Sunday 1 January 2012

Resolving to Live Better for Less


It's that time of year again. Do I dare set a resolution publicly? Well, I've been meaning to do these things anyway so it's high time I had some accountability!

My biggest financial goal for the year is to achieve 100 days of not spending a single penny. Different people I've spoken to have different opinions on whether it will be laughably easy or torturingly difficult.

The rules are that rent/bills going out of your account are not included, but meals, parking, food shopping, entertainment, gifts, fuel, etc. are considered “spend”. It has been pointed out that I may just bunch lots of unnecessary spending into “spend” days, but I counter with the opposite; if I'm on a no-spend roll, I will be far less likely to succumb to “let's go and get a drink” or “shall we go to town for a bit?”.

Another financial goal is to record every penny earned and spent. I will carry a little notebook on me at all times. Any purchase, bill, car park, charity donation, etc. will be recorded, as will any income received on the day, either in the form of wages, gifts, tax refund (roll on April!!), etc. I'm hoping I won't get too obsessive, but I would LOVE to be able to see where my money goes and how much I'm saving/spending/wasting!

Also, follow my own advice on reducing waste and helping the planet.

Some personal goals:
Find the perfect PhD!
Spend less time online and more time with my friends. I think I might have to just ignore Facebook. I'm not on it for hours, but I am on it at least once a day. I currently spend a lot of time reading news articles and of course blogs!
Lose a little bit of weight each week until I'm at my goal. It could be 2lbs, it could be 0.25lbs, all that matters is the downward trend! (Boooo, so cliché!)

Have you set yourself goals for 2012? Will you be paying down debt, building your own house, getting fit or simply staying happy?

Wishing you a happy, healthy and frugal 2012!

6 comments:

Aubrey Rose said...

those sound like awesome goals! And I do like that you aren't setting yourself a certain amount to loose everyweek, that can be so discouraging!
Our goals are a little bit of everything - reading, fitness, money, happiness. You can check the list out on my blog. Im to lazy to post it here!

kelley said...

Wonderful goals for the new year...one of mine is to record every penny spent and earned too...seeing my final pay stub for the year and wondering where all the money went will not happen this year!

Packing my lunch for work every day is one of my small goals for the year too...should save $ and help take off a few pounds too...

Happy 2012!

Jayne said...

Our goals are pretty similar - and we both have the wonderful support of the blogging community to cheer us on as we go!

Anonymous said...

I dont have a facebook but from what I hear they suck up huge amounts of time

Sheila said...

Very good goals, i got a bit sick of facebook and haven't been on in months, but then every so often i jump right back in with two feet.
i love the no-spend thing, sometimes at the start of the month when i feel flush i just stop carrying my bank card, but then i end up giving in and going back to the same old pattern. Good luck with it.

Anonymous said...

kudos to you girl! LOVE the idea of setting a goal of fixed amount of days to not spend anything! great challenge!