Thursday, January 1, 2015

Our 2015 goals

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As I mentioned yesterday, I have a few lofty goals I'm planning on working on in 2015. As you might've already noticed I'm a little OCD and like to have everything under control. Well, few things throw you for a loop more than having a child. Multiply it by two, and I'm amazed that my hair is not all grey yet. But there is always something optimistic about the beginning of a new year! And even though my first and most important goal is to survive the first year with twins while still being a somewhat decent mother/wife to my other 3 boys, I want to challenge myself and all of us to achieve a few other things because, well, that's what I always do. So here it goes:

1. Find some "me" time once in a while. 

Now that we became an instant family of 6, it's even harder to find time for myself beyond brushing teeth in the morning (or in the afternoon... don't tell me it never happened to you...). I want to challenge myself to carve a few minutes every week to nap (haha...), relax, ponder, read Scriptures, listen to the music, read a book and whatever else might help me to stay sane and not lose it on everybody in a one mile radius. The emotional imbalance I had to deal with the first few weeks postpartum kind of scared me. I had baby blues before but this time things were more intense. I'm in a way better place right now but it's still hard when you are always exhausted and sleep-deprived, so a few minutes for myself, I know, will make a huge difference. And yes, it does include blogging. I really missed this little blog and all of you, guys! I'm not sure how often I will be able to post or visit your pages, especially in the first few months of this year but it will get easier and I'll be back more and more often very soon.

It also includes taking care of my body. I've lost everything I gained while pregnant and then another 8 lbs but I'm nowhere near where I want to be yet. And it's not even about the extra pouch in my mid-section. I want to be stronger and healthier too. I'm really looking forward to the time when I can start exercising more regularly.

2. Organize and declutter.

What's new under the sun? It seems like I always have something to organize and get rid of here. But with the birth of our babies, all 1800 sq. feet of the house shrunk even more. With four children, having house under control is a must. As usual, I want to challenge myself to get rid of 365 things but, honestly, it's not about the number. Even if I can only eliminate 140 things but have the house in a more usable stage than it is right now by the end of the year, I'll be one happy girl.

3.Beef up our savings after paying off all of the medical bills and some other expenses. 

We are yet to get all of the bills in but we know approximately how much we will owe. After paying off that and making another upcoming big purchase (more on this later), we will do our best to get our finances under control again. Ideally I want to save at least another month worth of expenses plus start working on a replacement car fund. Our sedan that my husband drives is 9 years old and has more than 140000 miles on it. Granted, we had very few major repairs done to it so far and we hope it will last us many-many more years but we don't want to be caught by surprise because DH uses it to travel for work every single day.

Another thing we want to start working on are "sinking funds". I'm not a hard-core Dave Ramsey's fan but I have huge respect for the man. One of the things he's really big about is to be prepared not just for emergencies but for everyday things too. The "sinking funds" are when you set aside money every month for the things you will definitely buy/do/use throughout the year like haircuts, clothes, car expenses (tires, maintenance, inspection etc.), vacations, Birthdays and so on. Basically, you estimate how much whatever you need will cost and then divide it by 12 months. I think it's a wonderful idea. One of our biggest expenses every year are medical bills. I want to be sure that we will have at least deductibles for all of us in savings at all times separate from our regular savings. I will be working on other sinking funds too.

4.Cash flow a few home projects

We also have a few projects planned that we, hopefully, will be working on throughout 2015. First and foremost, we want to finish our guest room aka the room for my parents. I don't know when they will be able to visit again with my Mom's health (she's doing great but is yet to receive her transplant. Hopefully, by the end of January but I'm not keeping my hopes too high because they delayed it before due not being able to get a certain medication for her. It seems like it should arrive very soon but, again it wouldn't be the first time...) but I want the room to be ready. Plus, who knows, maybe somebody else would want to visit a family with two newborn twins and to have fun staying up all night "parting" with us? :)

The other "big" project is to re-do our laundry room closet. It's just not functional right now with the amount of laundry I do every week. We want to keep it under $500. And last but not least is our master bedroom. As it often happens, the room for parents is the last to get tackled in the house but, I think, it's time. I've been collecting bits and pieces for it for the past two years and I can't wait to finally get them out of the garage and actually use them.

And, of course, there will be other small things we will be working on but these are the three big areas that we will be planning and saving for in advance. Oh, and we will be buying a new couch very soon (the big expense) but I'll share all the details about it another time.

5. Create goals every month and blog about them.

Nothing helps me to stay on track more than when I feel accountable about what I'm doing. Every time I posted goals on this blog before, you, guys, and your encouragement helped me to stay in check and persevere.  Thank you for still reading my ramblings even after I pretty much abandoned this blog for a few months, and I hope you'll have a few words of encouragement for me again.

And here it goes, my yearly goals. I told you they are pretty lofty! But hey, how can we get better if we don't push ourselves a little bit, right?

And what are your goals/resolutions/aspirations for 2015?

22 comments:

  1. Good luck with your goals. I hope you can find some time for yourself :)

    One of our goals for this month alone is to declutter BIG TIME. I mean every room. I'm looking forward to it but then also not looking forward to it haha.

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    1. I'm with you! The stuff is suffocating me right now! I hope I can tackle every room too this year.

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  2. Sounds like you're going to have quite an exciting year. I like the idea of finding some me time - good luck with that one as it's not an easy task.
    Carolx

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  3. Missed you, Lena, and so glad to read all is well. Your children are adorable.
    Best wishes on meeting all of your goals. I always look forward to reading your posts.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words and support, Glenda!

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  4. You're inspiring me to organize myself for the next year. If you can find the time to do it, so can I.

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  5. I've made a page for my 2014 accomplishments and I've made a budget for 2015 but goals?? Not yet lol! I think breaking goals down month by month is much more manageable and we'll continue to be here for you Lena providing encouragement and sharing in your progress :)

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    1. Love your new pages. And I'll be on your side of the world rooting for you too :)

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  6. Good for you Lena. I admire how organised and driven you are.

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  7. I have one goal for this year... Debt free!! We are so close I can almost taste it!! We have been working so hard on this for the past 6 months ( give or take) that knowing in 2015 it will be all done is such a huge moitivator!!! I hope things get easier for you as your babes get older in more into a 'routine" look forward to the posts!!!

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    1. Go you, Jennifer! I can't wait to hear about your progress!

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  8. Good luck with your goals! I know you will do awesome! I am not sure how you are planning to do your sinking funds, but we use Capitalone360 for our separate savings accounts. You can make subcategories to keep everything separate. It ties right to your checking account. I love how easy it is to use, and I like being able to see all of the different categories.
    I will keep checking in to see how your goals go!

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    1. That sounds awesome! So far we just plan on using my old-fashioned budget book and just move a whole sum into a separate savings account every month. I know, lots of DR fans use a YNAB budget but I'm not sure yet if it's worth paying for. We kind of figured out the system that worked for us so far (getting Hubby on the same page was a huge step. Not sure if he's ready for a drastic change :), so we'll just be adding to it, I think.

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  9. You amaze me!!!! Most new Mommy's of twins are just trying to put one foot in front of the other :) We too do a sinking fund savings ours is called spending savings account. I move money over each payday to a checking account just for this purpose. Ours is way too low this year due to lots of big unexpected expences but hey that's what it for. I would love to come spend some time in your new guest room to party with those babies!!!!

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    1. Ha, I'm just dragging my feet here, sometimes both at the same time :)

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  10. Organization is my main goal for 2015! We added a 2nd daughter to our family in October and adding a newborn in with an almost 4 year old and 2 cats makes it crazy, but you still win!

    I am saving plastic baby formula containers, I have seen ideas to use them in the freezer to hold homemade baby food that was frozen in ice cube trays or to hold lego sets and sidewalk chalk! Since it costs a lot, might as well get uses out of the containers!

    Best of luck with your 2015!
    -Jen

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    1. Jen, how is it going with to little ones? :) I love this idea for formula containers. I think, I'm gonna start saving them too :)

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  11. Also as a mom of 4, I can't agree enough that you need "me time." So happy that you are seeking that; it's important for many reasons but it'll make you a better mom too. :) Keep on rocking, you look like you are doing great!

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