My 2015 Goals

It's time to talk change. Self-improvement. Growth. You know, all that stuff that we humans loathe to do. I, myself, am a highly self-motivated person. When I set a goal, I work hard to get there. As such, I thought before I laid out my 2015 goals that we would see how I did on last year's goals.

My first goal was to run a 10k. Accomplished! I ran my first 10k in August. It was extremely hilly and my time wasn't the best, but I did it.

Me and the hubby at the Cincinnati Beer Run in May 2014.

My second goal was to plant my first garden. Done! I enjoyed myself, and I learned even more. On to the next growing season!

My third goal was to read more. As I mentioned before, I didn't set a goal per say of how many books to read, just to read more. Mission accomplished.

My 4th and 5th goals were to increase charitable donations and save money. I didn't do as well on these goals. The hubby and I did multiple 5k's for charity, made cash donations to a local no-kill animal shelter and ALS, and donated food and personal items to the homeless shelter and animal shelter. I wouldn't say we gave back more than we did in 2013, however. Something to strive for this year. I also fell off the couponing bandwagon way back in March, which may have taken a hit on our budget. While I had a substantial stockpile of personal items which we fell back on, both the hubby and I started eating more fresh produce. Which means I was back at the grocery store every 3 days buying more produce. Fellow couponers know it's basically impossible to get coupons for fresh food. So the hubby and I lived off my stockpile, and didn't feel guilty about no longer eating food you can use coupons for. The only problem? After 9 months of living on my stockpile, I'm dangerously low in dish soap and detergent, laundry detergent and softener, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and razors. I'm going to have to find a happy medium here. 

Not happening much anymore...

I'm pretty happy with how 2014 turned out. Some room for improvement, but overall, pretty successful.

What do I want to accomplish in 2015? Oh, you know. Just everything :) Here goes-

1. Run 500 miles

Wow, I know this sounds big! However, I ran 462.1 miles in 2014. At my new runner status, that sounds amazing to me! And there were a few months I ran under 20 miles and I still ran 462 miles. I think this goal is doable. I really want to run a half-marathon this year, but I'm not sure this is going to be the year. After returning from Mexico and not running for a month, I think I amped up my mileage too fast. I've been having some incredible knee pain upon completing 6+ mile runs. My plan is to spend January biking and on the elliptical, while keeping running to a minimum. This same problem happened last year and I was able to thwart injury by backing off. So I'm doing the same this winter, and thus I'm not sure if a half-marathon is in the cards this year.

Hubby and me at the Sierra's Haven 5k in April

2.  Learn the skill of canning

This was supposed to happen last year. I never got a canning system, so I ended up turning the majority of our tomatoes last year into marinara to freeze. I had really wanted to can a bunch of diced tomatoes. You know, so I don't have to buy diced tomatoes in aluminum cans. Therefore, this is a major goal for the garden this year.

3. Rebuild my stockpile

My goal this year is to find a couponing system that works. It doesn't work for any kind of food the hubby and I are going to eat. In 2014, the majority of processed food fell by the wayside which is what most food coupons are for. If you are buying papers for coupons every weekend, you get way too many of those food coupons. Which for me, are wasted. So, I need to find a system of getting coupons for personal items without all the wasted coupons. How is this going to work? I'm not sure. There is no plan at this time, only a goal.

4. Focus on health

Appointments needed:
Dermatologist
Annual physical
Dentist

No excuses or procrastinating this year. Increasing the amount of yoga and meditation I do are also goals I have for this year that fall in this category. Another one is to decrease the amount of fruit snacks I eat :)

5. Increase my social media skills

Included in this category is growing my blog. I'm so bad about keeping in touch with my bloggy friends. I want to be better about leaving comments, pinning more recipes, and joining new networks. To really put aside some time to browse the parties I link to. I have found over the last year that the more I put in, the more I get out of it. Also included in this category is joining Instagram. Ugh, another platform. I try not to complain, but this is a hobby for me, not a job. It takes a lot of time to blog and to correctly link to all available social media platforms. That being said, it's good for me to get out of my comfort zone and try to keep up with the youth.

There you have it, exactly what I'm focusing on to make this year amazing. Hope everyone is having a fantastic 1st weekend of the new year!