New Year, New Resolutions

So after a long hiatus, I am back.  And I have some major goals for this year!  You always hear that writing your goals down makes you more likely to achieve them, so here we go:

Personal Goals:

Walk the dogs at least once a day… even when it’s cold out.  Like blogging, when life gets busy, I run out of time to take the pups for a walk, especially since it gets dark so early and its cold out.  They don’t seem to mind, but I would feel better if they got to go for more walks. 

Make my bed every day.  I had this goal a few years ago and I did it for about a year, but then got out of the habit of it.  Something about walking into a room with a made bed and going to sleep in a bed that is made just makes your life so much more peaceful.  I want this peacefulness back. 

Be a better blogger.  I am going to post 2-3 times a week.  I enjoy reading other people’s blogs; in fact, some people, I look forward to their posts:  Young House Love , Bower Power , and Serendipity’s Guide to Savings .  Hopefully, once I become a better blogger, other people will like reading my blog as well. 

Workout at least 3-4 hours a week.  I used to work out for an hour a day and I used to train for a marathon.  I do not expect to get back to running 50 miles a week, I am way too busy for that, but I would like to feel better about myself and feel healthier, so I think 3-4 hours a week is a good starting point for that.

Read at least 6 books.  I love reading, but due to wedding planning, graduate school, and two puppies, my leisure reading has vanished.  I want to start reading again.  I have a to read list that is miles long and would love to tackle this.  Six books won’t even make a dent in my to read list, but it is realistic and will hopefully get the ball rolling for more leisure reading. 

Financial Goals:

Keep saving for my car.  Last year, I found out that my parents will not let me trade in the car they bought for me in high school; they are going to be keeping it.  Needless to say, that really hurt my plans of purchasing a new car.  I was banking on that $6,000 trade in value to put towards my new car.  So now I am putting away $200 a month to be able to put down a significant down payment.

Save an extra $1,000 in 6 months.  I think I will try to accomplish this by being more frugal and selling a bunch of stuff I no longer need.  In 2011, I spent a lot of towards our wedding and on unnecessary things because I had my first job that actually paid a decent amount.  This year, I would like to focus more on savings for our new house and our future.