Well here we are, two days into 2013 already and its back to business as usual. The brief break from reality is over, midday naps are gone, and I have already begun to look forward to spring.
So out of all the goals I have, above everything else, I want to Save More Money this year!
But before I get too far ahead of myself, I need to mention some of the neat goals I have been reading about on many of the personal finance blogs out there.
James@FreeinTenYears has some pretty hardcore budget goals.
If you can pull off 25% that will be awesome!
Kathleen@FrugalPortland looks like she will be out from under her student loans this year!
This is what envy looks like when it is written.
Justin@TheFrugalPath is looking to buckle down even harder this year on his budget.
Good luck, cutting the fat is where it’s at!
There are plenty other goals, resolutions, or whatever you feel like calling them out there but it would take me entirely too long to mention everyone.
So I guess that leaves me.
Sure I have a few things I would like to do.
I want to save more money, make more money, lose a few pounds, graduate from school, grow my blog, play more guitar, etc.…
Saving more money should be fairly easy. I have recently reevaluated my budget and cut it down further.
Making more money than I did last year should be easier since I got my new job halfway through last year. Also, once I finish school I will have more time to spend pursuing this goal.
Losing a few pounds will probably be easy at first then wear off. I hope that when school is over I spend more of my time working out. I enjoy working out and before I went back to school did it nearly everyday. These past 4 years my life has become considerably more busy.
If everything goes as planned I should graduate this summer. When I went back to school almost 4 years ago, I had an associates degree and no idea what I was doing. Hopefully by this summer I will have my masters degree and up my potential to earn.
I really enjoy blogging and even though I do not feel like I am able to devote as much attention to it as some of the other bloggers I follow I can’t really see myself stopping anytime soon. It’s actually kind of therapeutic.
This year I want to also really devote a lot more time at playing guitar. I really enjoy playing and too often make excuses not to.
Wow, remember two sentences ago when I said writing was therapeutic? Well I still believe it, because I realized just how bad I want to be finished with school. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the challenge it provided me, the new skills I have obtained, and the friendships I have built but…I would like to wrap up this part of my life and begin new journeys and goals.
So there ya have it. I have a real good feeling that this year is going to be great for me as far as finances are concerned. I have been tweaking my budget, trying to be careful not to take out so much that I go crazy but at the same time not allowing myself $300 a week to do whiskey shots and eat filets every night.
I believe I have found a happy medium, and I am also ready to spend some money on a few yearly trips. I will do my best to curtail the expenses on these trips but nonetheless, there will be expenses involved. Even so this should not interfere with my goal to save more money this year than ever before.
I constantly get inspired by all the folks out in PF Blog world. It is so amazing to see ordinary individuals decide to take control of their lives. Even when so much uncertainty surrounds us all, there are things you can control regardless if you believe you can or not.
That is exactly what these folks are doing. They are taking control of what they can even when people tell them it can’t be done and in the process of this they are changing their lives for the better and providing excellent examples to everyone on exactly how to do the same thing.
Thank you for inspiring readers and bloggers alike.
Ian
The 30SS
Good post Ian! It is neat to see everyone be in the mindset of being more disciplined with things like their finances. I think there can be somewhat of a transparency in the blogging world by sharing of goals. Here’s to a great 2013!
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted..Why I Don’t Believe in New Year’s Resolutions
Absolutely John. Sometimes I feel obliged. I also really like the accountability I feel after having made a post.
I agree on the therapeutic aspects of blogging. My stress level tends to go up when my number of postings goes down. It’s good to just write everything out.
Congrats on being so close to finishing your Masters! I’m a bit envious of your courage to go back. I’ve been tempted, but I’m a history buff and I can’t justify the cost quite yet as I doubt it would significantly improve my employability.
Great post!
Alex recently posted..Thought of the Day for Work: Planting Seeds
Thanks Alex. Yeah I didn’t really intend on getting my masters but I ended up getting quite a bit of it paid for so I decided to go for it. Yeah, blogging is a good medium for getting your thoughts out there. At first I was way more insecure about publicly writing but after a while it didn’t bother me so much.
Great post Ian! We want to save more money this year so we have revised our budget to see if we can reach those goals. The one thing I want to mention about this post is the positive nature of it. I don’t know you but everything I read you seem so optimistic and generally happy about life. All I have to say is take life by the horns, you only live once, make it a good one! Happy Saving in 2013 Ian! Mr.CBB
Canadianbudgetbinder recently posted..The Saturday Weekend Review #1 January 2013
Thanks Mr.CBB! I try to stay a pretty positive person generally so I appreciate that. I dug into my budget recently to set a couple of financial goals for next year. I know there will be hiccups but it is still nice to have something to shoot for. Here’s to a prosperous 2013 to as well sir! Oh yeah, I am going up to Toronto later this month to visit a friend. A little bit afraid that it will be intensely cold but I still plan to have a blast. He is from the states but lives there now and really likes it. I’m pretty pumped!