2018: A Year in Review
Every new year we are faced with the same tradition: set some resolutions that we inevitably break in the new year. Why do we do this? I personally don't believe we intend to set ourselves up for failure. Instead, I think that we set these blanket dreams and don't always know how to go about achieving them. It took me several years of not meeting personal goals before I understood the mechanics behind actually setting a goal.
I am a former high school science teacher and each spring semester, I would get a new group of students. One of our first tasks for the new semester and brand new year would be to set some attainable goals. A few of my students understood that they needed to set realistic goals and break down steps to attain them. A lot would still set those blanket dream goals of "work out" or "save money" or "stop spending so much money." While those are all nice thoughts, I wouldn't actually consider them to be goals at all and here's why:
In order for a dream to be a goal, it not only needs to be written out or said aloud, it also needs to be SMART. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. "I want to save money." Great. Be specific and measurable here. How much money do you want to save? "I want to save $100,000 this year." Is that attainable? For us, that's a BIG NO! Is saving money a relevant goal? I think that's a relevant goal for most people out there, so yes. And lastly, make the goal timely. Give yourself a date and break down that date into checkpoints. "I want to save $5,000 by December 31, 2019." Awesome. So, that means by June 3, 2019, you should have save $2,500, right? That's the midway point. That means that every month, you should save around $417 dollars to make this happen.
So, how did I do with my 2018 goals?
2018 Goals:
1. Buy a new-to-us car.
This was more of a "to-do" item than a true goal, but we saved over $2,000 for this purchase and were looking at our options for a new-to-us car. We wouldn't buy brand new (more on this later) and we wouldn't go into debt. Plus, we wanted to add the sale of our cars to this fund and even discussed becoming a one-car family. Upon review, however, we kept our cars and plan to drive them until we have to replace them...which may be 2019.
2. Read two books per month (24 total)
Going into 2018, we had a baby on the way but none actually living in our home. Therefore, I could not truly appreciate what adding a new baby does to one's ability to stay conscious past 9 PM. I made it to 17 books which isn't too shabby. However, it was not the goal I had set.
3. Grow our savings by $24,000.
This required saving at least $2,000 a month and in reality it required that we save more. My paychecks stopped once my sick days ran out in August (This is the reality for teachers. No sick days = no pay during maternity leave at all. That stinks.) We buckled down and practiced living on what my husband made and banked my paycheck. We were able to meet this goal.
4. Open a college savings account for the JuJuBe.
We met this goal and opened an ESA in her name this past summer.
5. Purchase no new clothing items for myself.
A pregnant and postpartum body changes a whole lot. I was able to stick to this goal until a week ago. I purchased a pair of jeans for $15 from Old Navy. My pre-pregnancy jeans are too short or too ratty and big. I still count this as a "win".
So all in all, how did we do? Aside from the slight fail of goal number 2, I think we did pretty darn good!
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the 2019 goals. If you don't have any resolutions or targets for the new year, think about some that you want. As the famous saying goes, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time."
Hope to see you next year!
I am a former high school science teacher and each spring semester, I would get a new group of students. One of our first tasks for the new semester and brand new year would be to set some attainable goals. A few of my students understood that they needed to set realistic goals and break down steps to attain them. A lot would still set those blanket dream goals of "work out" or "save money" or "stop spending so much money." While those are all nice thoughts, I wouldn't actually consider them to be goals at all and here's why:
In order for a dream to be a goal, it not only needs to be written out or said aloud, it also needs to be SMART. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. "I want to save money." Great. Be specific and measurable here. How much money do you want to save? "I want to save $100,000 this year." Is that attainable? For us, that's a BIG NO! Is saving money a relevant goal? I think that's a relevant goal for most people out there, so yes. And lastly, make the goal timely. Give yourself a date and break down that date into checkpoints. "I want to save $5,000 by December 31, 2019." Awesome. So, that means by June 3, 2019, you should have save $2,500, right? That's the midway point. That means that every month, you should save around $417 dollars to make this happen.
So, how did I do with my 2018 goals?
2018 Goals:
1. Buy a new-to-us car.
This was more of a "to-do" item than a true goal, but we saved over $2,000 for this purchase and were looking at our options for a new-to-us car. We wouldn't buy brand new (more on this later) and we wouldn't go into debt. Plus, we wanted to add the sale of our cars to this fund and even discussed becoming a one-car family. Upon review, however, we kept our cars and plan to drive them until we have to replace them...which may be 2019.
2. Read two books per month (24 total)
Going into 2018, we had a baby on the way but none actually living in our home. Therefore, I could not truly appreciate what adding a new baby does to one's ability to stay conscious past 9 PM. I made it to 17 books which isn't too shabby. However, it was not the goal I had set.
3. Grow our savings by $24,000.
This required saving at least $2,000 a month and in reality it required that we save more. My paychecks stopped once my sick days ran out in August (This is the reality for teachers. No sick days = no pay during maternity leave at all. That stinks.) We buckled down and practiced living on what my husband made and banked my paycheck. We were able to meet this goal.
4. Open a college savings account for the JuJuBe.
We met this goal and opened an ESA in her name this past summer.
5. Purchase no new clothing items for myself.
A pregnant and postpartum body changes a whole lot. I was able to stick to this goal until a week ago. I purchased a pair of jeans for $15 from Old Navy. My pre-pregnancy jeans are too short or too ratty and big. I still count this as a "win".
So all in all, how did we do? Aside from the slight fail of goal number 2, I think we did pretty darn good!
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the 2019 goals. If you don't have any resolutions or targets for the new year, think about some that you want. As the famous saying goes, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time."
Hope to see you next year!
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