New Year's Resolutions

I am partially only posting this now because I am finally taking the time to do it, but also because I just now settled on what my resolutions would be.  Yeah, I'm one of those dorks that drafts my resolutions and makes a list of potentials and then narrows them down.  I decided I would focus on three overarching resolutions that will be helped along the way with goals for each category:


1. Improve our financial situation
       a. We started doing it last year, but continue to do so and even more, set more aside in savings when the opportunity arises.
       b. Budget budget budget- we use mint.com, I recommend this to anyone trying to keep track of their bills, saving, and spending.  Each month, we are going to sit down and look at our month ahead regarding going out of town, birthdays, etc. and determine how much we'll need to set aside for groceries and limit the amount of times we go out to eat.
       c. Keep better track- I'm finally caving in and doing the tried and true envelope budgeting.  Except we're not going to actually withdraw the money to use, but we will keep all of our receipts and put it in the corresponding envelope and keep a running total.  I think this will help us keep track of how much we spend and where we can cut back in the future in these categories: Eating Out, Groceries, What We Need, What We Want.
2. Improve my health
       a. Try my best, when it's available, to incorporate protein into my breakfast.  It's healthy, it keeps you full, and it's important to get it in my diet, and I don't always get enough of it.
       b. Eat more produce- for some reason, I am great about this in the summer time, but I never crave veggies in the colder months.  I really need to plan my meals to include more vegetables and maybe even increase my fruit intake as well.
       c. Of course, the generic, get to the gym four times per week.  Not only to continue working towards my fitness goals, but because I pay for it!  I better keep using it.
       d. Continue committing to activities that require training.  For example, at the end of January, I am participating on a relay team for an indoor triathlon.  I'm doing the biking part, so I need to work on my speed for 10 miles.  I need to sign up for a 5k in April/May, and maybe one more before doing the  Moonlight Chase again in July (4 miles), then hopefully (fingers crossed), the Bix (7 miles)...etc. etc.
3. Improve my relationships
       a. Be present in the moment- I am such a planner, which can be good for some people because I think of things they wouldn't.  But it's also a burden to be constantly thinking about the future, whether full of excitement or worry.  I'm going to try to be grateful for what I have right now (which I am), and really enjoy my day-to-day life.
       b. Write more emails/letters to my friends.  I really want to stay connected with my long distance friends and it's easy to feel out of the loop when you don't get occasional updates.
       c. Get on Facebook less- I hope this doesn't seem like the opposite of improving my relationships!  It's getting ridiculous...whenever I have a moment to relax or I'm bored, I whip out my phone and check Facebook.  And then I'm almost disappointed when I have no new notifications even though I just checked 5 minutes ago.  I'm backing off...hardcore, like maybe once or twice a week, starting today.


I also have a few personal goals for myself that I hope to maintain throughout the year:
1. Read one book per month
2. Blog twice per week
3. Keep up with laundry and putting the clean clothes away (Ryan would really appreciate it!)


If you actually made it to the end of this blog post, thank you for reading my ramblings.  What are your new year's resolutions?