Anyhoo, this housekeeping made me think of other "housekeeping" as in revisiting the goals I made for myself at the start of this year and assessing how I've done before beginning fresh with new goals for 2011. (As an aside, can you believe it's gonna be 2011?! I mean, c'mon, is this for reals? Shouldn't we be flying around in jet packs or on hovercrafts, or at the very least, battling Skynet in an epic humans-vs-machines-war?)
So, I separated my goals for 2010 into 3 categories, and I figure I'll break up my review into those 3 categories; thus, today: the personal goals I set for myself. They were as follows:
1. Be the most awesome wife and mother I can. I'm already pretty awesome, but I'm sure I could crank it up another notch in order to accomplish the superlative "most."
2. Re-read some favorite books. In 2009, I read 37 books. Not bad considering my leisure time was spliced into about a quarter of what it was pre-baby. I seem to average reading about 40 books a year, and let's be frank: They're piling up. Time to re-visit a few that I particularly love.
3. On the financial front, I'd like to save more. My savings account took a serious hit during my maternity leave (I was not paid for my time off), and I'd like to re-build it.
So, how'd I do on those?
#1: Success! Of course, I have no quantitative way of measuring my success here, but I think I'm pretty awesome and Norah and Jerry rarely complain about my lack of awesomeness, so I think I declare victory on this front.
#2: Fail! Not only did I fail to re-read favorite books, but this was really the year that could be labeled "failed to finish most books." I don't know what it was about my selections, but I have quite the stack that I started but never finished. Granted, I also read (and finished) some great books this year (currently, I can't tear myself away from Justin Cronin's The Passage -- VERY awesome novel), but it seems like this has been a year of unprecedented DNFs amongst books. I used to be a person who finished a book no matter what, but then I realized that my time was more valuable than that, so now if I get a certain way through a book and it just doesn't "have" me, I put aside and move on. So, here are a few that I started and didn't finish:
- Matterhorn (this was on Time's most notable books of the year, but I read about 100 pages and though "meh," not notable for me)
- Mockingjay (3rd in the Hunger Games trilogy -- loved the 1st novel, felt so-so about the 2nd, clearly, didn't think much of the 3rd)
- Little Bee (very intriguing for the first 100 pages or so, and then blah...)
- A Vintage Affair (couldn't get past 50 pages in this one; I found it so boring and the plot seemed to be leading in a very predictable, very cliche direction, so I ditched it, but it's on the Nook's top 25 "most lent" books, so some people must really like it)
#3: Simultaneous success and fail! Explanation? I really didn't manage to save much more this year, but instead, I decided about 2 months into the year that it made better financial sense to focus on eliminating more of our debt rather than socking it all away in savings. So, in this year, I managed to pay off both Jerry and I's remaining student loans, which totaled about $15K! Now, the debt we have remaining is a car loan and our mortgage. So, I didn't really save much in terms of fattening my savings account, but I did save us lots by eliminating that debt and thus saving ourselves from continuing to pay interest on those loans.
So, as far as the personal goals I set for myself, I think it was largely a successful year. Tomorrow, we'll see how I did on the professional front.
14 comments:
At least you were still giving books a shot, so sounds pretty successful all around!
Great work on the student loans too!
I DNF'ed so many more books this year than I typically do. Don't know if I made bad choices to start with, but there were a LOT of DNF's this year!
ok love the awesomeness!
Paying of debt is just as good as saving in a lot of ways, so kudos because it means you still found more money!
You're definitely already awesome! Good job on your goals! And #3 is a HUGE SUCCESS in my book! It's so much harder to pay off debt than to save b/c it feels less like you're paying yourself. You did wonderfully! Nice job!
paying off debt is a huge accomplishment. congrats!
It feels SO good to pay off debt and now you will have more money to save without paying all those bills! I need to go ahead and revamp our budget for the new year and set some goals as well.
It sounds like you've had a very good year all around. I think setting goals is so important in life. Keep up the running as family time permits.
I started a running blog recently and have been trying to help people share experiences via blogging. If you get a chance, stop by my blog and say hello.
Ken
I only read The Hunger Games. I guess I'll just stop there.
That's great that you paid off all your debt! I feel like we're never going to be rid of student loans.
I'm about to DNF a book right now. I keep forgetting what it's called, that can't be a good sign.
I just looked at my pile of DNF's yesterday and felt oddly embarrassed that every book I bought this year are all sitting next to my bed... as they have been doing since I acquired them :-(. I read a lot of library books so those usually take precedence over the ones on my shelf.
Good job in 2010!!
1 and 3 are the important ones and you rocked those! WTG! And at least your tried to hit #2. ;o)
Kudos to you for wiping out your student loans!!! That is huge!!! I cringe every month as I write my check out to Miss Sallie Mae!
Oh man. I think I read about 5 books this year. I like how you reviewed your goals. Awesome!!!
I bet it feels like a load off you getting those loans paid off! That definitely makes sense to tackle that first.
I felt the same way about "Little Bee." I was just waiting for something amazing to happen (I mean, the back of the book said something like, "You won't believe the ending.") and was disappointed.
Way to go on paying off the debt!!
Seriously, reading is my "me" time. Well, that and working out. But if I don't have my nose in a book on a regular basis I get all sorts of cranky.
So far, I am really loving my Kindle. The screen is SO easy on my eyes! I was worried that after staring at a computer screen and documents all day, the screen would be awful, but it is really nice. And the ease of buying books is both fantastic and dangerous (for my wallet). And it is SO tiny and lightweight! I am borderline obsessed, obviously. I can't wait to hear how you like the Nook!
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