Resolutions for the New Year

January 31, when a person’s mind turns to resolutions. Or at least mine does. 

 I’m thinking/hoping/praying that if I right them down and try to make weekly (or monthly, undecided as of yet) accountability posts then maybe, just maybe, I’ll follow through this year.

I’m breaking it down in to sections, first up, food.

I’m going to kick off my New Year with a Whole 30. I’ve started these before but I’ve never committed to 30 full days because half way through I always get derailed, however, I have nothing upcoming that could potentially throw me off and I’ve already got a week and a half of a meal plan done and I bought a new cookbook I can’t wait to try (Paleo Takes 5). I’m short on time, a lot, and I hate using tons and tons of ingredients. Also, I’m going to try to get in the habit of batch cooking now that I consistently have weekends off.

Next, as it often goes hand in hand with food, exercise.

I was doing a bootcamp at my local Y, but then with Christmas and changing jobs, I sort of lost momentum part of the way though. So, I’m signing up for the same bootcamp’s January – April session and plan on committing. It’s only 2 times a week for an hour so I would need to fit in at least one other work out. I’m currently looking at Sunday. I have money budgeted that I’d be able to purchase 5 sessions with a personal trainer a month, but that wouldn’t be until after January.

Which brings me to my next resolution:

I’m committing to a Gail Vaz-Oxlade budget. I’ve already made one and it balances and all that jazz, so now, it’s following through. This will likely be the most difficult resolution for me to keep because I can get a little impetuous when it comes to small purchases here and there (mostly Tim Hortons, or books). So planning meals and snacks is key. Come March or April (depending on how the weather goes) I’ll need to buy some clothing for spring. I did do a capsule wardrobe for winter because even though I live in an area that has fairly distinct seasons, my wardrobe was never seasonal and I was always cold in the winter or warm in the summer and I also purged a bunch so I no longer have much in the way of spring or summer clothes.

I’m finally in a position with my new job, that I’m making enough more a month that I can start to work towards paying down some debt. Previously, my jobs were essentially allowing me to survive but it was impossible to think about things like saving or debt repayment. I have a pretty hefty student loan (currently I’m deferring payments) and a credit card and my new laptop, thankfully, I’ve have very little consumer debt with high interest. My computer is on a fixed payment schedule and will be paid off in June. My credit card will be paid off shortly after once I get my computer paid off. Once those are both paid off, I’ll have to sit down and rejig the budget to work out student loan payments.

The budget also accounts for saving and an emergency fund. (I am also considering a 52 week money challenge, but if I do that I’ll likely do it in reverse or, just do it “bingo style” where I commit to an amount for a week even if it isn’t the amount that is specified for that week).

I have a lot of books, and I haven’t read all of them. My goal for this year is to read more. I’ve been getting better at reading more in the last year but I want to keep this resolution going forward. Just off the top of my head I can think of at least 6 books that I’ve started and not finished that litter my bedside table. On the Shoulders of Hobbits, Salt, Sugar, Fat, Rooted in Love, Catholicism, Moby Dick,  and , not to mention the books that I’ve been gifted over this holiday season including: Recall Abortion, How Can the Dream Survive if we Kill all the Children, and the Loser Letters.  I have countless other books as well that I’ve never read or are half read. So, I’d like to finish them all. None of these books are very long (with the exception of Moby Dick) but they are mostly non-fiction and are quite dense so they aren’t quick reads. My goal would be to finish 2 books a month.

My other resolution is probably the one that will be the hardest. Reducing screen time. This will also help with the read more books goal, but I sometimes find myself in a funk when I get home from work that leads to mindless eating and wasted hours. Over Advent I committed (and was mostly successful) in shutting off my computer and phone at 7:30pm. The phone was harder than the computer, but I would definitely like to keep up that resolution until it becomes habit.

Another plus I noticed during Advent, is that when my screen time was reduced I prayed more, which is always something that I know I should be doing more of but can never actually seem to do.

And that’s it. None of these are particularly earth shattering or difficult but I’ve got a tendency to be extremely lazy so the goal for the New Year is to eat healthy, move more, and watch less.