Friday, January 6, 2017

A New Year and A New Dawn...

It's a New Year and while I don't make resolutions I do have a list of things I will be working towards this year.  First of all I want to work harder on writing on this blog.  I don't do it nearly often enough.  So here are the things I plan to work towards this year and why in no particular order.

1.)  Pay off the car loan.  If everything goes as planned this will be paid off in just a couple short months (March or April).  It is my largest payment of the month which impedes me having the money to pay rent and utilities as well as other debts.  I am hoping that I can pay off the bulk of this debt with a tax refund but who knows what will happen this year.  This is the most important step because with out it a few of the other things can not happen.

2.)  Move out of Pennsylvania!  I have never truly been happy here and I grew up here.  Even when I was younger I knew I wouldn't be here my entire life.  I have been thinking either Nashville, TN or the coast of any state from North Carolina to Georgia or New Orleans.  The job searches in these areas will commence soon (maybe next month)!

3.)  Pay off as much other debt as I can so that my credit score continues to climb!  The last couple years I have been working hard to bring my credit score up yet I continuously increase my debt.  It isn't a great way to work through anything but by paying off my debts I am increasing my score.  I have however done well in the credit score aspect of this task if nothing else.  A good score will help me get into a better place when a move does happen.

4.)  Lose weight!!!!!!  While I would love to get back down to where I was when I came home from Utah that isn't feasible anytime soon.  So in place of that I am aiming for a healthier weight of the 160's range.  We are only six days into the year but so far I feel like I have done well with my eating habits.  I have been drinking lots of water or infused water and have not had any fast food yet.  Instead of chocolate I have been turning to healthier alternatives as much as possible (this is harder than anything else).

5.)  Then there is my reading goals obviously.  This year I am stepping away from doing as many review tours so that I can catch up on all the many books I have in storage and/or on my kindle.  I enjoy reading because it relaxes me and I need that more often than not these days.  I actually get a lot of my reading done either in the car (audio books) or during work (using the text to speech function on my kindle).  I have currently finished 6 books and am well into three others so far this year!!!  I can't wait till I can get bookshelves built again and see all of my beautiful books neatly organized!

6.)  Finally I am hoping to continue growing my Etsy store in order to grow my savings account faster.  I did really well between Thanksgiving and Christmas but it has currently died down slightly.  I expected this however and plan on working on some new items shortly!  Because of my sales the couple weeks before Christmas my savings account is the highest it has ever been and that is a glorious thing.

So those are the things I am working towards this year.  All of them will increase my happiness but most of them are financially related items.  I will be pulling back my spending in other areas in order to complete these tasks.  My December Book Outlet order was my last one until I achieve at least the first goal and then a small order will be my reward...lol.  I tend to reward myself in books and movies.  However, this year I will not do any major orders until the end of the year (hopefully) at least that's the plan.  When it comes to clothes I will buy them only as I lose weight and only what is needed (basically it will be pants if I need to buy anything).

I look forward to making this my best year ever and with a little hard work it will be!  I will keep you appraised of how things are going on these goals as often as possible!

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