On December 30th, Jason and I were driving to Branson for a weekend getaway. (Actually, J was working: playing for Guy Penrod; but to me, it was a mini vacation!) Eight hours in the car gave us plenty of time to reflect on 2010, our goals met and unmet; and to dream and plan for 2011. Instead of starting out with a list of home projects like last year, we decided to start with a list of financial goals. In 2010 we filtered most of our nonessential income toward home projects and saved what we could. In 2011, we plan to filter a lot of our nonessential income into savings and investments, and keep a lower, specific amount set aside each month for home projects and repairs.
Our financial goals include a target annual income, retirement savings milestones, general savings targets, getting both of our old cars in good working condition and saving a certain amount toward new replacements and saving for a vacation.
We did, of course, make a list of projects for our home for 2011:
– fence around garden – carried over from 2010’s list
– pergola roof – carried over from 2010’s list
– replace the galvanized steel plumbing pipe from the house to the street (to improve our water pressure)
– get gas run into our house (if the gas company will do it), get a gas range and fireplace
– get 3-5 more fruit trees for our back yard (we’re leaning toward pear, date, cherry … any suggestions?)
– build 1 or 2 more 4′ x 8′ garden beds for vegetables and strawberries
And then, I decided we needed to make another list for big picture goals. Things like:
– read more books
– take more risks
– give more money away
– smile more and make it authentic
What about you? Do you make goals for the year? Resolutions? Do you write them down or just make 1 or 2 decisions that are easy to remember? I’m curious to hear what others do. If you have any great ideas or special goals/resolutions, please share!
Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
myMCMlife.com 
My goals are both spiritual and financial. We are trying to save more for retirement so it can happen sooner than later. And God and I are working on transforming my mind and the way I think so I learn to be more dependent on Him and less dependent on me and “doing it MY way”.