2014 Goals

Today marks several special occasions.

1. It's my birthday! 
2. It's a holiday, and the start of the new year.
3. I've now had 10 years of employment at my job, thus gaining some modest retirement benefits (technically it's over 11 years, but the first 11 months didn't count due to a technicality).
4. A change of role:  now I transition from being a full-time professional (away from home 12-14 hours a day) to being a full-time domestic goddess in training (aka, a new housewife).  Big change!
5. A change of finances:  As I leave my job, our income is reduced and our way of living is in flux.  Fewer vacations, slower savings, DIY home improvement/repair, cheaper everything.
6. A new diet plan:  The 2014 food storage plan begins. 

Basically, everything is changing, immediately.  I get to start completely fresh, from the ground up.  It's a good time for rebuilding life how we'd like it to be.

With that in mind, it's time to solidify some goals for myself for the year.  

Detailed goals are achievable goals.  Some of these are a little personal, but hey, I will be able to look back at this post to remind myself to keep on track.  It's great that I'll have a lot of time to work on all these things.  Everything that's italicized is part of my personalized version of the 2014 food storage plan.

• Diet
• Cook purely from scratch, besides using pasta and the remainder of the boxed pantry stuff.  Record daily use.
• For all dried goods, stick to the stockpiled items.  
• Eat a minimum of 1.25lbs of fruit/veggies per day. 
• Eliminate all food waste, and preserve extra food for next year. Find good recipes for leftovers.
• Follow Paleo principles.

• Health
• Work up to 17 miles hiked per week:  2 big hikes, 4 little ones.  Currently at 11 miles.
• Daily yoga or pilates, plus weight-lifting.  Currently at 4 times a week.
• Lose 15lb and gain some muscle... goal weight is a strong 138lb.
• Continue to meditate daily and keep stressors down.
• Recover from stress-induced illnesses, especially the dermatographia hives and GERD that require daily medication.
• Be able to do a pull-up, and re-learn the forearm stand.  Used to do these when I was at peak physical strength. 

• Garden/Outdoors
• Double the garden space, and grow 456lbs (half our needs) of fruit or veggies... this is a tough goal!  Weigh all produce for perfect accuracy.
• Finish planting all fruit trees and bushes in the ground:  meyer lemon, pomegranate, blueberries, huckleberries.
• Turn the solarium into an edible plant-filled paradise.  
• Renovate the front yard (include decorative edibles) and find a permanent location for my grandma's canna plants.  Husband wants to get rid of the junipers, but I'm not quite convinced since I like the barrier from traffic.
• Make a compost pile, or add a large outdoor worm bin.  The indoor bin isn't enough.

• Household
• Spend less than $60 per week for groceries for 2 people... minus $11.2 for previously-purchased dry goods.
• Start up a formal brewing station in the garage for mead, cyser, cider, and beer.  Currently we do 10-15 gallons per year, and we'd like to triple that for gifts, personal consumption, and possibly for testing recipes for future profit.
• Deep-clean and declutter the house and garage.
• Make winter and summer drapes for all the windows and glass doors, for privacy and to insulate.
• Paint and furnish the extra bedrooms.
• Eradicate the black widows that keep popping up.
• Minimize the overall budget and add as much to savings as possible, and invest.  Can't be too specific here, as this will be a work in progress.
• Find one or more low-stress alternate income streams, even if they're tiny.  
• Make our own cleaning products.

• Fun stuff
• Eat out only from extra $ available from grocery budget.
• See family or friends at least once a week... this means avoiding my hermit tendencies.
• Make new friends, especially some local ones.  Potential friend-making plans:  frequent the dog park at popular stay-at-home-mom times, join a stitch-n-bitch group, make friends with friends' friends.  Friends.
• Increase disaster preparedness to cover 3 months of bugging-in survival (aka, no utilities or shopping).  Create bug-out bags, including one for the puppy.  Organize all the camping gear.
• Improve crafting skills and build a stock of art and crafts for the impending Etsy store.  I'm a little too jack-of-all trades, so I need to figure out a niche.
• Train the puppy to stop jumping on people, and start having her carry water on hikes in June.
• Hand-make gifts for the holidays.
• Host a housewarming party (better late than never) and a holiday party. 
• Get pregnant, stay pregnant.
• Keep blogging!

• And finally...
• Review the 2014 food plan and year's spending, and analyze the pitfalls and areas to improve.  Create a perfected 2015 food storage plan and a frugal budget for all household spending.

Looks like this year will be really full, and really fun! 


What are your goals for the year?  Or do you have a resolution to make no resolutions (that has been my go-to goal for most previous years)?