Every day is the opportunity for a fresh start

I like a New Year. It's a fabulous opportunity to start afresh. To gather up your motivation and start the year positively and with the best of intentions. Of course, for many of us, we lose that motivation quickly, feel like we've failed, and plunge into a void of darkness. What we need to remember that EVERY day is a new and fabulous opportunity to start afresh!

Imagine if we only started with that newfound motivation once a year? One fresh start a year!

Once a month offers 12 fresh starts in the year.

On Mondays offers 52 fresh starts in the year.

But if we remember that we can start afresh on any day, that's 365 days!! But you don't have to punish yourself and wait for a new day, week, new month or year. ANY time is a good a time for a fresh start!

That's my revelation for today.

It is payday, and everything is in dire straights! Why have I let one month get to me much, and to give myself permission to throw everything up in the air and let loose? The credit card is rather high - which we always pay off in full anyway, but I'm not happy with the numbers I was shown when I logged on for the first time in over a month - first mistake! Thankfully I'd put away about $550 over the past year into the mortgage specifically to cover Christmas, so I can redraw that, which has made my heart beat a little bit slower.

But there are a lot of things I'd like to improve in this year, financially and personally.

Good news is that over the Christmas and New Year period, I became a Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers! How good is that?!!! In fact, following my tips, over the month of December I lost 1kg!! I'm stoked with that, with my original aim to purely maintain. Over December and the past two weeks, I've lost 2.6kg. I'm 68kg, I'm 1kg under my goal, and I'm floored! I must admit, the tracking has gone to the wayside a bit, but I've maintained my exercise for the most part, and eaten normal (not huge!) portion sizes, and tried a bit of everything, without binging. I'm so proud, you can't imagine!

Anyhow, back to improvements for this year. I suppose these 2010 goals should be a post of their own, and I might get back to that, but to get them out of my head:

Financially
- Reduce our credit card usage. We've been relying on it WAY too much, and hence relying on hubby's generous allowances (that could go at any time!)

- Reduce our grocery expenditure. I'm pretty happy with the improvements that I made last year, but I'm sure if I work a lot harder, concentrate more, and plan even further, I can make more reductions. There is a thread on SS at the moment, with a lot of people aiming to spend less than $100 a week on their groceries for 4 people, so if they can do it for $100, surely I can reduce ours by at least another $60 a month??

- Reduce the amount of food I store in my pantry. I love having lots of food in my pantry, but what I have stored there, for the most part, will not get used during the week! It makes me feel gluttonous having so much there. I like the variety - it means I have more flexibility with what we eat. And I don't want a bare pantry either! But I need to find a better balance between bare and gluttenous.

- Sell hubby's motorbike. We have had a real think over Christmas. He simply doesn't have the time to ride it. He feels obligated towards the children and I - both in time, and in body. He doesn't want to have an accident on it, nor does he want to be selfish and be away from us more than he need to. I'm more than supportive of him spending some time riding his motorbike, but reality is, it's barely been touched over the last 3 years, and it's costing us $300 to keep it on the road in CTP and rego, let alone any maintenance it might be. It's been a really hard decision.

- My WW membership is now free, so we've freed up $60 a month!

- Really focus on our bill reduction. We've saved again this year with electricity, water, gas, and insurances, but despite all that, our thriftiness in consumption has been thwarted by an increase in costs per unit!

Personally
- Get to the beach more. Hubby looked after the kids and played with them in the water and sand while I went for a walk the other week, and it was just beautiful. I love the beach. The quietness - despite the waves, really calms me. It gives me time to think, and it's just a beautiful place to be. I need to do that more. That includes some evening picnics after hubby gets home in Summer!

- Maintain my weight. I'm happy with where I am. I'd like to tone up some more, but to just maintain where I am.

- Keep up my exercise. It makes me feel good!

- Get LegoBoy off to school, and Daisy off to pre-school, both happily and confidently.

- Toilet train Buster!!!!! That should at least knock $20 a month off our nappy bill. Still having to buy pull-ups for Daisy and Buster (from Aldi), so I guess I should add night-train Daisy here.

- Introduce more variety into our dinners. I have some fabulous recipes bookmarked, and a newer WW cookbook, so I want to spend more time meal planning and expanding our meals even more.