New Years Resolutions

Photo by Redstamp

What is it about January that fills you with a sense of possibilities?  As a new year begins I always feel like I can tackle the world.  I have plans, expectations.

Never mind that in 3 weeks I’ll have ditched 75% of them, at this moment in time I see possibilities!

So what do I see on the horizons?

Personal Goals:

Find Balance.

This is going to be my biggest challenge and goal of 2010.  I, quite simply, have a habit of trying to do too much.  Like the child who’s eyes are too big for their stomach, my enthusiasm is too big for my calendar. I need to work at doing LESS-keeping my expectations for what I can accomplish as a problogger, a church leader, a mother & a wife in line with reality.  There are only 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year.  Big dreams won’t change that.  I need to accept my own limitations and scale back my intents.  Yes-this particular resolution will be a life long project.

Get Organized

Yeah. Right.  Every year we all promise ourselves this one. So I am being a bit more specific.  I need to get the craft room/closet, the kids playroom and the laundry room organized.  I know that doesn’t sound like a lot. . . but you haven’t seen them!  I find that there is an inordinate amount of stress that is added to my life just knowing that the task of organizing those areas is looming over me.

Exercise More.

I really want to say “lose 20 lbs”-but those types of goals always seem to fall short.  When you feel like you are failing it is so easy to just throw in the towel instead of continuing on.  Exercise, rather than weight loss (which I will of course also work at) is a commitment to a better lifestyle.  I know that when I do I will have more energy and feel better.  It’s something I need to do for me.

Entertain More.

I really want to entertain, on a small scale, more often.  Whenever we do have folks for dinner it is always so nice.  One of those events where you say to yourself “Why don’t we do this more often?”. My goal for 2010 is to invite someone (or some couple) over for dinner at least 1X a month.  This doesn’t have to be a fancy dinner party-just sharing the hospitality of a meal and maybe a good old fashioned board game.

Business Goals:

Do a Blog Revamp.

Ever since I moved my blog to WordPress I’ve lost a ton of traffic.  There is something wrong in the background where Google and searches aren’t finding my information.  Want proof? Try typing “Buffalo Chicken Dip” in the search bar to the right over there-it won’t pull up the recipe even though it is RIGHT HERE.  Not only is that annoying, but it is costing me traffic.  Traffic equals money (both ad revenue and opportunities offered because of my stats).  The lowering of stats also effects my reputation as a pro-blogger, which again can impact opportunities offered, sponsorships, even my consulting clients.  So I’m biting the bullet and paying someone to do a reorg, SEO & new template.  And you all know how hard it is for me to spend money!

Find Balance

This goes under both personal and business because those are the two big weights on the scale that I have to balance.  I have already been offered the opportunity for several exciting projects and partnerships for this year.  Any of them could turn into something big, or fizzle and produce nothing.  I really need to think hard about which ones deserve my time.

Add More Variety to My Writing

In looking back at 2009 I notice that Frugal Upstate seemed to concentrate a bit too much on food and cooking.  As much as I love those things and will continue to provide them regularly, my tips for great craft ideas, gifts, fun with kids, decorating and general money saving deserve more time.  I am in the process of coming up with a master list of topics that I should try to cover this year-not as some sort of dictatorial master plan that will stifle my creativity, but as a creativity BOOSTER that I can turn to when I think I’m in a rut.  (PS-feel free to leave me your ideas in the comments of topics you’d like to have me cover)

Podcasting/Radio Shows

Lynnae & I had a great radio show, Frugal Coast2Coast.  Due to schedules and, frankly, lack of income produced from it we let it fade away late this fall.  We are currently planning to create new podcasts in a format that will be easier for us to monetize.  While we will always offer the podcast in a streaming format for free, we are considering creating both downloads and CDs of our podcasts for a nominal fee-perhaps even with associated workbooks.

Newsletter

Lynnae and I also have been planning on creating a joint newsletter on frugal living. Many of you probably remember me mentioning it on several occasions.  Well, we are going to get off our hindquarters and make that happen.  With both of us doing it jointly it will be half of the work for us to create twice the content for you all!

Vlogs

I love doing video, but it is a LOT of work.  I want to do more video blogs this year, but with my biggest goal being balance I am not going to commit to once a month or anything like that.  I have been considering doing a quick “Frugal Five Minutes” or some such where on a weekly or bi-weekly basis I just tape a quick video chat to share with you all-just me, sitting on my sofa sharing a few thoughts with you.  Lack of cuts & edits would make it easier to get done and you all would get a better feel for me personally

Well, there are lots of other plans and ideas pinging around in my head-but I am going to try to keep them there and really work on stepping up my blog for at least the first half of the year.  I love blogging and I love sharing with all of you-I just need to be even more dedicated & deliberate with it!

So, what are your goals for 2010?  What do you think of mine? Are you interested in podcasts? Vlogs? New topic areas?  Share!