Reflection: 2015 Resolutions and Goals Revisited

At the beginning of the year I wrote the post Happy New Year: Welcome 2015 (New Year's Resolutions - Goals). I wanted to go back and see how I did, reflect on the year. What better way to decide where to go next year than by looking at the past year; and, of course, so I don't repeat mistakes and unachievable goals. Right?

My 2015 Goals:

1. Selling Handmade/ Handcrafted Items

2. Design and sell foundation paper pieced patterns

3. working towards becoming debt free

4. Buy a bigger car

5. don't skip meals

6. Sleep 8 hours a night

How'd I do?

1. I decided against the clothing aspect. I have no interest in the compliance and all other hoops to jump through in order to sell. I respect and appreciate those that do. It is too much time, money and stress for me. At least I am honest.
Do I still want to make quilts and bags to sell? Yes! Do they have compliance laws? I have no idea, and I guess it would be something to look into. But, with the new baby that probably will not take place this year.

2. I have not listed more than my Arizona Flag on Craftsy. My laptop died. We got a chromebook. Excuses/excuses... I need to work on that one some more. I still have an alphabet that I was working on, but again not something this next year, or at least immediately.

3. Working towards debt free. I have no idea how to share this with you without giving a ton of (too much, not necessary?) info. We got more than halfway there. Then, the credit cards started getting used again and... Well... That went out the window. We got back on about a halfway through the year, then stopped again because of the baby. Budgeting helps. It is necessary. We live paycheck to paycheck at this point. Is it ok? Sure. The end goal will happen. Projected time frame? 2 years. Eek. But hey, it's something. As long as we can keep things under control, stick to the budget and not stray, we can probably finish faster.

4. Buy a bigger car. How can one save up if your paying down debt? You can't. It doesn't work. You can't do both at the same time. End result? We now need a new car, thanks to beautiful baby #3 due in 5 weeks, and not much to use towards it. Oops. But, our little girl is totally worth it. I look forward to holding her, and seeing her daddy and brother and sister with her!

5. don't skip meals. I haven't been tracking it. I can't tell you how many I have skipped. I know it's a lot.

6. Sleep 8 hours a night. Yeah, not tracked. but I am usually in bed by 9 and sleep until about 5:30/6... Maybe with 1 or two wake ups in there... That's about 8 hours. I can't function without it. And I usually nap about an hour every day too. Will I keep it up after baby? we'll see...

Reflection and Application:
Somethings that I set out to accomplish were... reasonable... but not extremely realistic for me. But, Live and learn, yes? I have a list of things that I need to replace which wont happen until after the debt is paid, but at least I have learned that lesson and a lot focuses around the budget/debt aspect of goals.

I'm in the process of writing my goals for next year and trying to keep in mind keeping them SMART. I learned that in college for planning IEP Goals. You would think I would have kept that in mind for myself too. But, the more you do it the better you get at it. But, so many people reference that in yearly, monthly, daily goal setting.

I am thinking planning is a big one for next year. A way to document and track how I am doing towards goals. I need to figure out a way to measure them...

Let me hear from you!
Did you make goals last year? Did you meet them? How do you monitor your progress throughout the year?