Reflections and Resolutions: A 2011 Year End Compilation

2011 went by in a blur.  I am seriously busier than I have ever been in my life.  Lots of changes for me in 2011, the biggest of which was returning to work full time outside the home.  I still work full time at home too–make no mistake about that.  I also just happen to work 38.25 hours a week at the Kindergarten/1st grade building of our school district.

So here’s my compilation of reflections about 2011 and resolutions for 2012.  I was going to do a top 10 list, but then I realized that at least for my resolutions, I want to do ALL of them equally so there was no point in listing them numerically.  In fact, this list will be jumble of all of my recent thoughts, and I’ll simply label them reflection or resolution.

Reflection: 2011 was the year that Facebook appears to have exploded.  More people than ever have a Face Book page, and more people than ever seem to post completely inappropriate drama (family, work, you name it) for everyone to see.  This bugs the crap out of me.  I don’t believe in using this kind of media to hurt other people, or to tell the whole world about all your dirty laundry.  I’ve been called “fake on Face Book” by someone for this attitude, but I don’t look at is as being fake…I look at it as being private.  Anyone with common sense knows that nobody is happy ALL the time, and life is not perfect.  Just because I choose to keep the less-than-pleasant events to myself doesn’t make me fake.

Resolution: In 2012, I will be faithful in using my planner.  I ordered a very awesome life planner from erincondren.com for the coming year and I need to use it.  I truly do have so much going on most times that I start to forget things.  This is not a good thing.  My life planner should keep me right on track–all I need to do is use it.  I’ve been this way my whole life though, and with so much more than just using a planner…I am all excited to use it, I do great for about a month and then it just slowly starts to decline until…nothing.

Reflection: I spent too much money in 2011 and didn’t save enough.  Spending too much makes you a slave to the government in my opinion.  People who need to work, work, work and have no time for anything else are the perfect governmental pawns.  They don’t have time to think about the bigger picture because they’re too busy surviving day to day.  Putting money aside and living within your means equals freedom.

Resolution: to save $50 a week every week of 2012.  At the very least, my summer taxes and Christmas will be taken care of.

Reflection: Speaking of Christmas, wow are we ever a materialistic society.  I find it distressing that Christmas has become an obligation and a stressful burden.  A lot of people go into debt to have an over the top Christmas that they really can’t afford, and for what?  Who are they trying to please?  I think most of us do this to some degree, whether or not we’ll admit it is another story all together.

Resolution: I will spend more time with my girl friends in 2012.  There’s nothing so fun as hanging out with my friends and laughing like crazy.  I feel great for two weeks after one afternoon of fun.  I want to do this more often, I need to!

Resolution: Pay down a significant amount of debt in 2012 and spend less in general.

Resolution:  To lose 50 lbs. in 2012, and keep it off.  This is really a big one, because I need to do this for my health.  I was really on the right track in 2011, and blew it big time in the second half.  This time around I’m taking away a lot of the pressure though–I’m not in a hurry…I want to take it off slowly and keep it off permanently.

Resolution: I will track my spending every week.  I need to do an in depth analysis of where my money is going and keep track of it.  I firmly believe if I do this, I will spend less and save more.

Resolution:  I will blog more consistently.  I really fell away from blogging regularly this past fall, and I thought about it often, and missed a lot but never took time to write.  I will be writing more, and taking photos regularly.  I’m going to attempt a project 365 this year.  I’m not really sure I’m dedicated enough to pull that one off, but I’m going to try.  I wish I had an F1.4 lens for my camera, that would make it so nice to take every day photos.  I will schedule some time every week for blogging darn it, because I miss it when I don’t.

What are some of your reflections and resolutions?

Stacey