How did I do in 2012?

Back in January I created a list of goals for the year. I kind of forgot about them till all the "it's the end of the year" posts started showing up in my Google reader.  So I decided January 1st was a great time to take a look back and see where I stand on the goals I set for myself at the beginning of last year.


  1. Money:  It took the better portion of the year but I think I finally have a handle on our money situation that doesn't leave me sweating bullets between paychecks.  This was hard and took a major commitment on our part and some drastic measures.  We are loosely following the Dave Ramsey plan.  I don't agree with all of Dave's suggestions but he has some good ideas and I am making them work for us.  The best thing we have done is switch to using cash instead of our debit cards for daily purchases outside of our recurring bills.  This has really changed how we view our money because we can see where it is going and how much we have left.  We got away from this in December when we doing Christmas shopping and it hurt so we are definitely going back to this for 2013.  We were able to payoff one credit card and Chris's student loans this year.  These two things were a small dent in our debt but it is a start.
  2. Weight: I can't say I really did anything to help my weight this year (as I sit here and shove Chex Mix in my pie hole).  We did cut out a lot of our eating out, both as a family and individually at work.  While I didn't lose any weight, I didn't really gain any other so I think that is at least a plus.
  3. Read: Well, I failed miserably at this one.  My goal for the year was 24 books. I think I underestimated how busy and tired I would be so my normal reading before bed time just didn't happen.  I'd start a book and get maybe 100 pages in and then wouldn't pick it up again for months.  So I only read 11 books.  Oh well.
  4. Blog:  This is another area that took a hit.  I did blog more in 2012 than I did in 2011 but not as much as I would have liked.  I had a lot more to say but never had the time sit down and get it on paper so to speak.  I blame the awarding of a major contract to my company that I am primarily responsible for as the cause for a lot of this.
  5. Enjoy:  I did work towards this a little bit by trying to get my family out more.  We found events in the community to participate in and that was a good way to enjoy life a bit.  I also have enjoyed watching my boy grow and learn this year.  That has probably been the best part of the year.
  6. Home:  We definitely didn't make the strides toward a new home that I wanted to make this year.  Our money situation and the crappy housing market have a lot to do with this.  That is really what we will be focusing on this year as we work to pay off more bills and prepare our house to put it on the market.
2012 had its ups and downs.  There are definitely aspects of this year I don't want to repeat but I will say it was a good year overall.  We finally got a grasp on our money situation.  I learned how to menu plan.  My boys are happy and healthy.  All in all we are doing OK.

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