Resolve to...

Here we are again.  That time of the year where we all make those resolutions to lose weight, fix our finances, fall in love...  I stopped making resolutions a few years ago.  I like to call them goals.  I think it sounds better.

I had kind of a rough 2014.  To the point where I had strongly considered seeking professional help about it.  With only 1 income for the past14 months and nothing to fall back on along with some other crap that has been (and is still) going on, I can safely say I was not sorry to see 2014 go.  And to be honest, I wasn't all that excited to start a new year.  But here we are.  No matter what has happened over the past 12 months, time still moves forward.  We have to move forward.  We really don't have much of a choice.

So I have decided to embrace 2015 as our year to get our shit together.

Finances

People always say money can't buy happiness.  Well, if you can't pay your bills and you have collectors calling every hour between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm, I guarantee you aren't all that happy.  I don't care what you say, money is a key factor in being happy.  It pays for things like your home, food, clothes just to name a few necessities.  It also pays for vacations and fun stuff.  If you can't do any fun stuff then you probably aren't very happy.  That is where we're at.  Not very happy and pretty deep in debt.  So, we've already starting writing out a plan to get our finances in order.  I've set the goal that by the end of the year, the only debt we will have is our house payment.  We will be using Dave Ramsey's snowball method.  I actually did something very similar about 10 years ago, before I even knew who Dave Ramsey was and was able to pay off around $15,000 of college debt that I had racked up in about 2 years.

Health and Fitness

I'm not going to say I want to lose weight.  I plan to just get healthy this year.  I've already put a few things in motion to help support my efforts.  I joined the The Max Challenge on November 24 for a 4 week session.  They offer small class sessions along with a nutrition plan.  The success stories they advertise are right next to you in class every night.  Their next 10 week challenge officially starts on January 12, but I've been going 4 - 5 nights a week since November 24 and can already tell where I'm starting to tone.  Their nutrition plan is not rocket science.  It is basically a clean eating plan.

In addition, as of December 30, I've started training for my 1st half marathon which is on March 21.  I ran a couple 5Ks and a 10K last year but I really want to step it up this year.  I also joined a challenge to run/walk 2,015 miles in 2015 sponsored by Run the Edge.  I'm doubtful I will hit the 2,015 mile, but I'm going to give it a go!

If I happen to lose weight along the way, then great, but the main point is that I'll be healthy.

Me

This year I'm going to make an effort to do some things that make me happy.  What I've been doing every night and most weekends is sit on the couch and stare at the TV or my phone or something like that.  This year I'm going to work on some of my hobbies like my Project Life scrapbooking, reading, photography, organizing, and of course blogging!

So there you have it.  The 3 things that I want to focus on in 2015.  I plan on writing up some blog posts on some of these things in more detail over the next couple weeks so stay tuned!

What are you going to resolve to do in 2015?

~AKO