Now that we’re over halfway into January, are you ready for some 2021 goals?
Hi.
You might notice that we are missing two quarterly updates on my goals from last year. Once we were well into October I decided to bundle the last two updates into this post.
I think it’s safe to say 2020 wasn’t normal for anyone, and so far 2021 is only normal in that it’s a lot like 2020.
Still, I made progress on my goals in 2020 and I have plans for new ones. I recently heard that the point of a goal is not to achieve it but to be changed for the better by the process of pursuing the goal.
That concept has helped me determine some of my 2021 goals. Instead of just thinking about what I want to have done by the end of 2021, I’m thinking in terms of the person I want to be at the end of this year.
Let’s take a look at how last year went, then dive into what I’m working on this year.
2020 goal recap
See the original 2020 goal post here.
Pre-pregnancy weight
I did get down to my pre-pregnancy weight, though not in the healthiest of ways.
There was some considerable work stress after I returned from maternity leave, and that coupled with general busyness made it hard to always eat when I should have.
I never thought I would be one of those people who would forget to eat, but here I am. It’s gotten better recently though. I started putting “eat a healthy snack” on my to-do list at work.
Read 25 books
I did read more than the six books I reported on, but I didn’t reach my goal of 25. The work stress really threw me off and it was hard to settle down and read at home.
Debt
In 2020 we paid a total of $5,550 on the car and $10,451 on student loans, for a total of $16,001 in debt paid off. We may not have reached the goal of $18,000 of debt paid off, but we got a lot closer than if we hadn’t set any kind of goal!
Savings
The savings goal is not a fun one to report on. We started out strong, but wound up ending the year about where we started.
I contributed the max to retirement throughout 2020, even though at times it would have been nice to have a little more wiggle room in other areas of the budget. We managed though, and I’m glad we stuck with it!
New roof on the house
With all that 2020 brought, we decided not to try to add a roofing project to the mix. We did manage to paint the house though, which was a huge improvement.
Clean up the basement and garage
We did clean up the basement, though it still needs a lot more work. The garage ebbs and flows, though overall it is better than when 2020 started.
Highlights of 2020
Even though it’s fun to hate on 2020 (and the Match.com commercial is pretty spot on), we definitely had some good times last year.
We had a lot of (very small – 4 people total) cook outs with family and the next door neighbors. Grilled pizza is finally in our repertoire!
We celebrated our first real Mother’s Day and Father’s Day (that’s how we got the grill for all those cook outs 🙂 )
We spent more time with family, either in person (eating grilled pizza!) or on video calls.
I experienced a lot of growth at work. Growth can be very painful, and I won’t say I enjoyed a lot of the learning experiences that 2020 brought. But I am very glad for what I learned because of those experiences.
2021 goals
Now let’s talk about 2021. Some of the goals carried over from last year because we’re still working on them (I’m looking at you, student loans).
Clean out clutter
This may not be the year we make Marie Kondo proud, but it will be the year I take at least one box, one box of stuff out of the garage and into the thrift store. If we overhaul the house and buy a label maker, wonderful. But I won’t be disappointed if we don’t.
New roof
It really needs to happen this year. It’s not caving in or anything, but we get some very wet snow here in the winter, and I don’t want to push the limits of our roof for yet another season.
Basement and garage organized
Our abyss zones may not be the picture of perfection by December, but we really need to at lease get a better handle of what is actually hiding out in these last frontiers. Hopefully when we clean out clutter it will make it a little easier to get the basement and garage organized.
Take a $15,000 bite out of our debt
This is totally achievable. It’s less than my goal was last year, because the roof is a higher priority and I want to make sure we get that done. If we pay off $15,000 of our car loan and student loans this year, we can polish off the rest of it in 2022.
Savings
I’m making another savings goal, because I want that on my radar. Right now I need to contribute around $9,000 over the year to reach my goal. If we meet half of that, but get our new roof and reach our debt goal, I’ll be happy. But we’re still going to aim high 🙂
Family
Just because this is toward the end of my list does not at all mean that it isn’t important. I want to make a bigger effort to treat my family as important as my work. More important, in fact.
I’m struggling to learn what that means, because as a manager of people, I know how inconvenient it is when someone has a “family emergency” and doesn’t come to work. Somehow there must be a way to be a dependable employee while also maintaining unwavering devotion to family.
Healthy habits and meal planning
At the end of 2021, I want to have stopped telling myself that I need fitness habits, and stop telling myself how much easier my life would be if I would just buckle down and meal plan.
So far this year I have done pretty well with both of these. I followed my own advice for meal planning, and went ahead and planned out one month at a time. I’ve also been doing simple exercises in the evening. There’s usually a toddler intervening the whole time, but I can’t say I mind at all.
What goals are you working on this year?