2010 New Year Resolutions… I was kindly reminded by Frugal Zeitgeist that the New Year would be upon us in a few days. “I haven’t made any New Resolutions”, I thought. “Or even reflected on last year’s resolutions.”
2009 resolutions… I made a gazillion resolutions. You know what? I’m not even going to look back on them. Why? Because I realize that the 2009 resolutions were all about slowing down in my life; to wake up and smell the roses. So, the list of resolutions were to help me to reflect on that purpose.
I did accomplish 2009 with that intent. Although, it was not done by the list. I seemed to have in the back of my mind and with each movement, to fulfill each step with full accomplishment and in ways to step out of my comfort zone.
Financially, I slowed down to focus intently on paying down the debt. And if you look at our progress made you can see there was a big difference between this year and last. I did not rush, pay what I thought was right, and charged when I thought ‘I can pay this later. We’ll get back on track.’ Instead I slowed down, focused more, took control, realized with each step taken where exactly I needed to go and adamantly stuck to my guns about not using things (like credit cards) that would inhibit our journey.
In my life, I spent more time with my family, tried to connect closely with my kids (especially because raising teenagers scares me), I learned to cook new recipes (even if I didn’t get around to making biscotti), hiked more with my husband, took out my sewing maching, I picked up crocheting and reading nonusual subjects. So, in my own ways I learned to slow down and enjoy the moment.
I took control of my time instead of time taking control of me.
And at the same time, my work life was extremely hectic! New programs, new standard of procedures… 2009 was a crazy year for new situations with much discomfort. December I could begin to feel it slowing down and making a normal pace for myself again. *Thankfully*
2009 slow down movement has taught me not to rush into things (as much). It has taught me to chart a course right for me, at times to step back and look at the situation as a whole instead of parts. To partake in a process with full course (not to skimp or rush through it). To accept people are at different marks in their journey; some may be ahead of me and some behind or some right with me. And that their successes are good to take gratitude in and understand that my day will come to rejoyce in my own successes.
Now that I realize I need to chart a course that is right for me and to take ample strides to achieve them with gratitude I have only two resolutions to make for the 2010 New Year.
- I have always wanted to travel the world and told my self I would begin at 18….then 30….now that I am almost 40 *eek! sounds so old* I have yet to accomplish my goal. There are always excuses to not make it happen. Well, I can’t do that anymore or I am going to regret one of my greatest dreams.
2010 I will chart my first destination course. When I am debt-free where will I travel first? I will plan a 21 day trip most likely touring the Europe; charting its costs, the hotels, the sites I want to visit, etc…
- I will be putting together a new Snowball Schedule thru What’s the Cost. It is going to be my goal to beat it by at least $5,000. I am definitely motivated to get back on my “I’m Selling Everything” mission to get out of debt. Or perhaps it may be with the help of picking up overtime (a potential opportunity may come up in April).
If I meet this goal then I am that much closer to reaching my dream in #1 – travel the world when I am debt-free.
What are your 2010 New Year Resolutions?
BTW, Have a Happy & Safe New Year’s celebration! 
Christine!
Happy New Year (early)! I think it’s great to have a goal of travel. Something tangible…perhaps your trip to Hawaii?
I may join you on the selling part, well not everything, but certainly some things…I’ve balked so far, but with all the free time I’ll have now, I may just be able to accomplish it!
I’ll look forward to following all your successes in 2010! Thanks for being such a great blogging buddy!
Sharon
I think I am going to need to travel when we are debt-free. We are trying to revive the Hawaii trip, but I think it’s going to need to be replaced with a smaller trip – maybe to San Francisco or Las Vegas (somewhere cheap and requires an airplane trip for my daughter).
The husband and I have been pretty motivated to pay off the debt now that we consolidated our debts with the personal loan. And I have to say that it is nice to have the bills combined; makes it much easier to track and pay. 🙂
When you start selling – you realize just how much stuff one has! LOL. We have way too much. I wouldn’t mind simplifying it a bit…a lot. With your free time it may just be right to clean house. If you need help with eBay or Craigslist, don’t hesitate to ask. Or there are a lot of great blogs post about selling with those resources.
I look forward to your successes and have truly enjoyed our blogging friend relationship.
I don’t really make New Year’s Resolutions. Our goal for being out of consumer debt is November 2011 (Just a year and 11 months away!) and I have a long-term goal to see all 50 US states. (I think I’m at 14 now, so I have a way to go!)
Thanks for sharing your path to financial freedom. I’ve just started following you, and I’m interested to see how things go for you.
As you can see, last year I made a ton. But the rush quickly wore off and I was in the same ole’ mode. Although I did accomplish what I set out, it was not by list but by thought. 🙂
One year and 11 months will fly by and will be congratulating you and Chef on your debt-free life. 🙂
50 states…that is great! We have friends that recently traveled back East for 2 weeks and then the Mid-west for 3 weeks. They brought back fabulous pics and great historical stories. It is something the hubby and I are looking into doing ourselves. So that is a great goal.
Okay, your last statements puts me on the spot to make sure I follow thru. LOL. J/K. Thank you for your great words. Just as you, I hope to live up to becoming debt-free. Cuz I will tell you that I am more than ready for it!
“now that I am almost 40 *eek! sounds so old*”
Christine, you crack me up!! (Especially since I will be 54 in a few more months!) I really like this post, especially about focusing in 2009 on living/acting more deliberately. Happy New Year and may you reach your goals, no matter how “OLD” you are!! 😉
Haha. If I look ahead it is not that ‘old’. If I look behind, to reflect on goals I had since I was younger than it seems ‘old’. I don’t want to make a bunch of resolutions. I just want to make a conscious effort ‘to live’. Really live and do things beyond my comfort zone. And I’ve felt that in my work with great results. It’s time to do this in my personal life. 2010, here I come!
April, Happy New Year to you too! May you have a wonderful celebration and a great, great year! 🙂
I hear ya on so many counts!
1. I am almost 40 as well (in two years I’ll be there myself) *Yikes!*
2. I’ve always wanted to travel too, but have not gotten a chance to travel as much as I would have liked. Someday backpacking through Europe will happen, of course I’ll be too old for those youth hostels! Drats.
3. Pay off as much debt as possible and become debt free!
Happy New Year! 2010 sounds so futuristic.
We’re kind of in the same boat, huh? 😉
I have 3 years to go.
It will happen for me too. Although, I don’t think i could pass for the Hostels anymore either. There goes for cheap traveling. Maybe I could couchsurf. Adam from Man vs. Debt seems to have great results from it (even with family).
I want to pay off the debt first before travel. Then I don’t have to worry about so much. And who wants to track debt when they are backpackin’ anyway?!?!
Have a wonderful New Year. *clink* Cheers! Turning all our dreams into reality!
Good for you Christine! You will travel soon! You have been doing amazing – I am so proud of you! YOu have great spirit & drive. I look forward to reading your blog all the time & look forward to the future posts you will write. Be safe & have fun for New Years!!!
I can’t wait to travel! *shrieks with excitement*
Thank you, jpkittie! You have that same great spirit & drive, too!
*clink* Here is to another successful year to the both of us!
Happy New Years!
I just want to thank you! That website you posted (What’s the Cost) is awesome. I was manually trying to figure out this information but all I had to do was input the info and BAM! it gave me everything I needed. My boyfriend thinks its awesome too! That is our plan now for becoming debt free.
I wish and hope that you get to do what you want! Stick to those Resolutions!
You’re welcome, Beckey. I am glad that I was able to send you a great link. You do know that you can change the currency from pounds to dollars, yes? There are little flag icons in the upper right hand of the website that will change the currency for you. I only mention cuz I was dealing in pounds for a while. LOL. But, it all came out the same.
Okay, time for me to go do a new snowball schedule for 2010 (crazy, seems like we just celebrated the potential of computer systems crashing in 2000).
BTW, you can copy and paste the snowball schedule into an excel spreadsheet. Lays out perfectly.
Happy New Year, Beckey and Boyfriend! Stick to yours, too! It will be worth it. Especially fun when it starts to gain momentum and you realize that you will be debt free. 🙂
You’ve done so well! I know 2010 will bring amazing things for us all! I have decided to scale back on the resolutions, since I don’t do well at them. I will just plug along and keep paying paying paying down my debt!
I will definitely be joining you on the get rid of things kick. Now that I’ve moved back to a residential neighborhood, I can have the mother of all yard sales once it’s nice outside. And I am planning a big purge!
As for travelling, I did buckets of that in the ’90s (India, Nepal, Tibet, Japan, Mexico, Amsterdam, England) so I don’t have a desperate urge to travel, but I definitely want to do some big trips. I want to do a several week tour of scotland (combo of a single malt scotch tour with weeks travelling the countryside taking photos). I want to walk in the alps – they have between switzerland and france, a system of chalets set up where you don’t need to bring much – you backpack and sleep in chalets every night and they provide food. You can walk in green mountains with velvety brown cows with a small backpack (think Heidi)! And I want to go to southern france for a few weeks. Mmmm. Maybe I do want to travel. But it will have to wait until I save up a couple thou, after paying off debt (hopefully done by end of 2013!!!).
Keep up the good work, I’m rooting for ya!
Thank you, Debt Maven. Happy New Year’s to you and yours.
I’ve decided to scale down, too. But do have a main point to contend on for the year – pay down the debt. 😉
How are you liking your abode? We were suppose to have a garage sale, too. Going to have to wait until spring now. Let me know how your purge goes. Love hearing about people minimizing their life.
Yeah, 2013 will be hear in to time. I wish to do all the traveling you wish to do and have done. How lucky! My husband doesn’t have the same travel bug. He says he would let me go travel for a couple years on my own. LOL. I look forward to backpacking the world!
I am glad you stopped by. Thank you for rootin for me! Just as I am rootin’ for you. 🙂
Thanks so much for the link back, really appreciated. I just got a chance to read your great comment and came over here to sign up to your email feed… So expect me around here often.
2009 sounds like you did a lot of good for yourself in the right areas… the slow down is important as it helps us all spend less and enjoy ourselves a little.
For 2010, I am tackling debt and doing a slow down. I work way too much on my online business but I am living in Cairo / Egypt so luckily living costs have dropped significantly (I was in Canada before but am from UK originally).
The world is wonderful and if you travel well you can keep the costs down to a very low amount… I can’t wait to read about your plans for this…. even if I have to wait a while!
Thanks,
Forest.
Hi Forest, Thanks for stopping by! And thank you for signing up. 😉
I did spend less. That was nice. I have clearly motivated myself this year to get this debt paid off! Plus, I needed to slow down because I am always work, work, work. lol.
I see you are too. There is always ‘something’ to do when it comes to an online business. And it can be tough… well, at least for me… to stop and do something else.
Wow, in Cairo. That must be neat. You travel often then? I really cannot wait until I get that opportunity. But, my debt is first. I’ve carried it around long enough.
I wish you the best with your 2010 goals. It’s nice to slow down. Do you opt for following a schedule? It seems when I make up a schedule and stick to it, that I actually get more done. What a concept. LOL.
I don’t really follow a schedule….mainly because my partner bugs me too much if I am being ridged, ha ha. So to save myself the stress of not completing my schedule I do things in blocks of time. So I start the day knowing I have a definite amount of hours and then I block out times for each activity that I need done…. Seems to work ok, preferably I would have a schedule as well.
I don’t travel a lot but I did live in Montreal for 2 years, then spent some of last year in USA, then back to UK and finally here to Egypt. My partner is studying here so that’s why I am here.
LOL. Rigid, huh? Sounds like me telling my husband that! But he’s kicked back some. I really need to implement blocks of time too. I think lately I’ve been spending too much time on the internet. Then again, I’d rather be online than doing something else… like watching TV.
Egypt I would like to go there one of these days. And if I don’t make it there than at least to London to see the museum of antiquities. I think it would be fascinating. Study in Egypt – how unique.
Ha ha, yeah I spend too long online… evening when I have worked myself to non functioning I spend too long just staring at nothing… I hate TV, love movies but not general TV.
She is studying her masters in Women’s and Gender studies so it’s very interesting and I am really proud of how she is doing. It’s a harder country for a woman here (not as bad as some people think but can be uncomfortable)…. Still as a tourist, it can’t be missed. The Museum in London is pretty decent too, I have been there quite a few times as I grew up in London.
Well I know I’m a little late lol but I’ll post my link anyways.
http://savvymommablog.blogspot.com/2010/02/financial-and-personal-goals-for-2010.html