Happy New Year!!
I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas, I certainly did. Ours was a mostly a quiet and relaxing one, with days of visiting, lots of indulgent food and drink, a few cosy pyjama days and lots of family time. We had our Christmas lunch at my parents which was lovely.
(relaxing on the settee, watching David Copperfield and playing Scrabble = bliss)
I am now back at work and looking forward to 2011 and all it's possibilities!
My Goals for 2011
- HEALTH - I want to lose some more weight this year and take regular exercise. I am always yo-yoing with my weight and I do lots of walking and swimming in the summer but the rest of the year, no so much. I want to be more consistent. I have committed myself to logging my food and exercise everyday on Sparkpeople which I really do find a great help. I did really well with this in 2009 and I really should have kept it up because when I'm left to my own devices, I'm hopeless.
- MONEY - I want to be more thrifty. Honestly, I have no idea where half the money we earn goes. I will stop buying things I don't need and hopefully build on our savings and pay my credit card balance in full. My little car finally gave up during the bad weather. I had so I had to buy another, in the same week the ground rent for caravan was due and a week before Christmas!! So our savings are looking a bit sad. We have been working for years to get our mortgage paid off early, paying extra here and there and hopefully we will achieve this in 2013. What with that, running the caravan and supporting my son at Uni, I need to be more thrifty with my cash.
- DECLUTTER - honestly my house is overflowing with 'stuff', every cupboard and drawer is full to the brim. I need to either sell the unwanted items on ebay (this will help with the savings etc) or send them to the charity shop.
- CRAFT - I want to get back into garment sewing. I used to make lots of my own clothing years ago and I would like to get back into this again and build on my skills. I have a huge stash of fabric so I will be decluttering when I use it and also saving money! The same goes for card making, I have all the kit but haven't made any for ages so this will also be my aim in 2011.
- FOOD - I want to learn to make a great Lemon Meringue Pie. (I know this is a bit of a conflict with my plan to lose weight but I don't have to eat it!) My family love it but whenever I make it myself, the merginue is a flop. I tried one again over Christmas and this time even managed to burn it! I also want to continue to cook most of our meals from scratch. I did really well last year and have lots of new recipes and meal ideas. I will make a weekly meal plan and shopping list to cut down on wasted food and money. I will try to use up leftovers and use the freezer more.
- BULBS - Remember to plant some bulbs this autumn!! I always leave it too late and then regret it when I see the snowdrops and daffodils poking through!
- EMAIL - Keep my email 'in box' sorted. It gets so full up with unwanted emails that I sometimes miss the important ones. I need to trim down my email subscriptions. Life would be so much easier if I did this :)
- BOOKS - read more. I have kept a list of books I've read as long as I can remember. But each year the number of books has been decreasing, in 2010 I have read the embarrassing total of five books! So I have set myself a minimum of 24 books for 2011. That is still only 2 books a month, surely even I can manage that!
- PHOTOS - organise! My files are all over the place. Not sure where to start with this so any suggestions gratefully accepted!
Looks like it is going to be a busy year :) Let's hope so!
Lots of really good ideas there. All those things will save you time and money one way or another and thats got to be good! I bought a tub of daff bulbs last Sept and completely forgot to plant them so will definitely be with you trying to remember to plant this year1
Lisa x
Posted by: Lisa | January 09, 2011 at 08:36 AM
Your list looks very similar to mine! I'm the same as Lisa - I bought the bulbs and the compost and then didn't get round to planting them. Pathetic.
My photo resolution is to choose photos and make one of those photo books for each year; we never look at all the hundreds of pics we have but I do look at printed books. I'm pretty close to having 2010 done - if I could do one every month or two it would be sorted by next year!
Posted by: dottycookie | January 09, 2011 at 09:47 AM
My list contains some of the same things as your list! I actually bought bulbs in the autumn, but didn't get round to planting them! Hope you have a wonderful 2011. x
Posted by: Kitty | January 09, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Happy New Year. I'm hoping to declutter, too. I think my problem is I associate my stuff with the people who gave me it. So, even if I don't like something, I'm loathe to get rid. But I'm determined to have a major clear out this year.
Posted by: lovethosecupcakes | January 09, 2011 at 11:44 AM
Happy New Year Angie, I hope you have a good one. Your list looks much like mine, there's a surprise! I'm feeling very motivated right now and determined to stick to my resolutions but I seem to get lazier as the year progresses! I've got off to a good start though and knitted a scarf over the weekend, will make a nice present for someone, And I've read almost a whole book since Christmas which is most unusual :)
Looking forward to getting back into blogs too.
Gill xx
Posted by: gill | January 11, 2011 at 09:35 PM