It’s hard to believe it’s the beginning of yet another year. My mom was right when she used to tell me that time seems to pass more quickly as you get older. This is the year my daughter will head off to middle school! What happened to my little pig-tailed toddler?
I could probably spend all morning reminiscing on old times, but I won’t. Today is a day for looking forward, and I do have a lot to look forward to this year. I’m starting a Blog Talk Radio show with Jenn from Frugal Upstate. I’ll be heading off to South by Southwest in March with Walmart’s Eleven Moms. And I have big plans for my personal life, my finances, and my blog.
So let’s get to it! What lies ahead?
Blogging Goals
2008 was a year of dramatic growth for Being Frugal.net. I hope to continue that in 2009! Hopefully setting some goals will help with the growth!
- Continue to post authentically, from the heart. I know I had this same goal last year, but it’s really the most important one.
- Hit 10,000 subscribers. It’s a lofty goal, but I like a good challenge. Want to help? Subscribe by RSS or Email!
- Provide a hub of resources and encouragement for those who are looking to cut back their spending in 2009. Like it or not, we are in tough economic times. I’m not on the “world is ending” bandwagon, but unemployment is going up, people are losing their homes, and financial stress is high. For whatever reason, God has chosen to throw the doors wide open for Being Frugal.net to grow. So I’d like to use the opportunity to reach out and help others.
- Provide information on deals, particularly geared toward those of us in the Pacific Northwest. A reader accurately pointed out to me that there are lots of deal sites on the internet, but most are geared towards double & triple coupons and CVS, neither of which seem to exist in Oregon and Washington. If you’re looking for CVS deals & deals for other parts of the country, I can point you toward some great sites! But I’d like to provide something for the rest of us. I just need to figure out how to integrate it, without cluttering up the blog for all of my non-PNW readers…which is probably most of you!
- Post more consistently at Frugal Mom Reviews. January is going to be a busy month there, as I have a ton of reviews lined up. Eventually I’d like to settle into a MWF posting schedule. I do have something planned over there on Fridays. Monica from Mommy Brain Reports helped me score a Wii Fit this week, and I’ve decided to join the Wii Fit Mommies in a quest to get more exercise using the Wii Fit. So Fridays will be dedicated to at least a 3 month review on how it’s going. After 3 months, I’ll decide whether to keep it up or not. (After reading the rest of this post, be sure to visit Mommy Brain Reports to tell Monica how awesome she is!)
Financial Goals
A lot of these goals will be the same as last year, since I got way off track with my move. I listed a few frugal goals on Tuesday. Here are the rest.
- Pay myself second, right after my tithe. I’m going to shoot for 5% at first. I may up the amount later.
- Revamp the budget to account for our mortgage and higher utility bills. Then stick to the budget. For those of you with budgeting goals, later this month, I’ll be talking about some budgeting software. I personally use YNAB Pro, but there are other great programs out there too…something for every personality type!
- Pay off the student loans. Now, this may not be an actual payoff. I’m still undecided as to what to do about the First Time Homebuyer’s Tax Credit (which is actually a loan). I may choose to take the no interest loan and use it to pay off the student loans. I just need to figure out what makes the most sense for us.
- Increase the emergency fund to 3 months worth of expenses.
- Decrease the eating out budget. More on that in a minute.
Personal Goals
I’ll probably talk about a few of these on my blog from time to time, but mostly I’ll be working on these in the background.
- Eat healthier. This year my husband and I are making the commitment to eat NO fast food. None. For a year. I know a lot of you are thinking this should be easy, but for whatever reason, it is a weak spot for me. Last year we tried to cut back, but it didn’t work. I think we are more the “cold turkey” types, so this is what we’re doing. We can still eat at regular restaurants, where a waiter comes and serves you. But here’s a question for you all to answer. What about pizza? Is that fast food? We’re thinking of not counting the gourmet pizza places as fast food, but counting places like Pizza Hut and Little Ceasar’s as fast food. We won’t be ordering delivery. And we’re still up in the air as to whether Papa Murphy’s (take ‘n’ bake) pizza counts. What do you think? Regardless of what we decide, it should help our budget, and our waistlines, a lot!
- Exercise regularly. I’ve made a commitment to try out the Wii Fit for 3 months. I’ll commit to using it 5 times a week, for a minimum of 30 minutes each time. After that, I’ll continue the Wii Fit, or pick another form of exercise. And I know Wii Fit isn’t as ideal as going out and running, for instance, but for someone who hasn’t really exercised at all, it will be an improvement.
- Organize the house. It’s pretty organized right now, but I have a few problem areas, such as the office and spare bedroom. My goal this year is to define each space and develop storage systems that work for the space. I also need to get some pictures on the wall! I’ll be intently following Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie this year!
- Set a daily routine. I lost my routine when we moved. Since I thrive on routine, I really need to set up a new routine that works for me, so I make sure I’m spending time on each area of my life that needs attention. I’m missing some areas now….like cleaning the house! I’ve already started putting together my home management notebook, using some of the forms from Simple Mom.
I think that’s about it. Those are a lot of goals, and I imagine at some point life will necessitate that I tweak one or more of them. But I have a plan for my year. Do you have a plan? And please answer my question about whether pizza is fast food! We have to decide soon!
Photo by mandj98.
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Hi, Lynnae,
You’ve got me mulling over my goals for this new year. That’ll be my task for my day. . . .As far as the pizza goes, I kind of think that if it gets cooked in the oven, it’s NOT fast food. I think pizza can be pretty healthy, as long as it’s not swimming in oil. I also have a pretty good recipe for homemade pizza that doesn’t take too much skill or a lot of time. For instance, I don’t consider Subway grinders to be fast food, either. But anything fried or greasy is out. This should help in your goal to eat healthier, I hope.
Happy New Year!
-Liane
I don’t think I would count Papa Murphy’s as fast food, but it’s kind of on the edge…
Sounds like some pretty good goals. I made a few modest financial goals for this year myself… since just “paying off debt” last year didn’t have quite the impact I’d hoped.
I cut out fast food a few years ago, but it crept back in lately. I will be starting again this year. We decided if it had a drive thru or if they routinely asked if you want fries with that, it’s fast food. If you have to walk in to get your food, it’s okay. That left sub places open when we needed a cheap, quick option and we were able to make fairly healthy choices. I can’t really answer the pizza question. My husband developed a tomato allergy and we can’t have it at all :(
For Pizza, if you could go and eat in the pizzeria, then it isn’t fast food. If the place only has the options of carryout of delivery, then yes. Pizza Hut would be an exception, as I know there are some where you can dine in as well, though our closest one is only a store front. But I would recommend having the ingredients on hand to make your own. Some cheese and toppings, jarred pizza sauce, and even the jiffy crust (or wet/dry ingredients to make your own. It goes together quicker than what it would take for a delivery person to get there. And I wouldn’t consider the take and bake fast food.
If you define fast food as simple food that is NOT brought to you by a waiter, then I think that when you sit down in a place like Pizza Hut, it is a restaurant and therefore, not fast food. So I think you should be okay…
I am from Eugene and would appreciate any Pacific NW based content and deals you would provide on the site. Happy New Year!!!
Hello Lynnae – and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! I know this seems like a hedging kind of answer, about the pizza. 1) I definitely feel that if you pick up a hot pizza or if it’s delivered, it’s fast food. 2) I agree that if it’s a sit-down restaurant deal, it’s not fast food. 3) If you buy pizza and cook it at home, it IS already prepared, BUT you do have to cook it – so my answer there is that it falls into the category of (get this) HALF-FAST food. I know you would not want to put that out there to your people, because although the intonation is funny, it is too crude, thus not appropriate. HOWEVER – the point I was trying to make is that perhaps it should count as 1/2, so if you keep track of the number of times a month (or year) that you do that, every OTHER time would count as one fast-food event. Later !
Happy New Year!!
I think that you have some reasonable goals! I think I would count Papa Murphy’s as convenience food, as opposed to fast food, so, as you stated it, it would be fine.
I know you have Leanne’s Saving dinner book (if not 2 of them) since I am almost positive it was you that pointed me in her direction, but she has many different menu mailers that she sends out (and you can get 3 different menus in one mailer, so tripling your benefit, with only paying for one). And she has some freezer ones that would help to have stuff ready so that you don’t need the fast food. That is a good one, and one that I would consider . . . but I think I will limit ours to only 1 time a week. (which will be much better than we currently stand). The next question becomes, does Starbucks count as fast food?? hahaha!!
I got a Wii Fit for Christmas too, and you have set your goal higher than mine for the Fit, but I will be doing some general walks too, on a daily basis.
I think whether or not you consider pizza fast food depends on your reasons for eliminating fast food in the first place. If you’re trying to save money, pizza can be very expensive, especially if you get pizza that’s actual food and not cardboard with toppings. Likewise if you’re trying to eat more healthfully you can probably axe most pizzas not prepared by you in the home.
But if you’re just trying to make eating out more of an occasion and less of a “we’ve got burgers in the car”, then go to a sit-down place, have a pizza and enjoy.
Wow .. you’ve got lots of great goals and certainly ones I couldn’t commit to. ;-) Being that we couldn’t cut out all fast food for an entire year, I’m thinking pizza should be allowed. :-) And while sub places fall into ‘fast food’ category .. I don’t think that should count as fast food, as that could be quite healthy. If it were up to me .. I’d just say no McD, BK, Arbys .. whatever .. those type fast foods. There could be some CRAZY night and you just need something fast … who can turn down a $5 pizza from little ceasars! LOL Maybe say 1 cheap pizza a month. :-) LOL .. I’m just sneaky like that. :-)
I don’t really have an answer to the fast food question as I try to allow for some eating out in all forms in my life. One #1 doesn’t kill you if you are eating a healthy balance of vegetables and vitamins and couple it with plenty of exercise. In fact the more healthy you eat the less you will want the fast food. Just my experience.
I have two sons, 7 and 5, and we eat pizza on Fridays probably once a month and we use it as guy bonding time. Even fast food has its privileges!
I don’t know what your fast food weakness is, but I don’t consider pizza of any kind to be fast food. I’m with Sandra–who can resist $5 pizzas from Little Ceasars?
We don’t eat beef, so fast food places are right out for us.
We buy take and bake from Costco [Pizza Margherita], or a plain cheese. Take and bake pizza isn’t fast food in my book because I still have to bake it.
I say that if it has a drive-thru, it qualifies as fast food….how’s that?
I would love to see something for the NW as we don’t have the CVS and I’ve looked and haven’t found anything for us. I do most of my shopping at Winco but they don’t send out flyers or anything usually, and someone would have to go there quite often to post deals, plus I don’t know if the deals are the same for all stores. Maybe we should band together, lol!
Loved your goals, as always you are a great source of motivation and encouragement, my friend. Happy New Year to you and looking forward to reading more!
I don’t consider the take & bake/Papa Murphy’s pizza as fast food. It seems healthier than that. I feel it is even healthier than other made & baked for your pizzas.
We love Papa Murphy’s. We like to do a pizza & a movie night. The DVD is always borrowed for free from the public library. Both the Papa Murphy’s & the library are about a mile away from us.
As a family of 8 it isn’t always easy to go into a restaurant and keep everyone seated long enough for a meal. Our youngest 2 are under 2 & 1/2 yrs old.
If you want to set a goal (or plan) with the pizza…decide how many you’ll have a month or every other month/etc. That way you can see how well you did.
Thanks for all of your opinions. I think the decision we have come to is that Papa Murphy’s won’t count as fast food. Especially since we tend to order the gourmet veggie. The sauce isn’t good for us, but the vegetables are.
As far as places that cook the pizza for us, we’re going to count the chains as fast food, but we’re going to allow ourselves to eat at the local places, though we’re not going to allow takeout.
And we’re still going to allow my husband to take the kiddos to Dairy Queen for a blizzard from time to time….as long as it’s dessert, and not a meal. Experiences and treats are important.
We have a couple of reasons for cutting out fast food. First and foremost is health. An occasional fast food treat won’t kill us, but unfortunately, it’s easy for an occasional treat to turn into a twice a week experience, which is bad. Very, very bad. Saying we’re going to cut out fast food all together eliminates that temptation.
The second reason is to make dining out more of an experience. Right now we blow our dining out dollars on takeout on nights when we’re stretched for time or I’m not feeling well. By preparing better for those nights with healthier options, we can save our money for really good restaurant food, instead of blowing it on Big Macs.
Unless you’re making/baking pizza from scratch, I’d consider it fast food…. Altho I’d also consider bought frozen cassaroles etc as fast food. Actually, if it’s not made from scratch homecooked, I’m kind of not into it anymore. This due to the nutrition aspect, the preservatives, and the extra money. My opinion, I know, and I’m stuck with it!
Good reminder for me to work on year long goals…. this year those won’t be financial, as I think I have that under control, but getting this ‘living in a construction zone’ theme done, and expanding the garden and the permanent edible landscaping beds. Learning to can better, more often, and more efficiently, also :)
Hi Lynnae! Great goals for 2009. On the “pizza” front, we count it as take-out, gourmet or not. The reason behind this is that we make our pizzas every Friday, so if it is ordered, then it counts as fast food. I make sure we have the ingredients for pizza on hand all the time and it has saved us a ton of money. We use to spend around 23 bucks every time we ordered from pizza hut. Talk about ouch!
Hi, this is a great site!
I personally eat no takeout/fast food and rarely eat out since I am pretty much vegan. It’s easier to control the food that goes into my body that way. I would consider Papa Murphy faster food/takeout since you go to pick it up and they make it for you! I make my own pizza when I want it! However, I think you should do what works for you. The point is to increase your savings by not eating fast food. It will also improve your health.
If you are coming home tired and not wanting to prepare dinner than the trick is to do your grocery shopping and making sure you are getting things you can prepare with a minimum amount of fuss. I go to the grocery once every 2 weeks and once a week for the perishable items like tomatoes, red onion etc and deal with it right when I get back from the store and have everything prepared so I know what’s for dinner every night pretty much.
Hi! Pizza is a border food as even when you make it at home it is fast food! My four year old (five tomorrow!) daughter and I had this very conversation just last week as we have the same goal for this year.
However I won the toss as I said that Pizza has many beneficial properties as it can help reduce cancer, so we will make pizza most of the time following our traditional recipie that we “borrowed” from a lovely Italian Chef we met on our holiday to Northern Italy in 2007!
And seeing as nobody ever believes me when I tell them it is healthy here is a link to an article about it! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3086013.stm
Heres to 2009!
Those are some intense goals! Good ones. I saw your decision above and I think if you cook it at home – NOT fast food. I think we may try your cold-turkey approach as well. Fast food is a weakness at our house as well. Thanks – hopefully we can support each other.
On the pizza topic, if you are cutting out fast food for health reasons, I feel you should eliminate the pizza. If you are doing it for financial reasons, those take and back pizzas seem to be a cheaper route than ordering at pizza hut. Therefore, the Papa Murphy’s pizza is acceptable for the new year on a purely financial basis but should be excluded when considering your pants size. Also, as you know, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight pays huge dividends over the course of your life by lowering your overall health care costs. Considering that, I would make the commitment to avoid the extra pizza.
Wow, quite the list of goals for the year. Right now my list is like 4 things long. I’m not sure if I could keep up with all yours, but I think goals are great, and I guess the more the better. I wish you the best for this year. And I think gourment pizza is not fast food.
I think posting authentically, from the heart, is most important.
If you’re only doing it for the money, you’ll ultimately get bored and quit.
Happy New Years!
I can help you with your subscriber request. :) Just found you – enjoying your blog!
Happy Holidays!
Lynnae, for your deals in the PNW, you could do what we did with the Contest channel. It has a separate RSS, so regular readers don’t see all the posts, but you can access it from the nav bar on the home page. Good luck!
BFrugal: it was good read. I like your goals broken down in different aspects. i am amazed to see how often this “no eating outside” is coming on personal finance bloggers. good luck for 2009.
best regards,
DT