This is the New Year

It's the new year now (my birthday too!), and like everyone else I have some resolutions. I wanted to post them here so I'd have a reminder in case I start to get lazy. With that in mind, my resolutions are:

Establish a Budget

This one actually shouldn't be all that hard, at least at first. All I want to do is track where my money's going, so my system doesn't need to be too complex. Ideally, though, my budgeting scheme should be very cheap (if not free) to use and should not take a lot of time each week to  maintain.

For these reasons, I've decided to go with PearBudget, an online tool that will let me plan for and track expenses without using complicated spreadsheets or standalone programs. It will cost me $3 per month, but that's not bad at all if it can help me control and analyze how I'm spending my money.

I need to set up a central collection point for my expenses, so I'm going to use a thumbtack to hang an envelope from the wall next to my desk. At the end of every day, I'm going to put my receipts in the envelope, and then once a week I'll put them all into PearBudget. Of course, I'll have to reference my account statements at ING as well to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I also want to start funding a simple Roth IRA and/or a 401(k), but I need to do a bit more research on these before I know exactly what I want to do.

Exercise Regularly

This one is going to be a little bit harder, especially since it's winter now and I'm not in college any longer. I've gained some weight since I started my job back in September, and although I can't say exactly how much, I can feel it.

To start off, I'm going to plan for 30 minutes of intense exercise every other day. This will be ramped up later on obviously, but I need to get in the habit of being active first, then get a bit more serious about it in time. I'm planning on doing mostly bodyweight exercises, à la the "prison workout".

I don't have a scale, so there isn't exactly a way for me to measure my goals, but I'm confident that once I get into the habit of exercising regularly, I'll be able to feel the effects in my everyday life.

Miscellaneous

I have some other secondary resolutions as well, such as dressing a bit nicer, eating healthier, and being a better boyfriend, but I think those will sort of come naturally from my two big goals for this year.

I will probably write about my progress with these on a semi-regular basis, so try to help me keep my resolutions this year! Bring it on 2010.

Tagged as: exercise, money, personal