Category Archives: Changes & Progress

Another Year, Another Set of Resolutions!

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

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Last year actually went pretty well resolution wise, though there were things that didn’t get done or only got partially done.  This year the first resolution is to do a weekly blog article to keep up with progress (and because I’m a blog slacker who really needs to do a better job so my entire life isn’t Facebook postings).  Going to stick with the format from last year as it worked quite well – four categories of improvement, one new resolution per month.  Categories are – finances, health, home and (new for this year, replacing paperless) career.

For January:

  • Finances – have everything ready to file taxes as soon as the W-2 is available, shred old records, close out 2012, set up folders for 2013.
  • Health – this year we are going to do food and exercise logging using LiveScape & Endomondo with the goal of consistency.  January’s goal is exercise journal.  February is food journal.  The overall goals are to improve my 5K times and do a 10K this year.
  • Home – going to pick a room per month (2 months for the major projects) and do “the stuff that needs doing” in it.  January is the guest bathroom which needs the doorknob fixed (doesn’t close well) and toilet seat (scratched by dog) replaced, a mirror, new trash can and a top to bottom cleaning.  No paint necessary, though!  (Revision – door frame needs paint.  D’oh!)
  • Career – ITIL Service Operation certification complete.  This should have been done in December, but what the heck.

And we’re off!!!

Still Catching Up – Yikes!

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Books, Changes & Progress, Health, Minimalist, Paperless, Travel

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Amazing how fast the year has gone by – school getting ready to be out, summer vacations starting.  While I’m not taking the summer off, I’ve decided to focus on completing and extending goals – upping my game to a 10K, repurposing the office to the heir’s new room, home improvements too long neglected, finishing up all my certifications and updates.  So, the punchlist is:

  • Bill simplification – June is the month for the last utilities budget billing which should finish this off.
  • Bank changes – Need to close the last account and move my safe deposit box and all will be clean, neat and consolidated.
  • Will & Retirement – just need to get this one done
  • Certifications – upgrade the existing ones, move forward on my ITIL expert
  • Books, books and more books – Goodreads challenge
  • Health and fitness – 10K by the end of the summer, allergy testing
  • Bucket list – update and cross off one per month, cause I’m not getting any younger

And finally – upload all the pictures from the earlier finished goals!

2012 – Play Ball! (Catching Up Month)

07 Saturday Apr 2012

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Well, yikes!  March just flew by and I didn’t get much of anything I wanted to do finished.  So, April is catch up and have fun month.  I am adding one new goal since I did manage to completely finish one, but other than that, I’m going to focus on getting overdue pictures and posts up, completing the unfinished and having some fun.

From March:

  • Finances – Passports & wills.  Time for the boy to get a “full passport” and our wills are horribly out of date. – Carried Over
  • Paperless – Shredding month.  – Completed (Wewt!  6 tall kitchen bags of shredding off to recycling!)
  • House – Electronics clutter.  Redo the wiring, get rid of out of date hardware and electronics, sift through those chargers, cables and whatsits. – Carried Over
  • Health & Sanity – Continuing with certifications.   – Carried Over

New for April:

  • Catch Up – Outstanding posts, outstanding goals.
  • Have Fun – Do at least two completely new things just for the fun of it.

Time’s Up! The Fine Art of Shredding

25 Sunday Mar 2012

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It’s the annual shredfest – anything that isn’t needed anymore goes into the shredder.  There is a great article on Bankrate on How Long to Keep Financial Records that I use as a rule of thumb.  If I have any question (or think I might have potential regrets), I scan before shredding.  Trust me, once the credit bureaus and IRS deadlines have passed, the house or car has been sold or the account has been closed, you can safely shred away.  Notice how many times I said “SHRED”?  A good shredder is an investment in keeping your identity safe – if you don’t have one, get one.

Total shredded and recycled this month – 6 tall kitchen can bags equalling 2 years, several banker boxes and a filing cabinet drawer.  Did I mention that shredding is also therapeutic?  Nothing quite like grinding, chopping and cutting (not to mention clearing out) after a stressful day.

Small Steps Will Get Me There!

18 Sunday Mar 2012

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In a bit of a strategy change, I started creating one Outlook task with a series of small steps in it that repeated either daily or weekly and then trying to move just a bit ahead on each thing whenever it comes up.  It has actually worked out rather well since my list isn’t cluttered with 923704958745 single steps, there is a regular reminder and, as I finish part of the goal, I get to make the task “look shorter”.

Basically, my task list looks like this – [Larger Goal]: [Step 1], [Step 2], [Step 3].  Inside the task are all the notes and details and information gathered along the way.  If it is something particularly large or complicated, I do a OneNote notebook (Evernote will work as well) with a cloud sync so I can access it from anywhere (like the store when I’m trying to remember why I’m there).  As I finish a step, I edit the task (I remove it, you could also strikethrough) – [Larger Goal]: [Step 1], [Step 2], [Step 3].  Once all the steps are done, I delete the entire task.