2007 New Year's Resolutions

I like resolutions. I love the idea of New Year's Resolutions. The idea that there's a fresh new year in front of us and *we* can make changes to make our lives better. I love that! I'm constantly striving to make my life better and more enjoyable for myself and all the people I am lucky enough to call my friends. Though I am constantly reassessing myself and my life and trying to improve it throughout the year, there are certain milestones (like a birthday or New Year's) really helps focus my mind of thinking about what I want and how I'm going to go about achieving it.

I also love having a plan. Things don't get done without plans and details to go along with said plan. I think people who don't plan are probably not getting as much done as they could. And that may be OK for some people, but I definitely prefer the "plan" route. Sometimes even having a list of things you need to get done like "sweep the floor" is enough to make you get up and sweep the floor. It's very motivating and focusing. It also makes me feel more settled. Resolutions are like my general personal growth plan for the year!

Some of my resolutions (esp. financial ones) are repeats of last year. I had a much harder time with personal goals for the year. I feel like now that my divorce is final and I'm dating and have *lots* of friends that I love, I'm having a hard time desiring more than I have (which is a good thing, I know!). I'm actually quite satisfied with my social/personal life and work life. I guess I'm pretty happy with most aspects of my life at this point. But I went ahead and tried to think of stuff that I could improve, because there is *always* room for improvement.

And without further ado, I present my resolutions for 2007.

Personal
1. Spend more time at home alone. This will allow me to keep up with my household duties and bills, etc. - By far my most needed resolution. If I'm home more, I will have things a bit more organized and cleaned up.

2. Be more physically cognizant of myself - get more sleep, drink more water, eat better foods, move more. - Kind of related to #1. If I am home more, hopefully, I'm getting to bed earlier, exercising more and cooking healthier meals at home.

3. Floss. I never floss and every six months, I tell my hygenist Mary that I'm going to do it. So, my goal is to floss. Ultimately, every day is my goal, but for starters, I think I'll aim to floss a couple times a week plus some.

Ways to Expand my Horizons
1. Watch one new-to-me movie a week. I am considering making Mondays my movie night and on that day, I will watch one movie I have not seen before. I think I'll post the planned movie in advance so that people can join me if they'd like to.

2. Read one book a month. I have really slacked off on reading, mainly because by the time I get to bed, I'm exhausted. However, if I'm getting to bed earlier, I might actually stay awake for more than two minutes so that I can read a book! I received some books for Christmas, so that will keep me busy for the first few months at least!

3. Go out to eat at a new restaurant once a month. This, most likely, will take the form of a small monthly dinner club consisting of 4 or 6 people. Members yet to be determined.


Financial
1. Make a living trust and medical power of attorney.

2. Max out 401(k) and Roth IRA contributions in 2007. The 2007 maximums are: 401(k)= $15,500 and Roth IRA = $4,000 - I maxed both out for 2006 and foresee no problem maxing it out for 2007.

3. Save more money outside of retirement accounts. Ultimately, I'd like to save at least 10% of take home pay. I don't know how feasible that is since I'm putting so much towards retirement, but I want to at least try. It's all about goals, right?



So there they are. I just realized that I have three in each of my three categories! Perfect! Not too many, juuuuust right! Does anyone else make resolutions? What are they going to be this year?