Afraid of Commitment, Part 1 of 12

New Year's resolutions....they usually just disappoint me. I make them, break them and then feel bad about myself. And yet, because I am such a compulsive lister I can't pass up the opportunity to use the New Year to make some goals for myself (and my family - whether they like it or not).

2011 is the year of saving money and finishing unfinished business. Like most Americans we waste money. A lot of it. Whether it's that cute shirt I can't pass up for Lilly, the latte that I "need" in the morning or the pepperoni & Gatorade Brandon picks up at the gas station for a snack, we waste money. So much so that when/if I really sit down with receipts and add up all the unnecessary spending we do I'm astounded at the sum.

One of our other bad habits that we desperately need to quit is leaving projects unfinished around our house. We have this knack for going balls out on a project....for one weekend. What doesn't get done in that one weekend that we've set aside for that particular task, sits. And sits. And sits. Sometimes it's the most menial task; something that would take 10 minutes. And yet, it sits. We have a partial shed, half painted deck rails, one coat of paint on the new trim upstairs, no caulk on room dividers, trim unpainted on our garage (that we started painting 2 years ago), and the list goes on and on.

And so we talked. We discussed our bad habits and have made a commitment, shook hands on it even, to catch ourselves up...on our projects and our future. But we're short term people. If we were looking at the whole year we'd give up, it's too big of a commitment (we were both NEVER going to get married, remember?) so we are taking it month by month. Keeping in mind our overall year goal, we're focusing on one thing in particular each month.

For January: NO EATING OUT! No coffee's at the coffee stands, no snacks at the gas station, no "Wow, yeah, Thai food does sound better than my PB&J," no "Wow, the burger place across the street from my job smells SO good," no cooking dinner doesn't sound good tonight so we'll grab something on the way home....UNLESS someone else is buying! If we have a gift certificate, gift card or someone else is paying we're in!