Quarterly Goals | Q1 of 2021

I’m doing something different with my goals in 2021—or at least, for the first quarter. I reserve the right to return to monthly goals if I want, ha. I felt an urge to start setting quarterly, rather than monthly, goals this year, allowing myself a chance to set bigger, more ambitious goals since I have a longer timeframe to complete them. I chose five categories: finances, health, personal development, home, and nagging tasks, which may change from quarter to quarter. In Q1, these are the ones that are most important to me.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into my Q1 goals!

FINANCES

• Set up sinking funds for the cats, Christmas, and my car insurance. I’ve always loved the idea of sinking funds but have never actually implemented them myself! My goal is to set up a sinking fund for cat expenses ($50 per month), Christmas ($50 per month), and my bi-yearly car insurance payment ($115 per month).
• Follow my budget. I finally set up a budget! Now I need to follow it.
• Save $400 per month in my emergency fund and car down payment fund. My big savings goals for 2021 are to get to $3,000 saved in my emergency fund and $2,000 saved toward a car down payment. I’m hoping to set aside $400 per month split between the two accounts to make this happen.

HEALTH

• Keep a tumbler of water at my desk at all times. One of my main goals this year is to make drinking water a habit, so I’m going to use my quarterly goals to implement small changes to my lifestyle to do that. In Q1, my goal is to always have a tumbler of water at my desk at all times. This should be a no-brainer, and it is for most people, but it’s not a habit for me right now.
• Schedule my annual woman’s appointment and a dentist appointment. I meant to schedule these appointments at the end of last year but just didn’t get around to them.
• Cut out dairy from my diet for 30 days. This will be my first of two elimination diets. (I’m starting with the easier one since gluten will be HAAAARD.) After 30 days, I’ll start slowly reintroducing dairy products to see how my body reacts.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Develop a morning routine. I fell into a habit last year of waking up right before I needed to log into work. And it has been really nice to do that! Not having to wake up until 7:45 every day has been amazing. But now that working from home is my long-term plan, I need to cultivate an actual morning routine that starts with exercise, making a hot breakfast for myself, and doing my skincare routine before logging into work.
• Become Google Analytics certified. This is one of my quarterly goals for work, and it seemed like a good one to add to my personal goals list, too. I tried getting Google Analytics certified a few years ago, but the training sessions made my head spin so I gave up. But I know it is something I need to do for my job!
• Stick to my 30-minute Instagram time limit. I have a 30-minute time limit set on Instagram, but whenever I get the pop-up notification that I’ve hit my limit, I just ignore it and keep scrolling. I want to be better at adhering to the limit and stepping away from the app when my 30 minutes are up.

HOME

• Frame my Etsy prints and hang them around my apartment. A few months ago, I purchased a handful of Etsy prints but I need to have them printed at Fed-Ex/UPS/Staples/wherever and then framed. A nice home goal for Q1!
• Sell my couch. I bought a sectional! It should arrive in the next few weeks (god willing) and I’d like to sell my couch before that happens.
• Buy a coffee table. I have my eye on a few cute coffee table options on Wayfair and I’ll likely push purchase on one of them in the next few weeks.

NAGGING TASKS

• Wash and vacuum my car. My car needs a little self-care in Q1!
• Cancel checking plus. If anyone is following my blog super closely, you’ll know that this is a goal I had for early 2020. And I never got it done. That means I’ve spent more than $100 on a banking feature I don’t even need since I first made this a goal. Eeks.
• Cancel my gym membership. I haven’t been to the gym since the pandemic began and I don’t know when I’ll feel comfortable to do so! I just need to cancel my membership and reassess what I want to do about belonging to a gym once this whole pandemic is behind us.

What’s something you’d like to accomplish in Q1?