Setting Goals to a Simpler Less Stressful Life. Reflections After a No Buy Year and Going Forward.

Do you set goals every New Years only to find by March you don't even remember what they were or are you struggling with guilt over not reaching your goals?
I set goals as well  but find I am often working on them decades later. And I am okay with that. At thirty I said to myself I would "practice being a better listener" at forty eight I am still practicing. Some goals are ongoing. We may decide to "get healthier" but that is something we want to maintain. There is no reach and stop.

This year after a "No Buy" year I have really been focused on how much simpler my life became with restrictions, self imposed as they were. The end results are "I want even less, far less". It was that good and yes it was hard. See in a "No Buy" year you set the rules and perimeters for yourself. You should make them so that you can and will follow them, and take hurdles as a chance to learn about yourself and explore your feelings, this is where the life changing moments happen.

On my "No Buy" year I vowed to not buy new clothes, shoes, jewelry (not even those $5 earrings at Old Navy), purses or books (that last one...H A R D). This is how I discovered HOOPLA a free book app like Audible and Kindle. So how did it go?You can watch my video to see more.

As a result of my "No Buy" Year this is what my goals are this year and below that I'll give you some suggestions for setting your own goals. My goals might seem large but many of these are in motion and I've got the ball rolling so it is a continuation of goals I've already been working on, at least many of them are.

My Goals for this year: 2019

1. Self Care and Health: 
Meal Plan weekly, cook more, walk a minimum of 3 x a week for 20 minutes (1 mile) and take one yoga class and one at home yoga session. (I generally do more but on crazy weeks less, so it needs to be doable or so easy I feel like I am a total loser if I don't:)) .  Let my hair go more natural (low lights and go back towards my natural color (I think it is dirty blond) and reduce coloring and haircuts by also letting my bangs grow out. Reduce trips to get my nails done by doing them myself except for special occasions (I know this is a no brainier for some but I am horrible at nail care and I live a very public life so if I have to speak in front of 400 people I'm having a nice manicure for $20).

2. Business:
 Make sure to fully collect all tuition and close out the school in May successfully and have happy graduates at the end. Teach one more class per week at work for the public. Finish at least one ebook this year (I have one about ready to go). Possibly get started on two more, but my publish goals for those are two years. Speak at two conferences where I am compensated for my time (Until now in the conference arena, not workshops but the big deal ones, I've volunteered).  Grow our roofing business to a minimum of 100 roofs, we are at about 90 this year. Be smarter with keeping the roofing books and avoiding costly mistakes, this means me keeping books and letting my husband bid the jobs and organize our crews.

3. Personal Finance: 
Save enough money to replace my car. Pay 1/2 the mortgage off by 12/19. Cash flow from our day jobs our home bills and food. Cash flow vacations and hobbies, gifts, personal money etc..Set up sinking funds for large expenses and save more in our emergency fund (we have 1 years living expenses now, I'd like two to four years). * This is a continuation. As our incomes grew from about $40,000 a year to quite a bit more we never increased the cost of our living. We cash flow, paid off debt and lived mostly the same, this has helped us pay over $40,000 on our mortgage this year and pay cash for 1/3 of the cost of our home when we built it. Follow and subscribe to my You Tube channel for tips on this. 

4. Environment (Home, Farm, Cars): 
Clean out the storage building. Get every room and closet cleaned out and minimized. Same goes for storage building on the farm and barn. Keep cars maintained and cleaned. Keep farm property cleaned and maintained (we are rebuilding a barn, outdoor storage, garage for equipment, and run in shelters for the pasture animals which we will cash flow).


Setting up Goals for Yourself:

My goals are fairly large and you will see categories, also many of my goals are continuations. I have a notebook, a planner, and sticky notes stuck to the closet wall to keep me on track so I don't forget. I highly recommend this! I have a black belt in this and have been doing it since I was eight (I know I am crazy, lol). Do what you can and don't get overwhelmed. Start small.

1. Make goals in different categories or simply choose one.
2. Follow the SMART method.
S.M.A.R.T., it needs to conform to the following criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.
S: Such as I want to lose 10lbs 
M: I want to lose 10lbs in approx 10 weeks at 1lb per week
A: I will follow a low carb diet, a 12 hour window of eating and an exercise plan of 2 days of yoga and 3 days of cardio.
R: I want to feel better in my clothes and improve my health
T: by 3/1/2019
3. Have an accountability buddy if you need one. I have a friend that we compare health and well being notes.
4. Review your goals weekly or monthly and see what you can do better next week or month.
5. Make it so easy you can do it! Don't plan to go to the gym everyday if you have never gone. Be realistic.
6. Work your schedule around your commitment rather than trying to fit in your goal to your schedule. For instance put your exercise on your calendar and let nothing get in your way. If someone calls then say "I'm sorry I have an appointment can we do this another time". You don't have to explain.
7. Know your why (That is the relevant part of SMART). If you don't have a reasonable why you will return to square one after the goal is reached.
8. Have a plan to maintain your goal or get back on track. Avoid the all or nothing trap. I recently lost 15lbs by following a low carb diet and doing moderate exercise. Over the Holidays I gained 4lbs back. I am back on track now and following the plan. I didn't just give up because I had several cheat days, I just accepted that this would probably happen and I would correct for it.

Happy New Year to You!

Love,
Courtney

Frugal VS Cheap.

Frugality for me is a way to achieve a life that is richer in experiences and is in line with my values. I pursue and promote Financial Freedom because I myself have been on the other side a few times and know what it is like to be a slave to a lender. You can read back on my stories but until a few years ago my husband nor I made more than $40,000 a year. As a matter of fact until my forties I never made over $25,000 a year.

Because I had learned black belt frugality from my Depression Era grandparents I was able to survive when hard times hit, the collapse of the housing market, a financially devastating divorce and raising four teens by myself. These skills have increased the quality of my life not decreased it. I have everything I need and want and do not feel the pressure or stress of being deep in consumer debt.

Cheap versus frugal. What's the difference? For instance lets say your faucet breaks and instead of fixing your faucet you simply use a wrench to open and close it for years so you can save money, even though the fix would be less than $50 and you have it in your emergency fund. To me this is cheap (this is a true story about someone I used to know). Frugal is you go to the store and buy a quality faucet that will last because you have money saved to pay for it. If there are twenty five available to choose from so  you research to find the most reliable. You may pick one you like that matches your decor but it won't be the most expensive and fancy one that you have to put on a credit card because you have planned for this kind of thing. This is frugal. You will have more quality items but not items that you cannot afford to pay cash for.

Another example is that you have a 3 pairs of quality fitting blue jeans that you purchased at a resale shop for $35 each. These jeans may have cost $100 or more brand new. You get them cheaper at resale but you could have purchased a pair of new lesser quality jeans at a big box store for $30 that wouldn't last as long or be as comfortable.

This is how I live my life. I have less but better quality. In my living room I have three high quality leather pieces. A $3500 Henredon sofa that I paid $300 for on Craigslist, a high quality leather recliner that a friend no longer needed (free), and a hand me down leather chair and ottoman from my family. New all of this would have cost me nearly $6000. I paid $300. I was patient and lived with only a couch for a while.

Some qualities of frugal people.

1. They put values first then live their life in accordance with their values. The live frugal to support their values. If health is a value they may forgo some expensive trips to afford high quality food and pay for a good treadmill. Forgoing extraneous expenses in other areas.
2. They have patience and wait for a good deal.
3. They do not use credit, they save for emergencies.
4. They save for big expenses like vacations and cars.
5. They avoid marketing (advertising) as much as possible. This may mean not watching cable t.v., staying off social media and not shopping for fun.
6. They save in areas that aren't as important to them so they can spend in areas that support their values. For me I save on the daily expenses like eating out, clothing and excessive living like a bigger fancier home and car so I can travel and spend more time with loved ones.
7. They find free and inexpensive ways to entertain themselves. Such as working out at home, reading from the library, having date nights in.
8. They budget their money. They know what comes in every month and they know what their expenses are. In the early days I had to budget every dollar. Now that we have no debt and a higher income I don't have to do this but I have some strict habits I've developed that allow me to  have a high savings rate.
9. The live on less and save more. My husband of one year, who I have been with for seven, and I have not increased our standard of living as our incomes have grown. We now make two to three times what we made when we met but we still live on $45,000 a year. We save the rest and pay cash for expenses like cars and repairs. We also are paying our mortgage off quickly.
10. They have an emergency fund. Start with $500 then build up to two years in the bank by the time you retire or before (this does not include your retirement savings).
11. They keep a reserve in their checking and business accounts.
12. They are always learning and staying up to date on information that supports them in their journey.
13. They keep their mortgage or rent payments at less than 1/4 of their income. For couples it would be suggested that one income could support you in the event that one person lost their job or had to be off for an illness or special circumstance.
14. They are able to cut back on work if they choose to, in order to enjoy more of their values like exercise, travel, health etc.
15. They are planners. They think about what they want their life to look like and live day to day with accordance with that plan.