2021 New Year Goals

 

 

 

 

Remember my invisible money challenge? Well, I’m going to continue doing that this year and all that money will be added on to my travel funds. I have so many places I want to visit. I especially dream of going to Europe (Italy, France); USA (New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles) and more places in Asia. I want more travel adventures with my mom and family and my friends. Maybe someday with a special someone too.

 

As I shared in my 2020 Year in Review, this pandemic is teaching me more about the importance of having financial freedom. I’m not as young as I used to be, neither is my mom. Before I know it, I’ll also be old and may no longer be able to work so it’s important that I will be able to enjoy my retirement. It’s also equally important that I have peace of mind that in case of emergencies, I’ll have money ready to be pulled out for use and I can more easily do more of what I want like travel, buy a house or resign from my full time job if I want to.

 

I’m going to keep saving money and eliminating debts but I can’t really save a lot or eliminate debt if anything happens again to the only source of income I have.

 

I know that this pandemic we’re having, this virus is a result of climate change that’s getting worse and so I want to continue doing my part to save Mother Earth. I’m continuously educating myself on the ways I can do this. I joined Facebook groups like Sustainable Living, Buhay Zero Waste and Zero Waste PH to learn ideas from others who are also trying to live a greener, more sustainable lifestyle.

Saving for a rainy day will always be a good idea and I want to continue doing that. I want to continue saving and actually NOT touch that money unless it’s an emergency. The rule of an emergency fund is to have at least 6 months worth of your salary and honestly, I am far, far from that right now.

 

Also I want to continue investing in order to grow my wealth. Financial experts say that investing allows you to put your money in avenues that have the potential to earn stronger rates of return compared to simply saving. I’ve been with Sun Life for a while now though again, guilty of not being able to continuously invest there.

 

 

I enjoy writing so blogging has been a creative outlet of mine and I’ve been telling myself for awhile now that while it will remain to be that for me – a creative outlet – I want to grow it and monetize it. It was only really last year that I got serious about working on that. The results I’ve seen though small right now, well they were enough to motivate me to continue my efforts this year.

 

And because we live in a day and age of social media, I also want to grow my presence there. With a good following, I may be able to get direct advertisers and not just Google Adsense although I still want to earn through that.

 

I have been guilty of sleeping really late even when I have work the following day especially since the lockdown began because I know I won’t have to go to the office. But sleeping really late takes a toll on my body! Maybe it’s also got something to do with age that I can’t just sleep late and wake up the next day still okay. Regardless, getting enough rest will not only get me more energy, it’s also going to help my overall health because as we all know, the body heals and repairs itself while we sleep.

 

And when I am well rested, it’s going to help lessen the dark circles and bags under my eyes and I’m going to get a glowing complexion to boot!

 

       

I still have a lot of books sitting on my book shelf waiting to be read and my list of books to read continues to grow especially since joining a Facebook book club. So for my 2021 GoodReads Reading Challenge, I’m challenging myself to read 20 books for the year.

 

I like being at home. I live a good life with my family. But I also want to reflect what I feel inside to my surroundings specially since we’ll still be staying more at home for the foreseeable future. It’s a new year but the pandemic isn’t over.

 

This means, decluttering more, cleaning more and getting organized.

 

 

This is not just about not gaining weight but to be healthy overall. At the latter part of the year, I started to move more again – attending virtual gym classes and searching Youtube for workout videos. One of the workout videos I recommend is The Body Project.

 

And of course, a good workout should be coupled up with healthier eating habits – something I kind of threw out the window last year when I stopped going to the gym. I want to take care of me better which means eating better. No dieting involved still! The nutritionist at the gym once told me dieting may be effective in helping you lose weight but it’s not something you can really sustain for a long time. Eating better foods and moderately are the better ways to go.

 

10. Become a responsible pet owner

 

I’ve talked about my pet cat before, Lucky and how his presence in our lives especially during this pandemic has been such a blessing. Well Lucky is a stray cat that we took in and I know he is a living being that also has needs. This year, I resolve to take better care of him which includes taking him for medical check ups too!

 

 

There are so many benefits to keeping a journal! While I do write in my journal, I admit that it’s not something I do often especially these days so yeah, I’m going to change that.

 

Whether it’s with treating myself to my favorite cookies, doing a little shopping or skin care activity like putting on a facial mask, I’m going to take better care of myself this year as well by giving myself some pampering. Pampering can also boost happiness which let’s face it – we can all use especially these days.

Last year, I set out to pay off in full four of my credit card debts and closed accounts on those too. I had too many credit cards and it was causing me to bleed money faster than I can earn it. My journey to financial freedom continues by paying off in full the remaining credit card debts I have.

 

 

I found the joy in taking care of plants last year. One of the things I learned about it? Some plants I can easily take care of as they are quite low key like snake plants but there are others that require more attention. Last year, I set out to grow veggies in our garden. Unfortunately, while I saw initial growth, the vegetables didn’t flourish. I also experienced disappointment with some other plants I had at home which died, taking along with their death my money.

 

I see myself taking care of more plants this year and because I don’t want to keep feeling like I wasted my money, I need to know how to better care for them.

 

And finally, I just want to be happier. I mean I am not depressed. I have my days of sadness. But generally I’m okay. But well, if I could be happier in my life, why not? I’m getting inspiration from books like Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project.

 

 

 

In December of last year, I wanted to:

 

• Pay off my 1 or 2 more credit card debts in full and close account – Yup, I successfully closed off two credit cards after paying them in full. Yay me! More money for savings and investment now.
• Do some more decluttering – All the boxes I got from online shopping? I was able to donate that to someone else who had use for them instead of them ending up in the garbage disposal. I even sold online one of our ice buckets that we no longer use.
• Continue building up my emergency funds – I made sure not to spend all my bonus and salary from last month and prioritized savings.
• No swiping of credit cards – Even when I bought presents for Christmas for people I love, I used cash and stuck on a budget. I even paid off my gym membership in cash.

 

In December, I also wanted to:

 

• Get 20,000 blog views – I fell short of this by about 8k views which only means I really still have a lot to learn about how to drive blog traffic.
• Earn $22 from ad revenues – At least with this, I’m happy to say my Google Adsense earnings is growing because I managed to achieve this goal!
• Grow my Pieces of Liz Facebook page organically to 500 followers – I didn’t meet this goal as well. I honestly thought I would because I even planned a giveaway. However that did not pan out the way I wanted to. But I did manage to get a few additional followers that helps to bring me a little bit closer towards the 500 followers goal.
• Grow my bookstagram account organically to 200 followers – Also fell short of that goal by about 50 followers but the good news is at least I gained 50 new followers from 100! That’s 50 new fellow booklovers I can get new book read ideas from and discuss books with too!
• Do 2 or more Christmas themed blog posts – I did 4!