Hopes/Goals for 2011 ......Final Report on How We Did

We are hours away from 2012 as I type this.
Wow.
Another year gone and almost in the books.

Let's stop and look back at what went on in last year first before we drink the New Year in, shall we? ;-)

Here is the Overview of my Goals/Hopes for 2011.....

1. Put more Money Into Savings.
2. File all the Paperwork that needs filing  and completing it on time.
3. Declutter my entire house and garage, and storage unit(and then stop renting the storage unit).
4. Read 30 books this year, with 75% of them being non-fiction.
5. Finish ALL in progress sewing projects and alter ALL clothing that needs it or give it away.
6. Cook more foods from scratch and phase unhealthy options out of my stockpile.
7. Grow more of the food we eat or source our food from non-grocery chain stores.
8. Use my skills to step up what I do for Others.
9. Be more "in the Moment" for my Family.
10. Organize the running of my Home. 

And here is how I graded myself on meeting those goals....

1. Put more Money Into Savings.
PASS--I undertook a $32K Savings Challenge in 2011 and was able to surpasss that total! *Post coming soon on the specific amount I tucked away.

2. File all the Paperwork that needs filing and completing it on time.
PASS--We got the taxes and the college paperwork finished and submitted on time in 2011.  I let the filing pile up however on the back end of the year and didn't get it filed every 2 months as I had wanted.  This was partly me being passive aggressive, as Hubs NEVER files any paperwork and I get damned tired of having to do it all.  So I purposely let it pile up until he gave in(yes!lol)and broke down and started it.  It was touch on go there whether I'd crack first tho...lol

3. Declutter my entire house and garage, and storage unit(and then stop renting the storage unit).
PASS sort of--While not everything is gone(sold or given away), considering what else was going on this year, I am very close to being totally done!  The GREAT PURGE of 2011 will continue as The GREAT PURGE of 2012....at least for a few months into the new year.  I have loads in the garage for Salvation Army(just need to get it hauled off) and the last of the eBay-able stuff is in tubs in the living room.  The storage has empty boxes(for shipping stuff), as well as boxes of stuffed animals to haul away to Sallies.  Besides that the only things left in there are my extra toiletries and my fabric stash.  After I close up the eBay shop, I start weeding through the fabric stash.....but that's a 2012 goal, so more on that in another post.
I'd say I am 75% of the way to totally completing this Goal!

4. Read 30 books this year, with 75% of them being non-fiction.
FAIL--Yah, I totally blew this one.  I read 8 books and am halfway through #9.  While I am not a voracious reader, I do read a lot.  I guess I just had an off year.  It didn't help that some of the books I had were Not compelling in the least.

5. Finish ALL in progress sewing projects and alter ALL clothing that needs it or give it away.
FAIL--Sewing took a backseat AGAIN in 2011.  I did get a little more completed but it was mostly alterations and/or hemming pants.  Nothing much creative.  I just didn't feel inspired.  Once I get my fabric stash out in 2012, I'm hoping I'll feel more in the sewing groove. 

6. Cook more foods from scratch and phase unhealthy options out of my stockpile.
PASS--The stockpile has evolved in 2011.  No more nasty foods bought(well, except for brownie/muffin mixes for #2 son), and you won't find processed foods in my freeezer(unless I get something free or cheap for the kids ever so often).  I'm down to a soda about 1-2 times a month and I've reduced #2 son's intake as well(but not that little a month because he'd just plotz!lol) 

7. Grow more of the food we eat or source our food from non-grocery chain stores.
PASS--We did finally get the garden going late and we ate from it for a few months.  I really didn't have much extra to freeze though for the winter months and we lost nearly our entire tomato crop in September with the Flood, so no canned maters or pepper relish....sniff....sniff....
I did shop veg from produce markets instead of the grocery store when I could.  Still looking for a reasonably priced source for 'clean' meats that isn't store based.

8. Use my skills to step up what I do for Others.
FAIL--As for the local food bank....I wasn't able to do MORE food bank donating using coupons and deals in 2011, but I believe I did about on par with what I donated in 2010.  The deals were harder to find, the coupons were not as useful toward my goals and I just didn't put the extra effort into getting more items to donate.  I was also heavily helping 2 family members with food/toiletries the 1st half of  2011 so that counts too.  And I also was the transportation for the same family members for 1st quarter of the year as they lost their car to a wreck.
As for the Christmas Help List--I did a little better with that.
I need to face facts that I am NOT the great humanitarian I set myself up to be. 8-(


9. Be more "in the Moment" for my Family.
PASS--I feel I was more there for my family in 2011.....well, when they actually WANTED me there, which isn't always the case when dealing with teens.lol  I spent more time with Hubs one-on-one and tried to make him feel more appreciated.

10. Organize the running of my Home.  
PASS--Since there is less crap lying around, the house is more organized by default, isn't it?lol

We still suffer from HSS....Horizontal Surface Syndrome.  We see a clean surface and we are COMPELLED to put something on it.
It's a chronic condition with no cure I'm afraid.lol

The house is more organized but there is still lots of room for improvement.  Getting back a big chunk of storage space within the home when Daughter went off to college helped a lot with organizing the upstairs spaces.  The kitchen and pantry could still use some organizing help.

I am feeling positive about the changes I made in 2011.
I hope you had good stuff happen to you last year as well.

Now it's onward and upward to 2012!
I'll be taking the next week or so to ponder where I want to direct my energies from here.

Have you thought about what you wish for in 2012?
More income?
More health?
More time with your loved ones?
Blogland domination?
Now is the time to figure out what steps you can take to turn those wishes into reality!

Here's hoping your 2012 life is your best one yet!
 
Sluggy

Goals for 2011.....Halfway Point Check-Up

 Every January on my blog, I post a list of Hopes or Goals for my year.  HERE's the post from earlier this year where I talked about what I hoped to accomplish in 2011.

Since we are halfway through the year......let me say that again.....halfway through the year!......I thought it would be a predictable time to check-in and see how I'm doing or how I'm NOT doing at this point in 2011.

1. Put more Money Into Savings.

PASS-We are slightly ahead of our Savings Goal at the halfway point from 2010.  I only upped my Savings Goal 2 thousand dollars in 2011 since food costs have been rising this year and with another teen starting college in August, we have more expenses to cover.  We are on track as of now to meet our savings goal. 8-)

2. File all the Paperwork that needs filing  and completing it on time.

PASS-We got all the college and income tax paperwork completed with time to spare earlier this year.  I also tackled a huge pile of papers that needed filing in May(was it?)  Going forward I am going to try to file every 2 months so the pile doesn't get too unruly.


3. Declutter my entire house and garage, and storage unit(and then stop renting the storage unit).

PASS(so far)-This goal is ongoing throughout 2011.  I had the storage unit down to half-empty.  Then I had to temporarily put a large load of boxes from the garage into the unit so I could stage for a garage sale this month.  Besides just the moving of crap around in this way, I have decluttered at least 6 loads(off hand I think it's 6, I might be wrong) so far from the house and unit.  After the garage sale is over, more loads will begin leaving again for Sallie's.
This Goal is my largest, ongoing, physically challenging one for 2011.  It may just kill me by December. ;-)

4. Read 30 books this year, with 75% of them being non-fiction.

FAIL-I am STILL on Book #6(this one is a 'difficult' read) plus I pitched Book #5 before finishing it because it was just horrible!  So technically I am on Book #5 with 25 more to go. 
bleh.
I am just not feeling much like reading yet.  Maybe next month when the weather turns beastly hot I'll want to do nothing but sit still and read in the a/c.

5. Finish ALL in progress sewing projects and alter ALL clothing that needs it or give it away.

FAIL-I hemmed some pants and worked on some PJ pants for my Daughter but haven't finished them.  Hubs bought 4 pairs of pants for me to hem so the pile has gone UP not DOWN. 
bleh. bleh. bleh. 
I just can't seem to get into a sewing zone.  This is worrying me.  People are going to start thinking I really can't sew.lol

6. Cook more foods from scratch and phase unhealthy options out of my stockpile.

PASS-I was doing very well on this earlier this year.  I was cooking much more from scratch and we were down to a small number of cans of soda(of which I was only drinking 1 can per week if that)and I only had 2 tv dinners in the freezer.....no frozen pizzas, no 'snack' foods like Pop-Tarts or Toaster Pocket thingies, Froot snacks, only a few Helper type mixes.  Ok, I still had a ton of cake mixes and breaded chicken products.lol  Then school ended and I caved and bought some pizza rolls, pizzas, chicken strips, ice cream and more soda for #2 son.  The kid has to eat lunch, right?lol  And unless I want to spend ALL DAY cooking this summer, I'm giving him easy things to make for lunch(rather than spend a fortune buying Taco Bell and Baconators at Wendy's)and I'll give him healthy foods for dinner.  It's the compromise I'll make to get through until school starts again.

And I promise I shall NEVER buy Pop-Tarts again....Nasty!

7. Grow more of the food we eat or source our food from non-grocery chain stores.

 FAIL(so far)-With the wacky weather and being super busy in May/June with the impending Graduation and all that entailed I was sooo not 'into' my garden this year.  We did get it planted but not everything I wanted.  I don't feel we will have as much to eat from our garden this year as we did last year.  As for sourcing from non-grocery chain stores, we are just getting into the season where we can buy from the local farms.  I am determined to get to the farm stands this summer and put up produce for 2012.  I am still looking for a local source for meats.  The closest is over an hour's ride away so not very economical.

8. Use my skills to step up what I do for Others.

 NEUTRAL-Ok, I can't say Pass or Fail on this one.  OTOH, I have done on par with last year in terms of family and food bank donations so far this year.  As soon as the garage sale is done I have another donation to take to the food bank.  But since I have not been 'extreme couponing' this year(due to the lack of deals locally, not traveling where the deals are because of the price of gas and wear and tear on the minivan AND the lack of good value coupons this year, due to the tightening up on coupons by manufacturer's in part because of "That Couponing Show Which Shall Not Be Named")I haven't had as much to donate as in past years.  It will take me MORE money in 2011 to donate the same amount of food as I did in 2010.  I just don't know if I can come up with enough money this year to put toward this goal to "step up" what I give. 
I may have to look at other ways besides monetary/food donations to do for others.

9. Be more "in the Moment" for my Family.

PASS-I feel that, so far in 2011, I have been more 'there' for the family.  I have tried to limit my time on the internet by blogging less(ok, not MUCH less!lol), and spending less time deal hunting.
See?....crappy coupons and local deals give me more time to be with family, so there is one good thing about the dirth of deals!lol  With less of a stockpile I spend less time organizing it.
Of course, the teens don't actually want to spend time with me when they are home, unless I have cooking them food or handing over cash....oh, the blessings of having sullen, eye-rolling teens! ;-)
Now that #2 son is home from camp, I'll be offering to drive him places and do some things for him so he can hang out with people that aren't his family. 

10. Organize the running of my Home.  

How to score this one?.....
I guess I'm on my way to a PASS with this one.  With 2 less kids home things are running fairly smoothly.  With less clutter in the way, it's easier to keep what is here organized and clean.  But with so many projects pending or in progress(garage sale, cleaning out the storage unit, sewing, home repairs/remodeling)it seems like everything is at 6's and 7's and just a moment away from flying off the tracks.  Since the older 2 kids don't have a car while working across the state this summer(due to the car wreck in May), I'm having to deal with business stuff for them like driver's license renewals, dr. appointments, prescription refills, college papers/forms, scholarship forms/requirement, ordering books and tuition bills.  This is stuff they should/would be taking care of but since they don't have transportation or bank/credit card access it's all falling on me.  I haven't screwed anything up yet, knock on wood.lol

So how about you?
How are your goals for 2011 panning out?
Are you on track to accomplish what you want to this year?
Have your goals changed significantly since the beginning of 2011?

Sluggy