
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!