Ten on Tuesday 12-18: New Year’s Resolutions

I’ve never really been one to make New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think there’s anything magical about January 1. If you want to change something in your life, you can do it any time you decide to – the beginning of next month, the first day of summer, next Monday, tomorrow, five minutes from now! New Year’s Day is an artificial milestone. For example, if you decide you’re going to start a healthy new habit – or break an unhealthy old one – you’re cheating yourself if you wait till then instead of starting right away.

Having said that, if I did make New Year’s resolutions, these things might be on the list, but in no particular order:

  1. Learn to juggle my family, my work, my writing/blogging/reading, and whatever else there is in my life more effectively.
  2. Re-focus on doing my job effectively and consistently – I’ve been making too many excuses and seizing distractions too readily.
  3. Plan – and actually take! – a special outing with my husband at least once every couple of months; so far, we’ve talked about playing tourists in Hollywood and touring Santa Barbara on Segways.
  4. Maintain my weight on my own, using what I’ve learned in four years with Weight Watchers.
  5. Transfer a set amount into savings once a month and treat it like a bill, not something done out of the “leftovers.”
  6. Clear out closets, dressers, and bookshelves, and make trips to Goodwill and the Friends of the Library donation rooms, at least every three months.
  7. Catalog my books.
  8. Buy fewer books till I’ve read more of the dozens already in TBR status (yeah, that’s totally not going to happen, but it sounds good).
  9. Zero out the credit cards and keep the balances current.
  10. Cook more often, and try for a more varied menu.

I’m actually a trifle unnerved by how quick and easy it was to come up with ten of these things.

Got resolutions? Care to share? Need ideas? Check out the Ten on Tuesday players!

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11 comments

  1. Thanks to all of y’all (that IS proper Southern grammar, BTW) for stopping by, and letting me go check out your lists! There are definitely some good improvement ideas out there – I picked up a few more from you! 🙂

  2. Credit card debt is evil. Best to get rid of it. If you have a significant amount and own your home, check into an equity line because equity interest is deductible on schedule A if you itemize deductions.

    Good luck with the rest. I have little doubt that if you successfully stuck with Weight Watchers for four years, you will have no trouble keeping these resolutions!

    Happy Tuesday!

  3. Interesting thing I’ve noticed in checking out other people’s lists – a lot of us went the “I don’t make resolutions, but if I did…” route.

  4. While I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions per say, I do sometimes use the 1st as the time to start on my newly set goals. It’s the time to change the calendars and start on a new reading journal for starters. None of these goals are really life altering, but they are symbolic in their own way. I love reviewing my reading at the end of each year, looking for patterns and then starting over at the beginning of the next year. I think for stuff like that, the New Year start date is perfect.

    I think for the more life altering changes–like weight loss and eating healthy–you are absolutely right. Why not start now? There’s no sense putting it off when it would do more good to start now.

  5. Literary Feline – Good point. Some things do lend themselves to a natural or calendar cycle, and that’s when it makes sense to start or finish them.