As I said last year I usually don't do new year resolutions. For the second year in a row I'm going to take another crack at it. Hopefully I'll bat better than .500 this year! Here are my resolutions or goals for the year:
Debt: One of my biggest goals to accomplish this year is to finally get myself out of debt, excluding my mortgage of course. I have worked extremely hard over the last year, with the help of my dad, to pay off outstanding bills and old credit cards. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Once I've paid off my bills it will open up a tremendous amount of money for me monthly. This resolution should be easily obtained.
Vices: I'm going to try to give up my most expensive and destructive vices, drinking and smoking. At some point early this year I'll try to quit smoking but I'm scared of the weight gain. The last time I quit it took me a year to lose the weight I put on in a month! Before I quite smoking I need to have some kind of exercise program in place to counteract my urge to put something in my mouth. Drinking may be more difficult as it's such a social thing to do with my friends. When I say drinking I mean to excess or drunkenness. Saturday night I was at the bar with friends, drinking water watching some football. The hardest part of the evening was not getting drunk, it was the harassment I took every two minutes from all the enablers trying to get me to have a beer or a shot. I spend an incredible amount of money and time with nothing to show for it going out and I'm simply over it, not to mention all the hang overs and foolish behavior.
Travel: I want to travel more this year. I love going on road trips and visiting interesting places, which isn't hard to accomplish living in Oklahoma City. I had some pretty fantastic times last year in Chicago (twice), Vegas, Tulsa, and Dallas. For my birthday I hope to either go back to Chicago or visit San Francisco, both comparable cost wise.
House: Once again I'm going to try to get some significant work done on my house this year. Having all the windows replaced should be a great motivator to at least get all the woodwork repainted along with texturing and painting the walls. Fortunately most of the work needed in my home is cosmetic, not including the kitchen which will require quite a bit of work and expense to modernize.
Volunteer: I have been researching some of the local charities to devote some time to in order to give back to those who are not as well off as I am. It's actually been difficult to find something that isn't religious based in this area, a definite deal breaker for me. I think I've narrowed down my search to either the local food bank or one the AIDS related organizations. Once I have a firm grasp on how I can benefit one or more of these organizations I'm sure I'll post about it.
So that's my goals for the year. How about everyone out there in reader land? Do you normally make new year resolutions and do you normally succeed or fail at keeping them?
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