What are you plans for 2017?

Love this thread!


My wishes are:

1. Stop eating junky work food. I've put on a lot of weight since working here, and I just can't anymore. I feel so sad when I see pictures of myself.

2. Keep the future financial goals in mind. I'll have a kid going to college in a couple years. I'd like to buy my own house within the decade. I need to just keep asking myself the question: Do I really need that new stamp set, or would it be better putting that $10 away?

3. I want to be my own best advocate and cheerleader. I am enough. I feel like I need to get that three word sentence tattooed on me, and really start believing it. I have overcome so much in the past 3 years, and yet, in my head, I am still repeating the insults and the insecurities that were said to me for years and years. I am enough. I just need to believe it.

I plan on paying down debt and adding debt (via new car)

My checklist includes:
get a new hearing aid (mine is dying the slow death)
get a third car
re-do the kitchen
knit more, sew less, do more cross stitch
build up my etsy store so that I have 100 items ready to go at all times
to go with the etsy store, create a small income to off set the new car cost if possible
keep working on de-cluttering via half.com, garage sale, trash, and other means of disposal
expand our garden a bit
and continue the healthy life - mentally and physically. We've been lucky to have very little health problems and I want to keep it that way.

I have so many

Close house sale (hopefully in next 2 weeks) I despise the house and it's stressing me out so completely worrying I'm miserable. I'm having severe sleep problems worrying it will fall through. Plus need money from sale.

Pay off debt. I've paid of 2/3 of my debt (started in 2012) and I am hoping to work extra this year and live debt free from them on. I am hoping to never have so much as a car payment again. 

Get healthier. Get a full checkup including my eyes (I'm having a problem with floaters) start walking 4 days a week (a new rec center with an indoor track is opening in a few weeks just 5 minutes from my apt) Lose 30lbs. Cut out added sugar almost completely for both me & my son.

Finish converting my sons scrapbooks to digital (I'm 3/4 of the way done) The last week I've been organizing my digital supplies to give myself a push. I did complete my picture project last year (sorting, labeling, backing up) and my sons artwork project (made a photo book of his school art) so I've made huge progress with this stuff.

Start caring about my looks. I work from home so live in tshirts and stretch pants. I live in my crocs. I hardly ever wear makeup anymore. I never do anyting with my hair other than putting in a pony tail. I used to care what I looked like. I also need new clothes, but need to find someone to help me shop. I have a terrible sense of fashion.

Make some new friends. I have so few local friends, and very little family around here. I need to meet some people to actually do things with.

Get my Will done. Change my last name back to my maiden name. Stop biting my nails. Get new glasses. Start getting massages regularly. Don't waste money on lotto tickets. Do a recipe book of my moms recipes for a Christmas gift for next year. Stick to a budget. 

I'm a huge worry wart. I just can't help it. I need to focus on doing things that remove stress from my life. 

I'm going to bookmark this and see how many I can actually do this year. 

2017 is going to be all about building on the momentum I built in 2016.

My plan is to continue losing weight and being active.

I will complete my graduate credits I need for recertification this summer.

I also plan to do a 5k walk over Labor Day. There might be some running involved but I'm going to be thrilled to just walk it.

Lastly, I'm going to practice staying calm when stuff hits the fan. It's been several years of stuff hitting the fan, and upon reflection, I'm not always as calm as I need to be resulting in more stress and anxiety for me.

2017-looking forward to see you!

Start taking yoga and going to the gym. I have gained about 15 lbs, nothing fits well and I'm grumpy, tired, sore, and stressed all the time. I have a membership and the Y is literally a mile from my house. I have zero excuses except that I'm so damn tired ALL THE TIME.

Start taking time for myself and not feel guilty about it. DH and I run a business together and feel like I'm doing something wrong if I take time off for ANYTHING. Even for one of our kids. DH is fine with taking a half day here and there to play golf or whatever (and I'm fine with him doing it too) but I just have this mental block about leaving work for anything. Ever. Also, I hate leaving the house to do anything adult-y if even one of the kids is home (and they are plenty old enough to be home alone, so it's not that). I just feel like I have so little time left with them I should take every minute I can scrounge when they are around. I'm afraid I'm not going to 'empty nest' very well and I need to start taking care of myself now and doing things so that it doesn't hit me so hard when I have all this alone time later.

Buckle down on finances. I have a LOT of medical debt that is weighing me down. I paid off one dr bill yesterday and it was so exciting lol. I have several more to go but I know if I cut some other corners I can make some serious headway - I just have to stay on top of it and DO it. One dr office contacted me yesterday that they are offering 50% off to anyone who pays it all at one time before 12/31. I paid off DH's truck last month. 50% of that bill is exactly what one of his truck payments was, so I am going to do it Friday and it will be just as off the truck payment was coming out. I would like to do that every month next year, but our added insurance costs are so much higher starting in january I may not be able to, but I'm surely going to try. I have 2 other debts/loans that will be paid in full in 2017 - one in Oct one in Dec. After that I will only have one car payment and the mortgage as far as long term debt. I'm so excited I can barely stand it.

Read More. Maybe join a book club. 

Purge. Attic, closets, storage rooms, garage, kitchen cabinets. I feel the need to lighten my load.

Redecorate. Nothing major like furniture. Fresh paint, frame some new pictures and make that picture wall I've been planning for 15 years, new throw pillows, that sort of thing. My look is pretty tired and dull right now and needs some freshening up.

Get Effing organized!!! Jeez I suck at this. I need to find a system that works for me at work and home. I'm a clusterf*ck most of the time. I really don't know how I do and keep up with everything I do most of the time bc I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants most days. And I think this would really help reduce my stress level too. But I'm stressed just thinking about how to get organized and stay that way. 

I'm sure there's more but this is more than enough for one conversation!

Self Care -I want to take more time for me. More self care. More creative time. It's so hard to find that time but I've booked three weekends away (2 without my dh and kids) so far and an afternoon sewing workshop. It's been a long time since I've nurtured myself.

Surround myself with people who support me and my goals- I need to spend more time with people who support my goals of healthy living. My sister gave my older kids tons of candy with their Christmas gifts. I mean tons. She also knows that the kids love chocolate milk so she buys them the cheap crap with high fructose corn syrup...in a 1 gallon jug. Makes me so mad. She just stopped by with a big bag of Hershey Kisses leftover from a party and another gallon of this crappy chocolate milk. UGH. This time I said thanks and when she left, I dumped the chocolate milk in the sink and threw out the chocolate. The kids haven't even gotten through the "mounds" of chocolate from Christmas and I give into temptation too quickly. It's like wanting to quit smoking but people keep bringing you cigarettes. My new motto is to toss the stuff without guilt because I didn't ask for it in the first place. Did I mention that my sister is a Type 2 diabetic? I'm looking for social media groups and partnering with friends who have the same goals.

Health- continue with my plans of healthy living, good eating and exercising.

Good luck with your plans everyone.

Both Holland & Poland are great countries to visit.

Depending on when you visit Holland, you may be able to see the beauty of the fields of tulips, so bezutiful. Perhaps you will be able to take a short cruise on the main canels & see the infamous bike garage.  Be aware that the bicyles take priority. Very interesting to see.

Poland will show you the inner streangth of the hard wotking people.  Enjoy the local food, so delisous.  Go to a List piano concert if you can.  Beautiful country.  If you can, shop for some pottery.

I made a resolution one year to be kind to old people.  I figured old people need the patience and most of them are really sweet, so it was easy to do.  Now I find that it has transferred over to people with small babies.  (not a huge fan of babies, but I was one and had two myself )  I am super assertive, so that is not a problem for me.  My boss told me I scare him sometimes.  Ha.  

    Thanks for the tips. I've been to Holland before about 4 times. We have very close family friends there that we visit but so far we've only traveled there in October (when the kids school is out for break) so it hadn't yet occurred to me but Yippee this time I'll be going in the Spring.  Thanks for the reminder. Hopefully there will be a chance to see some tulips. Very familiar with all of the infamous bikes.    This time though for this first time in 10 years of travel there, the Rijksmuseum is finally finished it's renovation. My father and I (I'm traveling there with my parents) are very much looking forward to exploring it. 

Going to Poland to visit relatives that are actually German (it was Germany before the end of WW2 when the borders changed). My mother goes every few years to visit some great aunts that are still there but I've never met them. I'm really looking forward to this visit. My distant cousin lives near Krakow with his wife and 2 daughters. I'm planning a visit to the Auschwitz museum with my father. He and my mother have both been before. I feel it's something one must see if you are ever in that area. 

Baby will be here in early May.  My actual due date is the 10th, but we are having a C section so it will be a little before that time--haven't picked an actual date yet.

no resolutions here but for the past several years, I've chosen (or its chosen me) a word and quote to focus on/be inspired by during the year.

so for 2017, my word is HEALTH and my quote is "Take care of your body. It's your only place to live"

-Learn to use my new serger to get out some of these garb orders I took before the holidays.
-Keep on scrapbooking as much as possible
-Celebrate turning 60 at the beach with my mom and family - my friend let me pay the fee to use her timeshare.
-Do something to get my weight down and get healthier.  I have tried many things.  I want to find something that works and becomes a lifestyle change more than just a few months.  Stop seeing sugar as a reward or treat.
-Find joy in small things, say yes to opportunities that some my way and no to things I don't want to do.
-Find things to get rid of, organize a little bit at a time, make a commitment to donating and tossing

This list is pretty industrious for me.  I am most likely to learn to do basic serging and of course scrapbook as much as possible.
  
If I listed things I need to do but won't, it would be get interested in sex again and get financially secure - stop spending, start saving.  Others posted this and I need to make this a priority but I know I am not ready to dedicate myself to this and the things I listed.