I’ve written my thoughts about 2011, sharing them helped me see that becoming a mother twice, moving and changing jobs pretty much took all my physical and emotional energy. As a result I’m in horrific physical shape & low in motivation. There is nothing like a New Year and a new-found committment to living as long and healthy as possible {my daughter was crying tonight, saying “Mummy never die, I will always need you”} to get one thinking about goals. The truth is, the last 4 months has been totally totally devoted to parenting, apart from being at school my children have not been without me and while that is how it needs to be, I do need to find a way to add in some physical exercise among other things to help de-stress. Added to that I have financial goals that need to be addressed and some life and parenting goals to boot. So here we are, 2012 has been welcomed in and my goals for the year are ready to be unleashed!
Financial
- Save $250 a month into long term savings for retirement {I have not contributed to my retirement savings in, probably 3 years now, and my work contributes nothing, so need to get on it!}
- Save $250 a month into a savings account
- Do a weekly blog post accounting for everything I’ve spent each week
- Eat out no more than 2x a month {as a busy working mum it can be very tempting to get a quick pizza which I always serve with veggies & nuts on the side to make it healthier, but it is an expense we don’t need}
- Get a detailed budget written and stick to it
Children
- Get both up to only one year behind grade level in math {this will be a lot of work, one is currently 2 years behind, the other 3 years behind}
- Teach both to tell time
- Teach my son to read
- Get my daughter to one year behind grade level instead of two
- Have our first family vacation together (even just 3 nights at Niagara Falls)
- Begin giving both violin lessons
- Get a family portrait taken
- Find a volunteer role as a family
- Get both Christened
- Ask one more person to be a Godparent {this person may say no, so asking will take some gumption!}
- Teach both to identify 30 countries, all oceans and all continents on a map
- Get both into a sports program
- Teach both about money {how to identify a penny, nickel, dime, quarter etc and their worth}
- Finalize our adoption of each other
Self
- Kick the Diet Coke habit {it came back during the early adjustment to motherhood!}
- Exercise 3x a week minimum
- Lose the weight I gained this year!
- Be consistent with bed time (10:30) – especially weeknights
- Stick to a daily and weekly cleaning schedule
- Get a community garden plot to enjoy with the children & reduce our grocery bill!
- No going online from the time we arrive home from school until after the children are bed & dishes/clean up is done!
- Blog a minimum of 3x a week since it serves as such a source of encouragement!
- Pick and can/freeze over the summer months – strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, tomatoes
- Learn a new craft
Big Goal
- Start another adoption for a child with special needs from either Ch*ina or Eth*iopia – just to be clear, this does not mean anyone will join our family in 2012 (in all reality it would be 2013, or 2014 – we are certainly not ready yet and I would delay a referral until I knew we were) - but I want to start while I meet the program requirements as things are quite turbulent in the international adoption world!}
And there you have it, the goals for 2012! I can honestly say it feels so good to have them written down and helps me see just how much we will be able to accomplish as a family & all that we have to look forward to
What are your 2012 goals?
Hi Ft, great goals! I’m sure that 2012 will be a great year for you and your children when you finalise your adoption of each other (what a great way to put it!)
I have some short term goals for January only at this stage, haven’t put together the whole year’s list, so just starting slowly. Biggest goal for me though is that I’m hoping to finish work at the end of the year, so I’m working towards that.
Looking forward to the blog updates, Cheers Judy xx
These are great goals! I wish you much success with them. I’m lucky I have a retirement income but am working on getting out of debt and saving more at the same time I’ve increased my charitable giving
Kudos to you for all your are doing to make your family come together. I’ve got my goals up on my blog.
Happy New Year!
Wow, those are great goals. It sounds as thought you’ve had an incredibly rewarding year, but sometimes the most rewarding things seem to be the one that take the most out of us. I hope you have the chance to do everything on your list, and you have lots of people rooting for you!
Those are wonderful goals. I hope you find much joy and blessings in achieving them.
Those are great goals!
Pingback: Food Costs & Goals | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
As usual FT, I am in awe of you.
Good luck with your goals for the coming year.
wonderful goals, very intresting blog:) greetings from italy from who shares totally your ideas
30 countries? Wow! Most adults can’t identify that many, at least in the US. Good luck with the goals, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t meet them all – just remember love is the most important gift you can give them and yourself.
Pingback: Help A Family Friday: It’s OK When It’s “Small” | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
FT, I have a suggestion for the pizza – when I could eat wheat and when my daughter could eat cheese, we used to make pizza base and pizza sauce and freeze them. I prebaked the crust and stored them in freezer. Some individual pizza dough portions too.. The pizza sauce was made in advance and stored in individual serving portions in flat ziploc bags (line up on a tray and freeze, and then store them vertically – occupies minimal freezer space). I sometimes used the same sauce thinned out a bit, for pasta and with added basil.
My fav pizza crust recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/whole-wheat-pizza-crust-110686
My fav. pizza sauce recipe: http://greenlitebites.com/2007/11/15/roni%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cthey-don%E2%80%99t-know-what%E2%80%99s-in-there%E2%80%9D-pizza-sauce/
It saved me a lot of dinner-outs and at the same time, homemade pizza was far better than the one I ordered out.
HI,
I noticed that you said your children are behind in Math. I too had one who struggled. I came across Teaching Textbooks. They teach and correct and grade each lesson right away! This has been a blessing for our family. It is a little pricey but I have two younger children that will benefit.You may want to check out their webpage and sit in on one of their lectures, I’ve found them interesting and beneficial to the children.