LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

As most of you have been doing, I've been thinking about what may lie ahead for me in 2010.

I took time out to read my blog from last year. I think I had a wonderful year. I wish they were all that way, don't you?

I did a lot of travel, sight seeing, exploring of my own area, went to a lot of plays/musicals, having parties, doing things with loved ones, eating good food, learning a whole new way of eating (Weight Watchers), remodeling of the home, ghost hunting and loads of other things.


Looking back was fun. But, I'm excited about looking into the future too.

I figured the best way to make things happen is to plan for them. Make goals and then cross them off the list one by one. That way, next year when I look back, I'll feel like I've gotten a lot done.

I'm sure as the year goes by I'll have more and more things I want to do or feel I need to do.



Last year, I spent a lot of money doing the things I wanted to do. I was lucky enough to have some extra money due to my Uncle who loved me enough to leave me part of his estate.

Sadly, this year I will be on a budget. A tight, tight budget. So anything I want to do will take some saving.

Which brings me to my first goal. That is to save money anywhere I can.

I'm going to keep track of my money and write down everything I spend. I want to spend very very little per month.

That means I'm going to have to make due with what I have. As I told you I have a storage are full of stuff I've long forgotten about. I also have a garage, with so much stuff in it, our two car garage only has room for one car to park in there.

They will allow me to satisfy my desire to purchase new and exciting things. I can go through my things and start to use them again.

Not only will that help with cutting down my spending but it will help with my next goal.

To get organized and de-clutter. I figured if I just go through five boxes a week, I can get through my things pretty fast.

In March I want to have a big garage sale. That way I can get rid of the things I no longer want and also add that money to my savings.

The money I save this year will go towards travel. I really really want to go back to New York at least one time this year. Then if at all possible I would like to take another cruise with Trinity over the summer. I would love to go to the Caribbean since I've never been there.

Plus, I'm hoping to have a lot more weight gone by then so maybe I'll even be able to put a bathing suit on in public!

I would also love to go up to San Francisco. I wanted to do that last year but never made it.

Staying on Weight Watchers is high on my list of things I want to do this year. One way to help me reach that is one of my other goals.

To try a new recipe at least once a week. I have lots of cook books and I've purchase just about all of the ones that Weight Watchers has so I want to start using them.

I seem to have a thing for cook books. I always have. I buy them, read them cover to cover. Yet, I hardly ever make anything from them. It's time to change that.

Not only do I want to lose weight, I want my dogs to. So that brings me to my goal of walking my dogs more.

Not only will it be good for them (plus they love it) it will be good for me. So, it's clearly a win/win.

The last thing on my list is to finish up lots of projects around the house.

I have several things I want to refinish and bring back to life. Things like the desk in the office, a potting table and bench outside, our dining room set and the swing out back.

I also want to work on our back yard and plant some new roses and pretty flowers.

Yes, those things will take money but I'm planning on doing them with a budget. Most will only require a bit of paint and hard elbow grease.

Oh sure, I'll still be having parties. Only thing that will be different is they will be with things I already have or purchased for very little money.

I normally plan a party after I've picked the theme. The themes could come to me out of the blue or because I've seen something cute at the store that I wanted to use.

This year, I will first think of things I have and how to reuse them in different ways. This will be a challenge to me. I think it's a good idea to put this idea to work.

If I can pull this off then I may start to look into doing party planning for hire. Parties on a budget! I think anyone could use those ideas.

So that's my goals. Of course, I'll be bringing you along as do all of them.

I'll read this post again next year and see how many I've been able to reach. I'm hoping all of them. I'm going to try. I'm going to really try!