New Year's Goals

I'm not going to make any resolutions for the New Year, but I decided last night that some well-defined goals could do me some good. So, here's a pair of goals for 2009:

1. Debt Free by our Anniversary
I've been listening a lot to Dave Ramsey on my iPod. Many of you have probably heard of Dave Ramsey and probably have strong feelings one way or the other on him - either you love him or hate him. I happen to be one who loves him. I think he's very intelligent, is a straight talker and honestly wants to help people have a better life.

Anyway, I started listening to Dave Ramsey a few years ago and shortly after Katie and I decided to take the job of caretakers for Bethel College at the Retreat Center on Dewart Lake. That gave us a second income and we decided we were going to get out of debt. Well, we paid off quite a bit of debt, including both of our vehicles, but then we started to flounder a bit. It's been a while since we were serious about getting out of debt and I just think we need to sacrifice for the next few months to finally get debt out of our lives - FOREVER!

So, we've got one small personal loan and my wife's student loan - which is also pretty small - to knock out by May 27. That's just a little less than 5 months. It's going to take some sacrifices - no eating out, no new clothes, no new CDs. The kids are going to have to sacrifice too and we'll cut our grocery budget just as far as we can. I may even try to find a part-time job in the evenings. But, I think it's worth it. Especially in this economy (which I think is probably going to rebound pretty soon), how amazing would it be to not owe money to anybody and have no payments! We're going to find out.

So, if you want to get together with us in the next few months, just plan on eating in or doing something that doesn't cost money. And if we meet our goal, after May 27 we'll have everyone over for a big celebration cookout at our house!!!!

2. Less of Me by our Anniversary
I don't know why I picked our anniversary (May 27) as the date for these goals. I guess it just seemed like a significant day where I could give my wife two very special gifts.

This goal is about weight loss. Since my last race in November, I've been lazy. I've also slipped into some pretty awful eating habits. Last night I stepped on the scale and it said 190. That's not terrible, but it's not where I should be. So, I'm setting a goal to get down to 175 by May 27. Now, that's only 15 pounds, but I've never really set out to lose weight before and it could be tough.

My plan is to cut out all pop, eat smaller portions and get back on the treadmill. If I do those three things consistently over the next few months, I should be able to get to 175. By the way, I haven't been 175 for probably 6 years. So, it may be a challenge.


Please feel free to ask me how I'm doing on these goals and keep me accountable. I'm going to need all the help I can get.