2012 Goals, Resolutions, Whatever

I have been reading everyone's posts about their goals and/or resolutions for 2012 and it got me thinking about what I would like to see happen in my life this year.  According to my company's definition, I don't know that I would call these goals and they certainly aren't resolutions.  I am thinking focus might be a better word for me.  Sort like I want to focus on these areas of my life over the next year.

1. Money: We definitely need to be better stewards of our income this year.  2011 was rough in the money department due to having a baby and a crappy insurance decision which left us saving everything we could to cover medical bills (and that didn't even come close to covering everything).  That coupled with 2 months of disability pay has left us struggling.  So for 2012 I want us to be more practical with our spending.  I want us to cut back on the unnecessary spending we tend to do when we get lazy.   Chris and I have to both buy into this idea.  There are times when I feel like I am sacrificing things for myself because Chris or the kids need or want something.  So this is going to require more conversations between us on how to handle things financially.  Plus it is really easy for us to say we will just eat out if neither one of us feels like cooking.  We have to stop the bad habits and be smarter with our finances.
2. Weight: Yep, I know I had a baby.   I am tired of people saying that to me like it excuses the fat I am well over my ideal weight. Having a baby doesn't mean I have an excuse to be fat.  I am not happy with my body right now and when I am not happy with myself, that carries over into other aspects of my life.  So this is something I need to work on.  I am not sure how to do it though.  I don't diet well and I have minimal time to squeeze in exercise.  So I need to figure out a plan and stick to it (and one that won't blow our budget).
3. Read: I organized all the books I currently own that I want to read this weekend and there were 24 of them.  Perfect! That's 2 a month.  I think that should be a fairly easy goal to accomplish for someone who loves to read.  Now I just need to find the time to actually read.  This is something I have missed being able to do in recent months.  I actually read 35 pages while Jackson was napping yesterday and that felt like a major accomplishment.
4. Blog: I am such an inconsistent blogger and it really bothers me.  I constantly have thoughts going through my head that I want to share or memories that I want to document but finding the time to actually record them has been difficult (are we sensing a theme here?)  So I am hoping to make more time for my blog if for no other reason than to keep track of Jackson's new life a little better.
5. Enjoy: I want to enjoy my life and my family more.  Life has been extremely hectic since July when Chris started training followed shortly thereafter by Jackson's birth.  It has only become more hectic since I went back to work in September.  But Chris is finally done with training and the holidays are finally over so I am praying things settle down a bit (we say that every year).  The good news to all this is we will have a more regular schedule to work with instead of the constantly changing one we were dealing with while Chris was training.  This will make life a little easier.  And hopefully an easier life will mean I can relax a little more.
6. Home: This one covers a lot. We have outgrown the little house I purchased 3 and a half years ago as a single woman with a dog.  Outgrown it so much so that we don't even have room in our storage unit anymore to add more stuff.  But yet those are things we don't want to part with because one day we will have a bigger house.  And rather than spend money we don't have on things we already own, we want to keep our stuff.  So that means I need to find a way to make do with the space we are in until the time comes for us to move on to bigger and better things.  This will require better organization and cleaning skills than I (we?) have exhibited in the past.  And that requires a lot of work and patience on my part.  I started this weekend by purging several of my often overlooked spaces (i.e. the kitchen junk drawer and the bathroom under counter cabinets) and it felt great.  I sorted out and tossed a lot of things we weren't using and organized the things we were in a fashion that made more sense and would therefore make them easier to use.  I'm pretty proud of myself on this one.  Now I just need to keep up that trend and carry it through the rest of the house.

So there you have it.  My main focuses for 2012.  Here's hoping I can make these things happen in a manner that will make me look back on this year and say, "Yep, I did OK."