October goals

Goal setting is supposed to somehow make you more productive in life or so they say.  I would actually have to agree because I remember when I would do my monthly spending budget on here and I would for the most part follow it.

So here is what I am trying to achieve for this month.

1. JOB -->  Apply to at least 2 jobs a day (including the weekend) which means I need to apply to at least 62 (31 days x 2) jobs this month. 
2. With that new nail polish post yesterday, I want to try out new things with my nails.  I want to take better care of it.  I have started becoming a bit of a slob because I think, hey you don't have a job, who are you getting pretty for.  Seriously, I am now wearing a tank top with holes in it!
3. Reach out to at least one person and say hi.  I am bad @ keeping in touch and want to improve in this area.
4. Keep spending on clothes to a min --> only allowed $50!  Eeek....not sure I can do this considering I am itching for a new winter coat but I shall try. 

January 2012 goals

Instead of posting goals for the whole year, I figured I'd try it month by month with little baby goals that are more realistic.  So to start off for January, I'd like to accomplish the following.

Beauty

• Spend no more than $10 for the month.  Eeek!  I already bought a rubberized base coat from Quos new nailpolish venture with Quo for $10 earlier today called Strong Bond.
• Slather Aquaphor on my cracked heels nightly.  This is gross but once sandal season is over, I stop moisturizing and my heels are proof.  I want to get my soft heels back and this will only happen if I regularly take care of them instead of seasonally.

Fitness

• Run once a week and lift weights once a week
• No pop of any kind  
• Cook at least once a week for work lunches

Wedding

• Print my save the dates cards
• Get $2k deposit for contract I signed last week

Clothing

• Spend nothing.  Yup, that's right my boxing day shopping has me wanting nothing new for the time being

Misc

• Sell something.  (currently have some video games up for sale on Kijiji and may try selling shoes that I've never worn)

You always get what you always do

Yesterday I was doing my normal blog reading and read this post on motivation. One of the commenters shared this motivational quote "you always get what you always get, if you always do what you always do" and it triggered something in me because I am that person that procrastinates and pushes things off to the last possible minute. I've made great strides and am not as bad as I used to be but old habits die hard and lately I feel like I've been in a rut. During the day, I have these great ideas and thoughts of things I am going to accomplish but I get home and it becomes the last thing I want to do. i.e. I've thought about cleaning my car for the last few months but have yet to do it!

So I decided to make some declarations and then go out and do it! Above are my mini goals for May 2010. I might not accomplish all of them but I am going to try to work towards all of them because the quote above is so true. Nothing is going to happen if all I do is sit on my ass and do what I always do. 3 of the 5 things I want to do are things I've been putting off for the longest time (clean car, deposit chqs and fill out health expenses) but also really easy to get outta the way. Running a 10k in under an hour needs a little bit of work and so does getting a new job.

It may seem like I am being optimistic by putting 'land a new job' on there and expect it to happen this month but I've actually been looking for a while even though I haven't written about it and have an interview coming up that I feel is mine to loose. I want to make sure I put my best foot forward and prepare accordingly. Maybe the goal should have read, go into the interview 100% prepared but I am too lazy to recreate the picture.

Ugh, I think I might need to update my budget

So a few weeks ago I was all gung ho & created a budget. Looking @ it, reality is hitting me that perhaps I was too optimistic when setting it. I am already @ almost 60% of the monthly budget & it's only Jan 6th!! I mean I was keen & started tracking things from the last week of December as opposed to actually starting in January. In retrospect, that was definitely a bad idea considering my big birthday gift purchase for a friend that was higher than expected and as a result has already maxed out my misc category. I think perhaps the best is to budget a $10-$20 gift allotment.

I told the boy about my budgeting for 2009 & he was impressed. He however laughed @ my clothes budget. He thinks there's no way I can do that. Considering I'd easily spend $50-$100/month before. I realize it's aggressive but I am motivated to do it.