Angie's 2009 "To Do" List ~ Progress Update

Accountability

-noun

1. the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable

2. responsibility to someone or for some activity

Another month has passed and it's time to see where I am in relation to my "to do" list for this year. Let's get started.

1. Getting a working budget implemented: Dave Ramsey is a life saver! The zero budget worked so well for February that I went ahead and finished budgets for the rest of the year. Yes, I'm an accountant. I love spreadsheets and I'm not afraid to admit it.

2. Eliminate our debt: March is the month that we begin the debt snowball. Based on the budgets for the rest of the year, we should make significant progress on this goal by the end of the year.

3. Finish the Patten Chapel cross stitch: Yeah, so this is still sitting in the top of my closet. I'm going to pull it down this week and hope to get a jumpstart on getting a section finished by the end of this month.

4. Start & finish the Bambi cross stitch for Little A: Little A actually told me that she didn't want a Bambi cross stitch. (sniffle, sniffle) So, I'm going to pull my Disney patterns out and let her choose a different one. By the end of this month, I'll have the materials pulled together for it and the project started.

5. Weight loss and size 6 by December 1: I'm giving myself a goal of losing 12 lbs by the end of this month. Last month, I didn't lose any, but I didn't gain. Sigh.

6. Implement date night once a month with hubby: We made it out for a brief Valentine's appetizer & dessert evening, but not a full fledged date night in February. Hopefully March will be better.

7. Significant progress on my novel and blogging regularly: The novel is still at a stand still, mostly because I've been really busy with other things. I've been blogging regularly, but want to do better about keeping my reader up to date.

8. Finish decluttering the house: February was a disaster in this area. This month, I need to finish clearing out the master bedroom and clear out the kids rooms. Their rooms are OUT.OF.CONTROL.

9. Get the scrapbooks up to date: I actually went to 2 scrapbooking events in February and am making significant progress on the scrapbooks. Yippee! I need to get 2009 pics uploaded to Shutterfly this month and continue working on the family albums.

And for those of you still with me, thank you for reading all of my drivel. Crossing my fingers that March is a big month of checking off goals as completed!

Angie's 2009 "To Do" List ~ Progress Update

Accountability

-noun

1. the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable

2. responsibility to someone or for some activity

I started something new last year that worked out really well with my whole "to do" list for the year. For 2009, I decided to implement an additional step in helping me get my "to do" list for the year accomplished. So, I'm going to post a monthly update on my progress with the "to do" list, in the hopes that the accountability will motivate me even more! Now, let's review.

1. Getting a working budget implemented: I enrolled in the Dave Ramsey course "Financial Peace University" and am happy to report that our brand new budget rolled out today. Now, let's see if we can actually stick to it.

2. Eliminate our debt: This is next week's lesson in the above mentioned course. Hopefully next month will show some progress on this step!

3. Finish the Patten Chapel cross stitch: I'm picking this back up but have given myself until the end of March to finish one section. (Thanks for the idea Michelle!)

4. Start & finish the Bambi cross stitch for Little A: I've given myself until the end of this month to pull all of the materials together for it.

5. Weight loss and size 6 by December 1: I'm giving myself a goal of losing 8 lbs by the end of this month. Here we go!

6. Implement date night once a month with hubby: We successfully pulled this off last month! For February, we're throwing around the idea of seeing the Cirque show Kooza in Atlanta. I'm crossing my fingers!!

7. Significant progress on my novel and blogging regularly: The novel is at a stand still for the moment due to writer's block, but the blogging is getting back on track. I actually cleared out my reader last night and am going to make a concerted effort to stay on top of it this month.

8. Finish decluttering the house: I made big progress on cleaning out the master bedroom last month, but I'm going to finish that and work on the kids rooms this month.

9. Get the scrapbooks up to date: I made HUGE progress in getting all my 2008 pics uploaded to Shutterfly. (By the way, it takes approximately 36 hours to upload 3000 pics on a high speed connection. Just guessing.) I flaked on a crop this last week, but I've got another one on the calendar for this month. Baby steps!

And for those of you still with me, thank you for reading all of my drivel. Just going back and reviewing all these goals has renewed my resolve to get off my (rather large) arse and get back on the wagon!

Angie's 2009 "To Do" List

Here it is, the first day of 2009. Ideally, the first day of the new year brings about people scrambling, trying to list all of their "resolutions" for the upcoming year. I was one of those people for many years. And every year, I would break those resolutions, sometimes in record time. I'm convinced that, for me, it was the term "resolution" that set me up for failure year after year after year. And so, last year, I put my foot down and decided that the term "resolution" was no longer part of my vocabulary. (At least where the New Year was concerned)

With that, I bring you "Angie's 2009 To Do List"! This list will hang in my bathroom for the next year (just as my 2008 list did) because I need a constant reminder of my "to do" list if I ever have hope of accomplishing anything on it. So, let's see what I'm planning to do this year.

1. Put together and implement a budget that actually works and one that I will keep up with regularly
2. Eliminate the majority of our financial debt
3. Finally finish the Patten Chapel cross stitch (Editors note: I started this before I got married 12 years ago and made significant progress on this last year. It's a portrait of where hubby & I married.)
4. Start & finish the Bambi cross stitch for Little A's room
5. Continue the weight loss adventure and wear a size 6 jeans by December 1st
6. Implement date night once a month with hubby
7. Make significant progress on my novel and blog regularly
8. Finish decluttering the house
9. Get the scrapbooks up to date
10. Be more open with people

I know it seems like a long list and there's definitely a lot that I want to accomplish. Some of these are hold overs from 2008 I must admit, but that's ok. I made progress on many things last year and I know that 2009 will be even better!

So, what's one thing on your "to do" list for 2009 that you're hoping to accomplish?