Goals for 2014!

Last night, I celebrated the end of 2013 with my dear hubby and kids. The kids went to bed at their normal time and then Dear Hubby and I decided that instead of watching a movie and doing our own thing, that we would play a board game with each other and wait until midnight. We played Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble and I have to say that Dear Hubby won both games. There was a lot of laughter and love as we ended 2013. It probably didn't hurt that we also shared a bottle of wine and some chocolate chex mix ;) We then watched the ball drop in time square and cuddled on the couch watching about ½ hour or so of the music guests that were on the TV.

This morning, I woke up with the realization that it is 2014 and that we, or more specifically, I am the product of my own decisions. This is the year that I take control of those decisions and make my life different. Things have needed to change for a while and yet I have not changed them. I haven’t owned up to the fact that life has not been good for me. I have chosen to ignore the fact that I have been living depressed and down for too long. 2014 is the time to change! I deserve to live better. I deserve to be happy. I deserve to make changes that invest in myself and in my family.

I have been thinking about the goals that I would like to achieve in this new year. I have decided to focus on the 2 that are affecting my thinking the most and that I think will have the largest positive impact on my life and my family.

I have decided to focus on ME and on our FAMILY FINANCES!

So my official 2014 goals are as follows:

FOR ME:

• Lose 40 pounds. This will bring me under 200 lbs for the first time since Bill and I were married in 2005. I weighed myself this morning and I officially weigh 232.8 lbs. on this first day of January 2014. I want to be under 200 lbs by December 31, 2014. That is a little less than 1 pound a week which I believe is totally doable. 
• Read 40 books. This past year, I read a lot of books in spurts. But I felt that toward the second half of the year, my reading became non-existent except for reading blogs. I love to read and NEED to make time for it again.

FOR OUR FAMILY FINANCES:

• I will pay off half our credit card debt this year. Right now our current credit card debt is $7596.34. I will pay off $3798.17 by the end of December 2104.
• I will NOT use the credit card to pay any of Rebecca’s or Jacob’s (starting in August) school tuition. 
• I will keep track of daily expenses to see where our money is going. 
• I will go to cash for every day expenses except gas for the vehicles.
• I will complete a 52 week money saving challenge.
• I also have a HUGE goal that I want to fund, but don’t want to say right now what it is until I figure out more details. 

I think these are very doable and will keep me on track. I have some tools and resources in place to help me reach these goals. I am excited for this coming year and see many positive changes coming into my life and the life of my family. I can feel it!

Here is to a NEW START FOR A NEW YEAR!!! May 2014 be the best year yet!

Have you made any goals for the new year?