from the Oswald Chambers devotional from my dad.  Then journaling as I see fit. 

8.  Do the 90 day Bible challenge again.  Maybe that sounds like it's in opposition to the last point, but I realized that doing that (though I did spread the last bit over a few months) was a great exercise in discipline for me and also really helped me to know where things are in the Bible and to increase my understanding.  My goal is to do this over the summer months when things are slow, but also not to beat myself up about it if I don't complete it in 90 days.  Reading the bible is a reward in itself!

9.  Learn to coupon!  Money is tighter than before and I have a ton of friends who save really big w/couponing.  I won't go all out crazy like some of the people, but I really want to do this to help cut the costs of feeding all the students and to even out the baking expenses...

10.  Catch up on my scrapbooks.  I am working on the book for the summer before college...8 years ago.  I really want to get my pictures done before having kids b/c I'm sure that then I will only want to do albums of them!  And if I can at least catch up on the printed photos, I can do digital albums for the rest.

and...to round it out to match the year:

11.  Cook from my cookbooks.  I have a RIDICULOUS amount of cookbooks (which I need to be thinning) so when I am looking for a recipe I need to look to the cookbooks before the internet.  And maybe thin my collection a bit as well. 

Alright, I think that is a good list for 2011.  And, as last year, I plan to post check-ins on here to hold myself accountable, or else I will ignore it all!  How about you?  Any big resolutions/goals?