A Head Start On My Goals

I am jumping on the new years goal bandwagon early this year. I’m hoping it will give me a little adjustment time so that I don’t fall off the bandwagon by the beginning of February. 

I used to write and update goals on a regular basis. Back in Fall 2009 Lululemon was selling t-shirts and packaging up merchandise in reusable bags that gave you space to write your goals. They had space for the goal, and space for the date you planned to achieve it by. I was paying off my school debt at the time and dreaming of when I wouldn’t be a renter anymore, so I wrote that my goal was to buy a house by October 2011. I had to re-sharpie it a couple times because it was obviously a medium-long term goal, and it wore off a couple times. I carried my lunch to work in that bag, and could see the goal sitting on my desk every day at work. I reached the goal and officially became a home owner on November 27, 2010, almost a year in advance of the goal date.

I definitely believe in the power of writing down your goals.

So, in that spirit, I’m writing my goals for the New Year here in a public forum, free for the world to see, keeping me accountable.

1. I will budget using a cash in envelope type system for the entire year (more on that another day)
2. I will save enough spare change to make an additional mortgage payment by the end of the year.
3. I will rent out my spare bedroom by June.
4. I will sell my car, and pay off at least one of the 3 debts with the proceeds by July.
5. I will plant a garden that will produce at least 25 lbs of root vegetables for the winter.
6. I will fill at least 3 of the holes in my wardrobe without going into debt (See:http://diggingoutandup.blogspot.com/2010/11/still-under-budget.html)
7. I will run a 10k race.
8. I will produce a blog that nets at least $100 quarterly (basically to at least pay for the internet I need to write it)

Those are my goals for 2011. Note that I wrote “I will” rather than “I want to” or “I’ll try to”. I have a few longer term goals as well, so while I’m at it I may as well let you in on those:

9. I will pay off the CMHC insurance on my mortgage in extra payments before my mortgage is renewed in 2015.
10. I will obtain a net worth of $100,000 by the time I’m 30
11. I will obtain a net worth of $1,000,000 by the time I’m 40

Number 9 will be much easier to accomplish once I’ve paid off my debts, but I’m taking the first step in achieving it in goal number 2 above. Providing the housing market in Canada doesn’t completely implode, I’ve got a decent running start at number 10 too. I bought a house in foreclosure for $250k, which was assessed at $305k in its trashed state. I’m in the process of fixing it up, so hopefully it will eventually be worth the $325k that other similar homes in the area are selling for. Number 11 is more of a pipedream, but I figure I may as well shoot and miss rather than not shooting at all. Even getting half way on that one by 40 would be fantastic :)

What are your goals for the upcoming year?

Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It

Your Money or Your Life: A Practical Guide to Managing and Improving Your Financial Life

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