Books. I wanted to read two books a month. At first I was behind, then I was ahead, at one point reading about one a week. And then I started work and it all fell off. Overall, I believe my final count for books read (completed only) was 20. So not quite the target of 24, but close and considering the change in life situation not bad. The problem now is that with working, I used to do all my reading during my commute but now I drive. So my reading count is way down.
2019 resolution. I would like still work on targeting reading since I didn't get to where I wanted to be yet. My goal is twofold:
1. Read one book a month (12 total)
2. Track my books in and my books read. I can acquire more books but by years end, I have to have read at least the same amount I brought into the house. The goal is to reduce the amount of unread books laying around.
Cookbooks. This one I didn't track but feel like I made progress. I didn't make a recipe from each book, but, I did end up taking out two cookbooks and donating them and have two more I'm about to let go of. So it feels good cleaning the bookshelf out of just my prized cookbooks. On the recipes from magazines, I've really made a lot of headway - I've used a bunch and weeded through them again last month when I was reorganizing them and got through the of a bunch in a reality check. And as an added bonus, I've really been weeding down the recipes on Pinterest. By trying out the recipes and also U pinning ones I realize aren't top priorities to try out. So overall, I didn't hit my numbers but feel like I've made progress. One aha moment I had was when I was organizing the magazine recipes and grouping them by category. I made one category called "aspirational" recognizing that this wouldn't be a recipe I'd go to often but it was interesting and wanted to experiment in the kitchen. For example, making my own potstickers.
2019 resolution. I'd like to keep the momentum going. I'm going to basically have the same resolution.
1. Make one recipe per cookbook and potentially let go of a few more books - reevaluate.
2. Magazine recipes - have five per category to try max. I have 8 categories, so that's 40. The 10 was not a good match, because I always like to experiment and not make the same stuff.
3. Pinterest recipes. Really work on cleaning up what I have collected. Target having no more than 20 per board.
3. FInancials. Ugh. I just lost what I wrote. Quick recap. I went cash only for purchases and it changed my spending habits even more. Although challenging I feel even more in control of what I'm buying because I have to plan appropriately to have the cash on hand. I'm keeping with my monthly budget of $300 cash at the start of the month and I'm proud I've adjusted my habits. It helps I have a clear focus on my priorities of financial independence and the ability to retire early if I want to. No numbers bit on average less than one charge to plastic a month.
Item two of limiting shopping at big box stores was the hardest but I feel the best about. It's sad to see a monochromatic of options these days and losing the local colorful fabric of options. Toiletries were the hardest to buy - I found a local five and dime store but then it went out of business. Overall, I had one/month of buying at a big box chain. My preference is to spend a little more time and money and support local businesses.
Final item was limiting online purchases. This was the easiest and I avoided anything from Amazon. The few times I was forced to find the product online (because I couldn't find it at a brick and mortar), I reevaluated if I needed the item and decided I didn't. The one loophole was my wishlist for presents and even with this, if I sent something I knew was going to be purchased online I tried to send non Amazon links.
Overall financials was a success and I'd still be interested in the final numbers so will hopefully pull them. I feel like my habits have changed and I'm on the right track.
My 2019 New Years Resolutions are the two listed above - keep working on food and reading. And two more to do with my health.
Run 5k. I've not figured out a good workout routine with work. Instead of just having a general resolution of working out more, I have the goal to run 5k. I've been using the couch to 5k program and have been on week 3 for a year! This will hopefully be a good motivator and give me a milestone and sense of accomplishment.
Culture/social event. As I work to keep a balanced work/life, I was thinking of what structure to put in place. My social life is dependent on invites I get and are very one sided. My goal is to reach out and arrange one per month social get together. Accepting invites from others doesn't count. And on the cultural front I feel like I should take advantage of everything in my backyard. And with the new job and having access to free and close (my two big obstacles often) events and museums I thought I would have done more. So my goal is one cultural event/month.
And I'm happy to report progress already on these two fronts. I've reached out to a friend I haven't seen for awhile and we're scheduling something - probably for next month. And earlier this year I had put on my calendar several lecture series at the Fogg museum. The first one was yesterday at lunch and normally I would have bailed because I had too much to do, but I held firm and went. It was great and I was glad I attended. It was a gallery walk on "Intoduction to the Dark Arts: Ancient Egyptian Magic". I thought of mom and how she would have really enjoyed it. We spent most of the time discussing and exploring this one piece - what it depicted, the meaning behind the images and how it was used. The person leading the talk was an Egyptologist. I'd never heard of that term before. It was great fun learning about the hippo God (lower left figure) and what was missing from the tablet (there are places for text that would be the spell).
Overall I feel on track for keeping a balanced and enriched life. It's amazing how the day to day demands can take over and you lose track of the important things. So that's why I've recently adopted New Years Resolutions as a way for me to step back and evaluate what habits if like to change and what items I want to prioritize in my life. Here's to 2019!
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