Today I'm revisiting my List of Hopes we wanted to accomplish in 2010 and see how we did, or didn't do. ;-)
1. Put more money into savings than was put away in 2009.
--$23,865.36 was banked in 2009. I will be shooting for $30.000 in 2010, barring any unforeseen personal economic crisises.
PASS
We put $34,000 into savings in 2010.
2. Pare down the stuff I need to eBay by sending more of it to the Thrift Store or sell it on Craigslist.
--Get off my rump and get stuff SOLD! And what I can't readily sell, send it off to a Thrift Store. I have had enough of boxes of crap hanging around my living room. It's time to actually USE that room in the manner it was intended.
SORT OF PASS
I thrifted alot of stuff earlier in the year but my efforts waned by August.
I sold things on eBay in April and May.
I had wanted to jump back onto eBay in September but things being what they were, I didn't get around to selling there until November. Considering the economic climate I still think I had a fairly good month+ of selling. I just wish I had been more organized and had more things to offer during the busy season.
I was able to sell 154 items on eBay and 1 item on Amazon in 2010.
I'll update when I have the total value of non-food donated items to charity later this month.
3. Get rid of my last storage unit!
--This goes hand in hand with #2 above. If all the crap goes, I won't need to pay for a storage unit any longer. I went from 2 to 1 units last year. It is time to let this one go as well.
FAIL
Because of the lack of decluttering/Sallie-ing the latter half of the year and my shortened selling season on eBay, this goal is not happening now.
I have, however, made progress here but I still consider it a fail.
4. Plan and implement my garden better so I have a chance for it to be more productive this summer.
--Last year's garden was lame. I need to be more proactive and get things planned and going earlier this year for it to be successful. Every bit of work you put into a garden will pay dividends in increased health from eating better and money saved on food spending.
PASS
Though I could have done even more, I am happy with the garden's outcome!
5. Do the taxes and complete paperwork for #1 son's schooling.
--This will be the first Hope accomplished as is needs to be completed by mid February. It could also be a big PITA as we have added tax implications for 2009 due to an estate/inheritance issue.
PASS
All the paperwork was completed in a timely fashion. Geez, I hate paperwork....
6. Decide on and install a hew heating system for the house before the rate cap expires and heat is needed this fall.
--This one is VITAL and it must be completed by September!
FAIL...sort of
After sitting down with Hubs and realizing that we may be living here only 3.5 more years, replacing our current system with a geothermal one would not be cost effective. It would bring down the monthly heating costs but we wouldn't be living here long enough to negate the initial purchasing and installation costs of the system.
We are continuing to get by with our current system and looking into lower cost alternatives to install before we move.
So this isn't really a Fail, more of a "Removed as a Hope/Goal.
7. Rethink how and how much I coupon/rebate and reorganize my freezer/pantry/stockpile.
--With my 1st year of extreme couponing and stockpiling over, now is the time to step back and see what I did well, what I need to improve upon and what needs to go.
SORT OF PASS
I cut way back on the couponing, both as a conscious decision on my part and also due to the amount/lack thereof, of coupons available. Less food was bought and stockpiled overall. The stockpile was revamped and reorganized, though lately the stockpile maintenance has been neglected.
8. Continue to meal plan and retool our diet, including cooking for scratch/semi-homemade.
--This will involve making better choices with food, will depend partly on how successful #4 is, and will require all of us to change some old habits. It's probably going to be the most difficult Hope to accomplish.
PASS
Meal planning became automatic for me this year and making foods/dishes from scratch was done overall, I'd say 65% of the time. Even Hubs remarked that there seemed to him to be far less convenience foods in the house....this was usually said in a tone of consternation when I wasn't feeling well enough to cook and he had to come up with a dinner and prepare it himself.lolol
9. Decide on and complete 1 major house remodel project.
--Once we decide what it will be, it's just a matter of pulling the trigger on the job, as the money is there waiting to be spent thanks to our savings challenge of 2009.
FAIL
Well the cash is STILL sitting there....waiting.
With everything else going on this year, we didn't come to a concensus and "pull that trigger" yet. We thought this would go hand-in-hand with the Replace the Heating System Hope/Goal but when that Hope fell away as necessary, we were left adrift on this dingy of Hope.
10. Complete all the unfinished craft and sewing projects!!
--This Hope is my own personal one that doesn't involve any other family members directly. I need to just put my head down and plow through all these started projects OR make a decision to release them to someone else who wants to complete them. This should take a good part of the year to accomplish.
FAIL
Of all, this Hope was the obvious, biggest FAIL of them all, with absolutely NO progress!!
I don't think I ever even opened the big Rubbermaid tub of in-progress sewing projects, let alone touch any of them or finish anything.
I did however hem many pairs of pants this year and do a couple of garment repairs.....but that was the extent of my sewing for 2010.
So we end the year with 6 Passes and 3 Fails and a removal of 1 Goal/Hope.
Two Thirds of our Goals were accomplished.
Now I'm off to consider our List for 2011.
Have you or are you making any plans for 2011? Leave us a link to your blog post or leave a comment here and tell us what you want to change or get done in the new year!
Sluggy
