'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness' Proverb

Sunday, 23 December 2018

Goals 2018 Update #4


The year is now coming to an end and I wanted to give myself a chance to look at what I've achieved this year before I have a real think about what goals I want to set for next.  

Minimising

This has definitely been my most successful goal this year and as time has gone on I have found it easier and easier to get rid of things I'm not longer using or need.  I've even managed to get rid of a little chest of draws because I no longer needed it and I didn't like it just sitting there empty.  

I don't think this will need to be a goal I set for myself again next year as I think I will just keep going now that I've started, reducing as things no longer have a use.  Ticks all round for this and I'm very happy with it.

Healthy Eating

This has actually gone a lot better this quarter then last.  I've reduced my sugar intake considerably and have noticed that I'm not even really enjoying the sugar I do consume.  I'm going to allow myself a 'treat' now and then (mainly dark, mint chocolate as I've found that that is my new thing), but I think I'm finally getting off the sugar bandwagon.  My diet has definitely become more vegan as well, especially when I cook for myself.  The main stumbling blocks here are when others cook for me or when I eat out.  When it comes to people cooking for me, they are already making me (and eating themselves) a gluten free meal and I feel bad also asking them to be vegan as well - though, to be fair, many of the meals they cook also end up being vegan as they know I'm vegetarian and am not supposed to have dairy either for health reasons.  For the most part I'm happy to except these little non-vegan meals now and then as long as the meals I make myself and the food that I choice to eat most of the time is vegan.  Eating out is always going to be a struggle as I need to go gluten free as well and finding a meal that is gluten free and completely vegan is hard, but I always try and find some way around it so I can do both. 

This goal definitely wasn't the best goal this year and is definitely something that I struggle with on a daily basis.  I will probably carry this on next year as healthy eating is especially important for me and my PCOS.  Definitely a most do better, but I have made some progress so I will concentrate on that and move on from there.

Fiances

This goal as gone much better then I was expecting this year and keeping a budget has definitely helped me keep an eye on where my finances are going.  Minimising my things has also helped as I don't want to buy anything I will probably need to get rid of in the not so distant future.  The only thing I have struggled with is finding additional income to compliment what I'm receiving now (this is especially important as the work I do at the moment is not guaranteed or even regular sometimes).  The main issue is that I just don't know what I'm going to be doing next year and how my weeks are going to pan out, so finding very, very flexible work to coincide with my more permanent job has been difficult.  However, I have been researching activities like house sitting (with the advantage of not necessarily needing to keep my own home) and dog walking / sitting, and these seem like a possible good fit.  I'm going to research them a little bit more over the next couple of weeks, but they seem likely to be the best thing I can go for next year.  If you can think of any other type of flexible work it might be possible to do let me know, I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.

Finances isn't necessarily a goal I'm going to set for myself next year, but I am going to carry on using a budget to help me keep an eye on what I'm spending on and to help build up my savings to help act as a buffer should things even get a little tricky or work suddenly dry up.

It's definitely been a mixed year this year with goal setting, but at least it's given me an opportunity to look at where my strength and weaknesses are.  How are your goals doing this year?  Have you had many successes?  What are the hardest ones you've found to achieve?  Let me know in the comments below.

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