2011 - bring it!

So it's already Jan 10, and I'm only now getting around to putting 'pen to paper' re my 2011 goals.  I have put a bit of thought to it over the past weeks, some goals more than others.

So let's see, forgive the typing dribble, but I'll just blurt it all out then try and make sense later, perhaps!  I think I'll go for 6 month goals at this stage.

Health - a major goal is to get healthy, it effects so many aspects of life, it's something that I have overlooked, well more accurately, accidentally on purpose, ignored!  With not great results.  I'm now 37, and not very healthy, I need to lose a fair lot of kgs, and I need to build my fitness up, I work with horses, and over the past year have been doing alot more physical work with them, and my lack of fitness has been glaringly obvious (see my previous post on herding cattle!).  I need to lose weight and get healthy to give my 37 year old ovaries the best chance of producing viable eggs in the next 12 months, with Mr Mel & I wanting to start a family (hopefully!).  Plus I want to lose weight for vanity reasons too, I'm sick of frumpy granny clothes! So let's put a number on it, you read everywhere that you have to define your goals, so here goes, by 30 June (end of fatty year not financial heehee), my goal is to lose 20kgs. After 30 June I'll look at a Xmas goal!

Finances - Mr Mel have been going well, paying almost triple our minimum payment on our mortgage, after 18 months of owning our home we have just over 57% equity. We have made paying our mortgage down, a high priority, we're both in our late 30s and if we want to have kids it has to be asap, and we want a buffer financially, and our thinking is if we can build a buffer in our mortgage, if we happen to fall pregnant and lose 1 or 2 jobs, we'll still have a good 6-8 months of breathing room before things got desperate. So my goal is to be at 60% equity by 30 June.

Business - Mr Mel and I set up our own P/L business last year, he works as a sub-contractor/consultant, and we have invested in broodmares (my speciality), under the business banner.  This year our plan is to expand the business to include a new blog, I can't give too many thoughts away until we get everything registered etc. Our goal is to have our new blog up & running, with 50 followers, and 1 advertiser by 30 June!

Investments - Mr Mel and I have a small share portfolio, we have been quite lucky/fortunate, depending on how you look at it, Mr Mel invested a chunk of cash when the market crashed, and he has managed to double the investment, we took the profit and left the original investment in the market.  This has helped us get to our current 57% equity in our home.  I invested $5k in a speculative share (on the advice of a client in the business) and that share has gone from 0.335 to 0.810 in the past 3 months. Our long term goal is to buy some land, say 10 acres, and build our dream home & farm, so there's no real goal at this stage.  Well actually there is, our goal is to keep on planning for our dream home, it will happen!

Work - While I love my job (most of the time!) I'm getting more and more drawn to working for myself, in my industry I don't know if it's a realistic goal, but I do more than a passing interest in another industry that I could end up working for myself in.  I need to decide if my 'passing interest' is worth pursuing, I need to research and meet with an expert in the field to investigate further. My goal is to by 30 June have a meeting with a local expert and get more info re my possible career change.

Personal - I want to get married, there it is, Mr Mel knows it, he wants to also, but he just seems to get distracted, and forgets to do the whole proposal thing!  Our plan (yes we're planning but not proposing!!!!) is to have a surprise wedding, we will invite loved ones to an engagement party and then get married at the party, it might be a bit risky given most of my family will be coming from interstate, but we've been working on ways to get them here without giving away the surprise.  Our goal is to get bleeping well engaged asap, not by June 30, now damn it!!  :)  Then hopefully preggers will follow!! :)

Home - After having rented my way through 16 years, 14 houses and 2 states, I still have to pinch myself when I look round our home and realise yes it's mine/ours!  The major downside to being a renter for so long, is that I lived those 16 years in a continual state of packing/unpacking, so I never really settled anywhere.  I've found it hard since we moved into our home in July 2009 to try and put down roots, I still think I shouldn't nail a picture hook into the wall, etc.  The end result is our home is a bit of a schmozzle, will no real identity, it's homey enough, but I still as usual have a spare bedroom full of boxes. So my goal is to have no removalist boxes in the house/garage/anywhere by 30 June.  Time to get nesting :)

So there they are, my goals for 2011, well for part of 2011 for now, I'm sure I will edit/add over the coming months!

Till next time,