Taking Control and Making Goals

I have lost control of a lot of things in my life. And now that its a new year, its time to try and take back the control and get organized.  Mind you, these are not New Year Resolutions.  These are things I have to take care of in order to remain sane.  lol

The first is my bills.  I let them go and they are all behind.  So the first thing I am doing is facing them.  I have a list of which ones are behind and making sure I pay them each pay day.  Even if they only get $25, at least I'm making an effort.  As I work on what I owe, I'll work on a personal budget and will try my best to stick to it. Its possible I will find that I need to get a second job in order to get caught up, I will start looking around for something.  A Goal for me is that every other Tuesday evening will find me at my desk paying bills and balancing my checkbook. And my reward for this will be satisfaction that I am gaining control over my financial life.

Another thing I have lost control of is my waistline.  Yes, I know a lot of people have that same problem.  I am an emotional eater so I really have to work on containing my cravings.  With all that's happened this past year, I just didn't bother policing myself. A large portion of my comfort came from a full belly.  So I will be working on finding other ways to comfort myself.  I haven't figured this part out yet, but will be working on it.

And since I've let my waistline get out of control, clothing I own doesn't fit.  Since I am in debt with just my regular bills, I have no money left over to buy new ones right now.  So I have to work my way back into my old clothes.  My goal is to get out of yoga pants and elastic band khaki pants and into jeans and the dress pants I bought last year. To reach this goal, I will start slowly and take baby steps.

First is portion control.  Instead of using the big dinner plates that came with the set, I will be using the smaller lunch plates.  This will be a small step but one that will make a difference.  Not only to my waistline, but also to my budget because I will be having more than one meal from what I cooked.  As I get my bills caught up and am back to living inside my personal budget, I will be able to spend more time on menu planning and eating healthier.  

Second step is to start getting a little more active.  I hooked my Wii system to the TV in my living room, bought batteries for the Wii FitBoard and will start using it to at least monitor my weight and eventually use it to get moving. There is a "Plank Challenge" running around Facebook and I think I will try to follow it.  We'll see how it goes.  And once the weather breaks, Jaxon and I will start walking the neighborhood, eventually working up to walking to the park and back.

There are some easy to obtain goals here and some that are long term goals.  Having both are good.  There are some other areas of my life I want to take control of but let's start small.  These are things that are bothering me the most, so we'll get started on them first.