2015 Goals

2015 is just days away and I've been thinking pretty hard about my goals for the year. For some reason, I just like the word goal more than resolution.

First, let's take a look at what I had down for 2014. I'm satisfied with how these turned out given a couple of hiccups throughout the year.

1. Keep my house clean - This one will rollover into 2015. It was only embarrassingly dirty a handful of times, but there is a TON of room for improvement.

2. Lose the baby weight - I am at my pre-pre-pregnancy weight, which means I've lost about 40 pounds since Tucker was born. I've talked before about how I lost 15ish pounds before I got pregnant. Literally in the 2 months before. So, I have a pre-pregnancy weight and a pre-pre-pregnancy weight.

3. Double the size of my insurance business - This one didn't happen. It definitely grew, but not as much as I would have liked.

4. Pay off the Jeep - We got this one done in July. And then in October, 2 days before we went on vacation, we bought a GMC Acadia. So, we went a few months without a car payment. While that was nice, having enough room for all of our crap is just as nice.

5. Find a hobby - Blogging counts as a hobby. And I enjoyed running enough to count that.

 

All in all, 2014 went pretty well considering I was navigating my first year of motherhood as a working mom with a husband who couldn't walk without crutches for 2 months.

 

Now for my 2015 goals.

 

1. Get organized and stay organized - Like I said, keeping my house clean will carry over into the new year and falls under this category. But this will also include our finances/bills, meal/grocery planning, and our schedules. I basically want to stay ahead of things rather than on top of them. I've already made a slimmed down version of this bill book which also includes a tracking sheet for charitable contributions (Danny's resolution for the year) and gifts so I can birthday and Christmas shop in advance. I figure if we are going to spend some of our weekends camping this year, I need to stay extremely organized throughout the week.

 

2. Keep losing the baby weight - I would LOVE to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight within the first few months of 2015, which is about 15 pounds away. I have 3 weeks left of T25 Beta Round, then Danny and I will be joining the YMCA sometime soon so I can start lifting weights. Now we all know that "abs are made in the kitchen" and the food part of losing weight is the biggest struggle for me. I found this awesome (and depressing) monthly challenge on Pinterest the other day. I'd like to try it at least one round through. After I complete it, I may do it again depending on how it goes.

 

3. Get rid of at least one rental property - My brother and I have 3 houses and 2 commercial buildings that we own and manage. One house is under contract and will hopefully be sold by the end of January. We have one more that we would like to get rid of this year along with one of the commercial buildings (we work out of the other one). We've come to realize they are way more stress than they are worth. It's time to simplify.

 

4. Start thinking about retirement - Hopefully the new year brings new business in both insurance agencies. With that new business, I need to start throwing money into my future. Boring, I know, but my 60 year old self will thank me.

 

5. Host more family and friend dinners - I LOVE hosting things. Sure, its kind of stressful, but there is something about watching a few hours of hard work and chaos come together over a table of chatter and laughter amongst family or friends. Some good friends of ours may be moving to Portland, Oregon (him in May, her in July) and we need to take advantage of them being in the same state (or freaking region for that matter) while we still can. Plus, I really enjoy whipping up a good meal or dessert.

 

And there are my goals for the New Year! I'm anticipating a great year for my family and me. Who knows what it will bring. The last 5 have been interesting. (Dad passed in 2010, we got married and I graduated in 2011, Danny graduated and we bought a house in 2012, business about tanked and we had a baby in 2013, and in 2014 business got stressful again and Danny broke his foot. Oh and we had an infant) Needless to say, a smooth year would be ideal, but I'm sure there is a roller coaster ride ahead.

 

I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year!