New Year's Resolutions

Flash back to one year ago, the very beginning of 2010. I made no less than FIVE distinct New Year's Resolutions, and they were all incredibly vague. All I did was send these desires out into the universe, with no plan whatsoever for how to succeed at my goals. I figured the planets would align and grant my wishes somehow.

My approach for 2011 is different. I've settled on two resolutions (I figure that a low number is better, like in golf); one of the resolutions is small, while the other is more serious and time-consuming. Finally, both of these goals for 2011 can be easily measured, and by the time the next New Year's Eve rolls around, it'll be abundantly clear whether I succeeded or not.

Make a weekly budget
My husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary about a week ago, and as we celebrated over a romantic lunch at Chili's (no need to pity us for the restaurant choice - it's where we went for our first date), we set a goal to significantly up our savings account balance in the coming year. What do we plan to do with these saved-up funds? The idea is to spend two weeks-ish of 2012 in Europe (France and Switzerland, to be precise) and not experience a speck of debt in the pursuit. Meeting this goal will require cutting back in a few areas, but more than that, it will just require us to be more purposeful and mindful in our spending. My goal is to make a weekly budget (most likely on Sunday evenings) and be well-aware of our financial situation at all times.

Learn how to french braid my own hair
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