Ready, Set......Goal

At the start of every month I like to set goals for myself. I always figure that I can stick with something or accomplish something for one month. It makes for some fun projects and helps to keep me focused on the small goals. I like to change things up every month and try something new. I am a chronic list maker, so at the begining of the month I make a list and then at the end of the month I can look back and see what I got done. April is no exception to this plan. My goals for April are some of the goals I try for every month and some new ones. I try to set a goal for different areas of my life, financial, organizational, household, and personal. For April my financial goal is a little game I love to play, every couple of months I challenge myself to a spend no money month. Obviously I have to spend money every month, but I challenge myself to not spend any unnecessary money. No eating out, no coffee on the way to work, no little splurges. Just to see how much money I can save by the end of the month. I have given myself an allowance at the begining of every week, for things like gas and any mad money, at the end of eash week I take what is left and put it away in my secret hiding place. At the end of my spend no money month I take that money and put it on a bill or something else that is useful instead of the little daily splurges. You would be surprised how much you spend and don't even realize it. I have paid an extra payment on bills or paid the cell phone or electric bill, just by not getting that coffee or even a bottle of water on the road. It is a really fun thing to do. For organization, I am working on some spring cleaning. I figure that April is a great time for this since it is actaully starting to look and feel like spring. I like to start in one room a week and clean it and organize it that week, by the end of the month my house is in good order. I still do the general cleaning, I just clean out an extra closet or cupboard each week. Mostly the seasonal cupboards, taking care of the heavy jackets and boots and replacing them with lighter jackets and our mud boots. I pack up the stuff that we didn't use this season or doesn't fit anymore and I donate it. It is a great way to organize my house and to give to charity. My personal goals are always the hardest for me to stick with. I like to set goals for how much exercise I want to get in for the month, how long I want to walk/run or how many minutes minimum I want to work out a day/week. As hard as I try to get my time in, I have a hard time because I tend to get pulled in many different directions.So part of my personal goals this month is to make time for myself. Everyday I want to take some time for myself be it for working out, reading or whatever, I need some me time. I need to set some boundaries for my family on how much of my time they can demand from me. I acually started this one last week and so far it is going pretty well, there have been a few tears from Gary when he didn't get his way, lol, but he is dealing with it pretty good. K has been great about it, he might knock on my door and ask me for somehing but once I tell him he will have to wait he is fine with it. My other personal goal is to get out and be with my friends more. I live in one town and work 30 miles away so it is really hard to do things with the people from work, mostly because they all live in a different town in the opposite direction from work. We do try to get together every couple of months, but it is hard. I do have some friends in my own town, but it has been really hard to make them. I am a transplant to this area and extremely shy, so most of the ladies that I met when I move where the wives of my husbands friends and although they were all really nice to me, we just didn't have anything in common, so it was hard to find things to do together that we would all enjoy. Since I have moved Gary and I have started making new friends together, where as a couple we can do things together and I am thrilled with the people we have met. So my goal is to really work on those friendships to call them a little more and make plans a little more. One of our new friends lives right down the road and I think it would be really nice to have a walking partner and I know she would love it too. Those are my goals for April, I will check back at the end of the month and let you all know how I did. Do you set goals for the month? If so what are they? I would love to get some new ideas for next month.