Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. So while I did chip away at consumer debt, it's still lingering. I'll take care of it in 2018. For sure.

Go to the gym. One of the things that I told myself I would do consistently through 2017 was go to the gym. I was paying a monthly membership fee and just wasn't going. I could come up with some pretty pathetic excuses. I finally started going in the fall and I am happy I did. I have a gym buddy who works just as a ridiculous schedule as I do, so hopefully she will keep me on the up and up with going in 2018. Although, I really need to get in the habit of not depending on someone else to motivate me to go.

Do little things around the house. I did *some* little things around my house - getting my deck fixed and painted was a HUGE accomplishment for me. It was a LOT of work, but I'm happy it happened. Also getting the cat to the vet was a big accomplishment (I slacked and she hadn't gone for years. I know she is little, but holy crap it is scary getting her into the cat carrier). I'll probably continue this as a goal in 2018, but I have a different way I am going to do it.

Read 20 books. Well. Fuck. I did NOT read 20 books in 2017. I came close though! Well, 16 books. I honestly just couldn't get into it. I spent more time on my phone right before bed, which isn't good for a few reasons (vision, being distracted by nonsense right before bed, looking at lists of cute items with the links built in and BUYING STUFF RIGHT BEFORE BED) and should have put my dang phone down and cracked open a book. I need to do better that that.


I have some new goals for 2018 - they are a bit more focused and specific than the goals I had for 2017. Hopefully I can use this focus to stay heading in the right direction for 2018 and actually accomplish some things. Hey, a girl can dream!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Guess what is going to be the main goal for 2018? Ding ding ding! Fuck you, credit card.

Go to the gym. Holllllllller! I've been going to 9R 2-3 times/week.

Do little things around the house. Nailed it! I set up my little garden in the basement with a plant lamp and a heating pad. I am growing some herbs and I just planted a few different types of salad greens and some cherry tomato plants. I hope it grows and grows and grows! I am bringing my citronella plant back from the dead - such a bummer that the cold weather snuck up on me when I got home from vacation in October and it got the best of my citronella. My mints and lavender are still chugging along.

Read 20 books. I have to finish 4 books by the end of the year. I don't think I will make it. Eep!

Hello November!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Still chugging along. I tell you what, I will never never never let a credit card get the best of me ever ever ever again.

Go to the gym. So this slowed down the week before, the two weeks of, and the week after we went on vacation. I worked my butt off the week before we went on vacation, up until the day we left. I'm honestly surprised I didn't forget to pack something. While we were on vacation, we walked a TON (14 miles one day!) and I was not about that gym life while on vacation. The week after we got home I felt like absolute crap. My allergies/a cold got the best of me. But my first day off work that I didn't feel like crap I went. And I plan on going more and more.

Do little things around the house. Maybe I should make cleaning out my closet a thing to do before the new year. I did move my plants into the basement so they are somewhat protected. The downside is I didn't do it before my citronella plant died. So I have to figure out how to revive it. I did however buy an air purifier, which I think has made a difference in sitting around my house - cleaning up the allergens from the animals. Oh, and this kind of counts, but I am finally going to wrestle the cat into a carrier and get her to the vet this month.

Read 20 books. Well. Shoot. I have a few books to go and I just don't know if I will make it! I need to stop watching TV and pick up my books instead. I am currently in the process of reading THREE different books right now. My goal for November is to finish those three.

The year is almost over! In January I will get to look back at what I accomplished, what I still need to wrap up, and what I need to work on for 2018. Holy cow, time sure does fly.

Goodbye, September!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Still working on it. The goal that never ends. After vacation I need to hop back on a spending freeze. Hopefully while we are on vacation we can find some cool christmas gifts for people. Logan and I have saved up for the vacation and kept it separate so we aren't dipping into our budgeted checking accounts or using our credit cards.

Go to the gym. Holy crap. I have gone to the gym 3x/week since late August. I haven't noticed a huge huge huge difference, but I'm just proud of myself for going.

Do little things around the house. Well I for sure did not clean out my closet or paint the front door or touch up my deck. Maybe I can do that one one of my TWO days off from now until vacation in 20 days.

Read 20 books. I have actually had to remind myself to put my dang phone down and pick up a book before bed. It's just so easy to get sucked into the abyss of social media and news sites. Or as I am reading, I will pick my phone number to text someone back and then i absentmindedly click into those apps. Ugh!

October is going to be a good month!

Another Quick End-of-August Update

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Working on it, but making a dent!

Go to the gym. Guys. GUYS. I have gone to the gym 3x a week for 3 weeks. A couple weeks ago I was sitting in my living room. I was scrolling through the same two or three social media apps. I was watching the same episode of Arrested Development I have already seen a dozen times. I had 4 hours before I had to go to work. So I made a decision - and an important decision at that. I decided to go to the gym. AND THEN I ACTUALLY WENT. By myself! I typically really don't like going by myself. I like going with someone else who can motivate me and laugh with me. But I did it. And then I went again. And then AGAIN. I decided I will go 3-4x every week. I even got two co-workers to sign up!

Do little things around the house. Last weekend I cleaned up my office. Well, most of it. I still need to clean up the closet. But I finally cleaned off the futon and the big catch-all chair. My goal for September is to clean out the office closet and my bedroom closet and throw stuff away or donate it. I also want to touch-up the deck and paint the front door.

Read 20 books. I just finished my 14th book! I have a book set aside for when we go on vacation in October and I really, really want to read it now, but I will wait. I have a couple little books on my kindle to read and one that I am reading at work (it's about patient satisfaction, which sounds really boring and I honestly wouldn't curl up by the fire to read it, but I actually don't mind it and think it is pertinent to the current climate of care delivery, which is my job!) I just might exceed this goal.


I started thinking about 2017 and what I have done with my year. I graduated with my BSN. I continued to navigate my new job, learning a lot along the way. I have done a bit (I think it's more than I've done in the past) of self-improving. Things I have wanted to do and just haven't. I recently started going to the gym. In May, I started the online Weight Watchers program and have lost 9 lbs! I started and will finish my Invisalign treatment, giving me a straight-toothed smile! I've always been self-conscious about it and I finally did something about it. I have become more aware of my budget and where my money goes. Last year I changed my retirement contribution and opened an actual savings account that I actually put money into. I feel like I have made some good changes!

Well I just forgot an end-of-July post altogether.

Well. I completely forgot to doodle up a post about the end of July and beginning of August. So I'll just do an end-of-July + end-of-August combo.

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. I will be working on this all fucking year. <-- same as always! Although I *did* start picking up extra hours at the rehab hospital here. I usually sign up to work 8 and they only need me for about 4, but I like working there. It isn't as much as working at the other hospital here in town, but I didn't like working there at all. I took all of my last check and put it straight toward my credit card. I plan on putting 50% toward vacation and 50% toward credit card debt. I'm also doing another spending freeze. Giving myself a $20 allowance on snacks/lunches/coffee every week. But no clothing, stuff for the house, nothing! for 30 days. That gets me to the end of September. And then the only things I need to get are a couple for vacation in October. I would rather hold on to that spending money for while we are in Florida. Go to the gym. OMG I am awful. Although I have "closed my rings" on my apple watch most days. I've been taking the stairs at the hospital a lot more. I mean, no excuses with this one. I have just been flat out lazy.

Eat less meat. I am going to go ahead and cross this one off. I have been making Scout and Watson a real-meat-and-veggies addition to their dog food every week and it has pretty well turned me off to eating meat a lot of the time. Boiling bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs will really gross me out.

Look into more schooling. Wiping this one out too. I just can't financially afford to do this right now. I wouldn't be able to pay for tuition out of pocket and I will be damned if I take out any more student loans. I hate those fuckers.

Do little things around the house. I will do a deck-touch-up day in September once it's cooler. I haven't really done much else to the house. I'll probably put another coat of red paint on the door in September too.

Read 20 books. I fell behind! I have been reading The Magicians and it has taken forrrreeeevvvverrrr to get through. I liked it quite a bit at first and then the main character started getting depressed and self destructive and annoying, tbh. It definitely lost my interest. I am going to pick it back up again and try to power through.

I am going to be quite honest, I am happy summer is almost over. The only thing I don't like about summer being over is that students come back and Columbia gets a bit more congested. But I am excited for boots and plaid and pumpkins and having the windows open and *fall smells* and hoodies and vests and fires. Bring on autumn!

Oh hello, July!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. I will be working on this all fucking year.

Go to the gym. I still suck. I am actually dreading going to the gym. It has been so long, I'm worried I will be so bad at it. I will wear myself out, I will be sore and winded and then I won't want to go again. I need to get over it though and just go.

Eat less meat. Still on track. Actually better than I thought I would be doing!

Look into more schooling. There is a pretty good chance I will start a graduate certificate next year. I started looking into them and there is one I am pretty interested in - the Participatory Health Research graduate certificate seems pretty cool. I just don't know if it would be *worth it* though.

Do little things around the house. We fixed the deck in May/June! I still have some touching up to do - I need to buy another gallon of this paint stuff we used, but since it's so hot out, I will probably do it in September after it cools down. It's just too hot to do anything right now. BUT the broken boards are fixed!

Read 20 books. I actually think I am "on track" right now with this one - I got sucked into a couple TV shows that ate up more of my evening free time than I planned. I'm usually not much of a TV watcher, but the Handmaid's Tale really got me. (I read the book this year too). I'll for sure read 20 books this year though!

Holy Cow, it's June!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Bleh bleh bleh. Still working on it. I am going to have to get a lot more serious about a budget soon. Also, this "second job" of mine hasn't really paid off. I have literally only gotten to work about 15 hours in the last two months. And i sign up to work almost every weekend.

Go to the gym. I still suck. Lauren and I made a bet - we both want to lose 15 lbs this summer, so we are both going to try. Her and New Mexico and me in Columbia. At the end of the summer, whoever has lost more (and has to be at least 15 lbs) wins. And the loser has to buy the other one a massage or mani/pedi. Sounds like a good deal to me. Maybe that will be some motivation.

Eat less meat. Still on track.

Do little things around the house. I am going to fix the deck this month. I am going to fix the deck this month. I am going to fix the deck this month. I am going to fix the deck this month.

Read 20 books. I am STILL ahead of schedule. And holy cow - when I went on my graduation road trip last week, my friend and I stopped at a few independent bookstores. Two of them really hit the spot. One of them was a store of only signed copies, most were first editions. And since I am a paperback snob and first editions are hardback, it kind of struck out for me. BUT the other three we went to, Star Line Books in Chattanooga, A Capella Books in Atlanta, and The Little Professor Bookshop in Birmingham were all A+. I think my favorite was The Little Professor. They had a HUGE selection for being a small, independent shop and were so friendly and sweet. I got my travel mate on goodreads.com and she bought a handful of books too! Now that we don't have school work harping at us every few days we will both have more time to enjoy our hobbies - both of us like reading so much! I am trying to decide if I should increase my goal or if I should keep it 20 books and if I go over, I will shoot for that for 2018. These are the decisions that keep me up at night.

Heading into May!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. I chipped away at this some more. I did not get to pick up as many hours with the staffing agency as I had hoped, so this is not going as quickly as I had hoped. I am trying to turn this around on weekends though. It gets a little tricky - you don't want to sign up early in case they offer bonuses, but the longer I put off signing up for a shift, the more time i have to talk myself out of it. I need to just do it enough to start making some serious headway at my credit card, invisalign payments, and window payments. Man, I sure as heck don't want to have to deal with something like my window payment again. It's good motivation to save up the money BEFORE making the home improvement. I am also putting myself on a spending diet - No starbucks. No clothing. No house stuff. Only groceries and gas for my car.

Go to the gym. Oh brother. I suck. Even if I don't go to the gym, I need to do Betty Rocker (it's only 15 minutes a day, lazybones). Or do a bike ride with Logan (it's been too rainy the whole last week!) I went to the gym on day this month and I WAY overdid it. Sore for days! I need to get back into usual workouts so I'm not so miserable for a week after.

Eat less meat. Doing this one! I have just been kind of turned off to meat in general. It just doesn't sound good most days. Logan and I will start grilling a lot more, we will switch it up more this year. I'll have to figure out some good grilled veggie meals.

Do little things around the house. I am going to fix the deck in June. I am going to fix the deck in June. I am going to fix the deck in June. I am going to fix the deck in June.

Read 20 books. I'm ahead of schedule! I just finished my 7th book of the year. I will probably increase my challenge. I will have more free time once school is over in May. I am trying to read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and I don't like it so far. I need to give it a chance though.

April

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Doing it! Slowly, but surely.

Go to the gym. Still pretty stinking terrible. Like, terrible terrible. There is a new walking challenge starting on April 3. I am on a team so I have to step it up (no pun intended). I think the goal is to get 12,500 steps a day. I can do this, especially now that the weather is getting better.

Eat less meat. I am also doing this pretty well - I don't think it's too terribly difficult, but I don't like being so limited to doing it all the time.

Do little things around the house. Still getting there. I wish it wasn't as rainy as it has been. I am going to plant some more stuff in the front flower beds. It was a pain in the butt to kill all of the weeds I had in there, so now I have a fresh start in the front flower beds!

Read 20 books. Still chugging along. I hope that I can make this goal. Netflix has eaten away more time than I anticipated (damn you, Shameless).

I just got home from a 7 day vacation - Logan, Sharida and I went to San Francisco and then Logan and I headed to Orlando for (another) Universal trip! We only spent 1-1/2 days there, but it was enough! I ended up getting absolutely dreadful blisters on both of my feet and it was pretty close to miserable. We stayed at a hotel on the north side of the park, we liked it a lot more than the other places we have stayed, but the 1.5 mile walk sure did do me in. It was good to come home - I missed my animals!

Now on to April, for a walking challenge, making more money working with the agency, and getting some plants up and running!

March!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. Getting there! Made considerable progress on this in February. And I am *actually* scheduled for orientation for a travel agency.

Go to the gym. Nope. I sucked at this in February. Absolutely terrible.

Look into more schooling. I can officially scratch this off my list. I am not going to go back to school for my masters right now. I am pretty burnt out on school as it is and I would rather pay off the student loans I already have.

Eat less meat. I've actually done pretty well here too. I had a couple bad bites of chicken that have totally turned me off to eating it. And I've been making Scout and Watson chicken thighs to go with their regular dog food and it has really grossed me out.

Do little things around the house. I cleaned up my office. And tidied up the unfinished side of the basement. And I took out all of the dead plants from the flower pots on the deck. I have quite a few plans for planting this year! I think Logan is going to help me make a raised garden to put out on the patio - going to plant some vegetables and hopefully have a bountiful little garden. Or it will tank like most of my plants last year.

Read 20 books. I'm on track. I've gotten pretty into the books I have read so far this year. I have been trying to get some of my books on my to-read list crossed off before adding MORE books to my to-read list.

If I had to describe February in one sentence it would be "In February, I spent more time at the dentist than in the last 3 years combined." Now, that's not because I haven't gone to the dentist regularly. I literally went in for a routine check up and cleaning. Then the next week I went and got a couple cavities filled. Then the next week I went in for an Invisalign consultation. That's right folks, The Rachies is getting her crooked chompers fixed up! They were a little concerned that I would need a "t-rex appliance" to help widen my upper mouth (which was going to cost EVEN MORE money - like, almost $2K more), but they called me a couple days after the consultation and said I was a candidate for invisalign, wouldn't need the extra appliance and they could order my invisalign treatment right away. I *might* have to wear rubberbands on my invisalign appliance to straighten out my cross-bite. Hello, speech impediment! Goodbye jaw popping, teeth grinding, crooked nightmare!

It's already February!

Pay off credit cards.
Go to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
Pay off credit cards. I'm working on it! I've actually made considerable progress. I did the thing where I only give myself so much cash and use that before any of my cards (including my debit card). It actually has kept my spending in check, even though I get nervous having cash on me (what if I lose my wallet? What if I get robbed?!)

Go to the gym. Uhhhh. I'd say I gave this about 50% in January. I can paint this with a bunch of excuses, but they aren't good ones. I should have done better.

Look into more schooling. I did this! I looked into a master's program - yikes. I really don't want to move on to another degree. I know it will make me a more competitive candidate for other positions, but ugh. I did look into some graduate certificates, which I'm leaning towards a bit more. They are awfully expensive though.

Eat less meat. I've actually done pretty well here too. I haven't hit the goal of having 1 day a week that's completely meatless. But I'm getting there! I've made myself more conscious of what I'm eating, where I'm eating, when I'm eating, etc. I've been pretty disappointed in myself, which is a crappy way to feel. I know I can do better.

Do little things around the house. Sort of... *shrug* - it's been too cold outside to really get things done. However, I did do some stuff inside that I have been putting off for a while - like cleaning up my "office", going through my closet, etc. I have a list of things I want to do this summer (especially working on a raised bed garden) like hunt down this mole that has been tearing up my yard, fix up my deck, etc.

Read 20 books. This might be a little lofty. I have a lot going on with school this semester and I am hopefully starting a PRN nursing position soon. I have picked up some fun stuff from the library though, which makes me happy.

January 2017 - New Goals!

Every year I set a handful or two of goals for myself. A list of things I want to have accomplished in a calendar year. Last year, some of them were easy and fun (traveling!) and some of them were a little challenging (eating something from my garden - I have a heck of a black thumb) and some of them were left unaccomplished by the end of the year (save more money...)

For 2017, I am making my goals more specific. For 2017, I am holding myself accountable!

Pay off credit cards.
Got to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
1. Pay off credit cards. Yea, that's right. Plural. I became a sucker for getting credit cards that offer points or cash back or "get approved now and automatically get a $___ credit"). I very much enjoy having a credit card for emergency purposes (we'll talk about this in a second) and I very much like having a credit card for some automatic payments (cell phone, gym membership) - I have been victim to the decimal being put in the wrong place by a computer glitch and 10x the amount due is removed from my account. Call me crazy, I'm sure there are much smarter people than me out there who think credit cards for any reason are a horrible, horrible idea. I just need to pay them off immediately or only use them to buy gas for my car. I had some shit happen in 2016 (some necessary, some unfortunate, and some irresponsible) and now I am paying for it. Literally. (Having a "convenient" way to pay for things when you don't quite have the money is nice. But now I am inconveniently working my butt off to pay them off. Lesson learned the hard way.)

2. Go to the gym. I know. I can hear it, "but Rachel, you had a gym membership for all of 2016 and look what happened!" That's why it is a new goal for 2017! I want to go to the gym (or do some sort of physical activity - walking the dogs on the trail, riding my bike, etc) twice a week. I know that isn't super lofty of a goal. But maybe if I dig it and I'm having a great time and loving physical activity, I can update my goal and increase my days. All I know is I don't like buying new pants. So if it means sweating it out and eating less potatoes, I guess that's what I'll have to do. (I'm going to go ahead and say that stuffing my body into a pair of pants that are *a little* too small is definitely learning it the hard way.)

3. Realistically research a Masters Program or a Graduate Certificate. The thing about school is - I really don't hate it. I currently work in a hospital that provides me with a tuition discount. Even if I look into these programs and decide I don't have time or don't have the money or whatever, I need to actually look into programs and admission requirements and make a decision rather than just hide from it. When I first started college in 2003, my parents went on and on about how if you didn't have a Bachelors Degree, you were pretty much fucked in getting a decent job. Then I graduated and had the letters behind my name and it still didn't matter because I didn't have the *right* degree in the *right* subject. So I had to get a degree in something that I could use to find a job. My Associates in Nursing found me a job paying twice as much way quicker than my BA ever did. (Another lesson learned the hard way.) To move up in the nursing world, I have been wrapping up my Bachelors in Nursing (Graduation Date: May 14, 2017). And now that I am almost done with that pesky thing, my colleagues tell me how I should really get a Masters. And since some of my colleagues are really smart and have lived full careers in nursing, I should probably STFU and listen to them. Before I have to learn yet another lesson the hard way.

4. Eat a pescetarian diet. ..once a week. Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. I'm not going all veg. I could do it again, so I can't say that I *can't*, but I don't *want* to stop eating meat. BUT I think it would be good to challenge myself one day a week to not eat meat (but I can still eat fish. What can I say, I'm a bit of a cheater.) It will be good for things like my health and cholesterol levels and stuff that I have to think about now that I am in my 30s. The absolute last thing I want to learn the hard way is getting an avoidable health problem because I love cheeseburgers and steak too much.

5. Do the little things around my house. I have a list of things I need to do around my house that I just never fucking do. I will sit on my phone looking at the same 5 apps over and over and roll around the couch thinking about how bored I am. But I sure as hell won't make a new kennel cover for the dog kennel. Or order pictures for the empty frames in my "office" (heeeeey, maybe if I start doing a Masters or whatever I can ditch the quotation marks around "office"). Or replace the burnt out light bulb in the oven. Or clean all of the air vent registers or replace the boards on the deck or repaint the front door or or or. I just need to shut up and do it.

6. Read 20 books! in 2016, I initially set a goal of 13 books (I think) and revised it to be 16 because I was chugging along so well. I am going to read 20 this year. Logan got me a couple books for Christmas and I have quite a few book lists I have pinned to give some suggestions. I really like reading. I like lounging around on the couch or outside when it's nice outside and getting lost in a good book. I need to make more of going to the library again and less of buying books. My little bookshelves are bursting at the seams - maybe one of my "little things around the house" will be cleaning out the bookshelves. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

So those are the six goals of 2017! I may add some as I think about them more, but I am looking forward to what I've jotted down so far!