I can’t believe we’re already at the end of January. Then again, this month felt intensely long, with it being five weeks long and everything. January was a really good month in my life and I really cannot wait to see what February holds in store for me. I don’t have anything exciting coming up to look forward to (like the past two years, when I had a fabulous cruise on the horizon…) but good things are happening and I’m finding myself more and more in love with this life I’m building.
January Recap
Work out five days a week, incorporating Best Body Bootcamp workouts and Couch to 5K training. I completed this goal all but one week, which was the first week of January. I’m getting into a routine of working out again, thanks largely in part to Best Body Bootcamp. Since those who work out five days a week get their name in the pot for the weekly cash drawings, it definitely makes me more apt to work out!
Spend no money on Kindle books and get my credit card balance to $0. Major goal accomplished! My two credit cards have no balances on them at all, which is a feat I haven’t managed to do in years. Now comes the tough part of not using it, unless absolutely necessary. I also did well on my Kindle buying freeze for January and I’m thinking of extending it into February.
Plan my next novel. I didn’t get anywhere with this. I haven’t felt very inspired with fiction writing lately. I have ideas, but then I have another idea. Then another idea. Then another idea. And it’s hard to focus my mind on one idea to write about. I write down all my ideas so I have a growing list but I’m shelving this for right now.
Figure out what I need to do to start freelancing. Check! I reached out on my blog and Twitter to guest post on a variety of blogs (50 is my goal!) to build my writing samples and my reputation. There are some big-name blogs I plan on pitching to in the future, but I think I took a good step in the right direction for this in January.
Get 8-9 hours of sleep a night. I definitely felt myself developing a better routine at night, where I shut off the TV and shut down the laptop by 8:30 so I can take care of bedtime routines before going to sleep. I averaged 8 hours of sleep most nights, with a few nights being 7 hours. I’m very happy about this goal!
Four out of five goals completed. Not too shabby!
February Intentions
Meal plan every week and no eating out on weekdays. The past two weeks, my mom and I got completely off track with meal planning, which means most of our meals are eaten out. Meal planning is annoying and I hate coming up with meals and making sure I have all my bases covered (lunches especially!). But it’s also necessary if I want to lose weight, because I know I’ve gotten completely off track with healthy eating over the past two weeks. I think by making it a goal to eat every dinner in on weekdays, it’ll help with my weight loss goals as well.
Save more money than I spend. Now that my credit cards are paid off and I’ve eliminated unnecessary bills and expenditures, I want to really work on saving more and spending less. That’s my goal for the year, because I know I tend to spend money if I see it sitting in my bank account. Aside from paying my mom for rent, food, utilities, etc., I only have my phone bill to contend with. I think I can save a good chunk of money, as I’m trying to prepare in the event my tax return is sucky (which is what I’m using to hopefully buy a car).
Ride my bike once a week. In December, my mom’s coworker brought us an old bike for us to use. I’ve always wanted to become a biker but I haven’t ridden it once. The area I live in isn’t very biker-friendly but I still want to try to take the bike out once a week to shake up my exercise a little bit.
Stop eating after 8pm. I’m not a mindless eater, nor a big nighttime snacker but I can be a late-night eater. My mom and I used to eat dinner at 8pm or later most nights, but we’ve gotten better at eating dinner at a normal time, usually 6:30 or 7:00. But then I want dessert! And sometimes, not even because I’m hungry but because my body is so ingrained in the routine of dessert after dinner. After soda, sugar is my biggest vice (well, they do work in tandem as soda also contains lots of sugar so it was the first step in beating my sugar addiction) and I want to start working on all those little snacks I have throughout the day. (Obviously, if I am actually hungry, I will have something but I want it to be a healthy something!)
Set up a payment plan to take care of my ER bill from 2010. Ugh. I’m not looking forward to this goal one bit. Once I finish paying off my orthopedic, I want to start the process of dealing with this bill. It’s just one of those things that needs to be dealt with, and I keep pretending it doesn’t exist.
What are your goals for February?
January was a great month for you! You did so good with your goals! Nice work on not buying any Kindle books! I finally broke my book buying fast and bought The End of Your Life Bookclub. I went almost 13 months without buying a book so am really proud of that!
My goals for Feb are to enjoy the little every day moments, soak up time with Phil, enjoy my birthday and try not to let the pending move cast too much of a cloud of it, find an apartment, and start cleaning out my closets so I can purge unused stuff before I move!
Great job on your goals for January! This post reminded me I need to start prepping my end of month posts because the month ends TOMORROW. That totally slipped my mind. haha. Guess my posts will be a little late this time around 🙂
Also I highly recommend TEA for your post-dinner treat. Chai tea with milk has been a life saver since I quit sugar!
“I’m finding myself more and more in love with this life I’m building.” LOVE this! I love your theme of “do the work” this year – you really are following through!
I was actually just thinking about doing my January/February post – I might get it ready for tomorrow. My intentions have been very free-flowing so far, but that was exactly what I needed in January.
Look at you, being so productive! Seems like 2013 is starting off as a great year for you. You’re the inspiration I need to get started on all the things I’ve been wanting to do but putting off. 🙂 Here’s to a great February!
I love your guest posting goal! I’ve been toying with the idea of guest posting lately, too. I love the whole concept of it and how it helps with building stronger blogger friendships!
I hear you on the no eating after 8pm goal, too. I’m thinking of implementing that myself, as late night snacking is not good for anything.
You kicked goal-butt in January! Good for you. Working out 5 days a week can’t be an easy goal (well it doesn’t seem like it to me! lol) but it’s amazing that you’ve made it such a part of your lifestyle.
Good luck for your Feb goals! I have no doubt this will be another solid month for you, you’re on a roooooll!
i just dealt with a similar ER bill situation and FINALLY got it paid off. you can do it! and congratulations on all of your goals well met!
Way to go on the goals!
For me, I want to keep up the working out that I’ve started this past month (so far, so good); work more on meal planning so I don’t stress about what we are eating at the end of a long day; and … well that’s all I can think of. I’m sure there is more 🙂
Damn, Stephany! You made January your b****! By the sound of it, 2013 is going to be your year!
PS – I love reading about your financial goals because mine are very similar. I can’t wait until I pay off my credit card debt too, and we both buy our new cars! 😀