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January Goals

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 31 Comments

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December is over, so I need to of course make my January goals. Hopefully I do much better than I did in December.
  1. Make 2012 goals. Hopefully I will get this done soon. I’m not sure what I want to accomplish, but I do have general ideas in my head right now.
  2. Reassess our budget and cut out $50. Our budget is pretty tight right now with our debt payoff, spending, and saving. We’ve gotten rid of most extras, but we can probably lower our entertainment budget more. We got lots of gift cards for Christmas (movies, spa, food, ice cream), so this should be easy to lower for at least the month of January.
  3. Start and finish homework before it’s due.  Classes start in about 2 weeks, so I think I can start the new semester right.At least I’m hoping. I need to buy my textbooks soon. That should be a downer. I’m taking 4 classes this semester again, and they are all going to be pretty hard since they are all the highest level finance classes for my MBA program.
  4. Workout at least 1 time a week and eventually have some abs. I need to be healthy, this will tie into my 2012 year goals also. My goal in December was to work out at least 2 times a week, but that didn’t happen at all, so I’m not lowering this goal so that it can be more realistic. I want to get more toned, especially for all of the vacations that I’m going on this year. It’s always depressing when I work out though because I gain weight from muscle (yeah yeah I know, I shouldn’t be looking at the numbers), but it’s still sad to see the number go up!
  5. Volunteer at least two days this month. My training for volunteering starts on January 7th, I’m super excited but I’m also worried about being too busy! I have training about 3 or 4 times this weekend, so this one will absolutely be a pass.
  6. Sell my stuff on Ebay.  Since I forgot to do this last month, I need to do it soon.
  7. Take down my Christmas tree. I hate doing this. Our last Christmas dinner was last night, so it’s of course still up. When does everyone take theirs down? I usually wait until the last second when people start saying that it’s weird that it’s still up.
  8. Make an extra $500 this month.  I still have a couple more text books to sell, and this will easily make me around $300. The extra $200 could come from surveys and secret shopping easily also.
  9. Save around $350 per month for my vacations this year. Going on vacations in March, May, August, and September most likely. We need around $1,000 for each vacation. I’m pretty sure I talked about this before, but I get nearly free airline tickets through my dad’s retirement survivor’s benefits, so it makes our vacations very cheap.

What are your January goals?

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. Sarah says

    I just took pictures of everything I need to sell online. I've never done it before so I'm hoping the stuff actually sells-haha. I looked into doing the secret shopping thing years ago but it all seemed to be scams. What company do you do it through?

    Reply

  2. Dearest Lou says

    You have such great goals for this year! I just blogged about my goals(: What a lovely blog, Glad I found you so I could followYou should come check out my blog if you've got a sec (;dearest-lou.blogspot.com

    Reply

  4. tinysarah says

    Awesome list Michelle! So glad you found my blog 🙂 – we can mutually stress over work and school. I'm just hoping I've budgeted enough for my textbooks this semester!

    Reply

  6. Annemarie @ Brunch a says

    I love this post, especially the part about reassessing your budget. As uncomfortable as it makes me to face all of our expenses, I must do the same this week to start the year off right. Bookmarking this post- it's a great motivator!

    Reply

  7. Emily says

    Good luck with all your goals. I need to find a way to make some money while I'm at school….xx Emily @ laughliveandshop.blogspot.com

    Reply

  8. Free!~ says

    My tree came down on Saturday. We de decorated on Friday and The Boyfriend had the tree outside on Saturday morning by the time I woke up.Your so lucky that you get the plane tickets for next to nothing. I'm sure that makes traveling a breeze!

    Reply

  9. femmefrugality says

    Jealous of your airline miles! I wanna get a reward credit card, but feel obligated to pay off our other debt first. This year we got a real tree…so getting rid of it is going to be a challenge this year compared to others…

    Reply

  10. Newlyweds on a Budge says

    i think secret shopping and surveys is a good way to make extra money. you should also advertise on your blog if you're open to it. it would help reach that extra money goals.

    Reply

  11. Anne Sabine says

    Those goals sound great! Haven't even thought of goals yet for the month, but will do so once I start to settle in. But definitely want to be on top of work for my MBA and also start working out even if it is for a little bit.

    Reply

  12. ~Carla~ says

    Love your goals! I haven't thought of my January goals… I think I'll work on them for tomorrow! 🙂 Our Christmas stuff isn't down yet, but if my arm wasn't so sore it would be… 😉

    Reply

  15. Tabitha Lynn says

    I love these. And I'll be checking our your ETSY soon. Found you through Hollie takes notes, and I immediately adore you. Excited to read more. Tabmy-cliffnotes.blogspot.com

    Reply

  19. Buck Inspire says

    Nice goals! I've been wanting abs for awhile, too. Haha. What are retirement survivor's benefits? Way to see the world when you are young. Too many people wait till the end. Where are you off to? Happy New Year!

    Reply

  20. Ashley says

    we have so many of the same goals as far as reassessing budgets and savings for vacays! crossing our fingers we're both successful! happy 2012 lady!XO, A

    Reply

  21. michelledobbyn says

    Thanks for stopping by my blog! I've linked you up 🙂 Your goals are great! I haven't really thought about my goals for the year … I'll probably work on it this week. Happy New Year!

    Reply

  23. Michelle P says

    Thanks everyone! I hope everyone elses' goals go great.@BuckInspire, My dad passed away a couple of years ago, and one of the things that I inherited from him was his retirement benefits for heavily discounted airfare (it cost me around $20 to go pretty much anywhere in the U.S. in first class, or $10 in coach), since he worked at an airline.

    Reply

  24. Gina says

    Great goals! We just took down our tree! Yay.&& with all that discount airfare business go ahead and make another reservation for me :)jk. Of course.

    Reply

  25. Nicole says

    wow. this is really inspiring. hubs and i are super duper tight on money. we are constantly budgeting and trying to cut corners. rock on!xoxo

    Reply

  27. Frances says

    girllll i am sooo glad to be following your blog now! with wedding planning and saving up to HOPEFULLY move back across the country in the next year your blog is sureee to be VERY helpful!!! my fiance and I are also in the financial industry! 🙂

    Reply

  28. Amanda says

    We seriously need to reasses our budget this month. It's gonna be tight paying for this wedding by ourselves!

    Reply

  30. Shannon says

    I hate taking down the tree as well 🙁 Ours is still up as it is a 2 foot tall fake tree and you dont even notice it. I also need to sell stuff on Ebay, but don't know how to proce shipping and all that. But I'm also just lazy and havent really looked into it.

    Reply

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