Goals for the New Year

In the last post I mentioned how I avoid the after-Christmas letdown by creating and achieving goals for the next year. This week, I have thought through what goals I would like to accomplish as a person and as a family with my husband. Here are the results!

1. Maintain physical shape.  Working out and staying healthy is very important to me. I try not to restrict myself from "forbidden foods", but I also know that when I do, I have to work that much harder to keep it off!

2. Train for and run a 5K. This is a completely new venture for me. I am not a runner by nature, but a couple of summers ago, I participated in a workout program that gradually turned my walk into a run. I loved the serotonin burst running gives me and I cannot wait to get back into a workout routine that incorporates that activity. Joseph is very excited to participate in this goal as well! Hopefully we will both be ready come July 9th's Parlor City Race downtown!

3. Renovate our living room. I know you have seen pictures of our ghastly walls in the room we spend most of our time in. Well, that is going to change in 2011!

4. Study a book of the Bible together. I think it is really important for a family to have some sort of spiritual time of study and discussion with each other. This is something Joseph and I are looking forward to working through this year. I would love to have a study guide to go with it though - any specific good ones out there you can recommend?

5. Finish wedding scrapbook. This was on my list of last years goals and sadly, was not completed. I am hoping to try again this year. Time gets away from me so fast!

6. Increase Emergency Fund by $500. We do have a portion of our budget set aside in case of an emergency, but it is not nearly the amount we would be able to survive on were Joseph to lose his job, etc.  We are hoping that by setting a small goal like this, we can slowly increase that fund.

7. Make at least 2 principle payments on the house. 2010 was an awesome year for us considering all the financial goals we managed to accomplish. One of them was paying off our five year car loan in a year and a half! God is so good! Now that we have a car payment out of the way, we are really looking towards putting more principle on our house so we own more than just a doorknob. :)

8. Save for a cruise in 2012. Joseph and I really want to go on a Caribbean cruise! But since we refuse to go in debt for our vacations (which is greatly encouraged, by the way!) we have to save up for them. We are hoping to have enough for plane tickets and a nice cruise by 2012!

I hope you thought about some of your 2011 goals as well. Feel free to link up below with your own blog post about goals you are making for yourself, but if you do not have a blog, please share in the comment section. I would love to read them!

*Edit 1/1/11*
I almost forgot one!

9. Participate in the Siesta Scripture Memory Team with Beth Moore. I have wanted to do this for a while and this year I am actually taking part! Lord willing, by the end of the new year, I will have 24 verses memorized!