New Week's Resolution - Week 31 (May 26 - Jun 2)

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nossmf
nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

Welcome to the first week of the rest of your life! Now seems like a perfect time to select a New Week's Resolution.

What is a New Week's Resolution? It's exactly the same as a New Year's Resolution, with two important distinctions: it only lasts for one week, and you can start one any time you want, rather than just once per year.

So what's wrong with New Year's Resolutions? According to some quick Google research, just one thing: they DON'T WORK!

  • 23% of people quit within the first week
  • 43% quit by the end of January
  • 80% quit by mid-February
  • 92% fail to make it a full year

Why such high rates of failure? Probably because most resolutions fail to follow these simple steps from the SMART method:

  • Specific - "exercise more" is vague; "hit the gym twice this week" is specific
  • Measurable - did I go twice? Yes or no?
  • Achievable - "drink a gallon of water per day" may not be realistic; drink 8oz is
  • Relevant - if it doesn't matter to YOU, why bother?
  • Time-bound - keep your goal for this week something quick you can reach THIS week

With these thoughts in mind, what is ONE thing you want to do this week? Some examples may include:

  • Hit the gym two times this week
  • Cook a meal from scratch three times this week
  • Go to bed no later than 10pm every night
  • Limit myself to one alcoholic beverage this week
  • Finish two pages of my family photo album

...and so on. While this is very similar in nature to the famous "Just Give Me 10 Days" series, that challenge focuses primarily on weight loss and diet control, whereas this challenge is of a broader nature, including interpersonal relationships, home improvements, health and fitness and more. Just pick something specific you wish to focus upon, set a number goal you can reach (or not), and make status updates to document your progress. This will be a judgment-free zone: if you do not reach your goal, take the time to figure out why not (too big a goal, life happened, etc), and forgive yourself, because you can always try again next week.

Replies

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Getting setup for this week. My plan is to continue what I started in previous weeks, and add one more focus item every week as I go. Eventually older items will drop off the list, not because I no longer want to do them, but because they will have become so ingrained a part of my daily routine that I no longer need to record them to make sure they get done.

    Past focus items successfully transitioned to un-monitored habit:

    Floss every night before bed
    Clean litter box every night before bed
    Kiss wife within one (1) minute of arriving home from work, gym, store, church, etc
    Wearing my glasses every day, all day
    Park in furthest spot available
    Read 10 minutes daily
    Wash dinner dishes the same night they're used
    Get at least six hours of sleep every night
    Check parakeet water daily
    Record receipts same day spent
    Wash hands before preparing ALL meals
    Spray down counter/oven after every meal
    Fold laundry same day it gets washed
    Shave daily
    Stretching 10+ Minutes Daily

    Tasks completed thanks to this weekly challenge:

    Complete digital cookbook
    Clean outdoor grill

    Ongoing focus items:

    Weeding 60+ Minutes in the week

    New focus item:

    Trying something a little different this week. Mortgage has increased (higher property taxes), medical bills are demanding to get paid, it's just getting tough to make ends meet. So this week's challenge is finding ways to decrease expenses as much as possible. Since part of this challenge is to have a hard number to aim for, let's be aggressive and see if I can't get this number up to $500/mo lower expenses.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Monday

    Weeding 0/60
    Budget $150/$500

    Sometimes we're our own stupidest reasons for overpaying. Case in point, a few months ago my wife found a different internet provider offering faster service for lower price than our current company. We switched, and have been quite satisfied. However (you can probably see where I'm going with this), we neglected to cancel our original service! Call made, unused service cancelled, instant monthly savings. Only wish I could have back the 3 months' worth of fees that we paid out for something we weren't even using…

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Tuesday

    Weeding 0/60
    Budget $185/$500

    Called up my satellite radio provider to cancel our subscription, I'll just settle for terrestrial radio for a while. (I commute between cities each day, it's nice not to have to constantly scan the radio dial for signals as I drive down the highway.) The company made me an offer to stay as a customer, but instead of paying $55 each month I would drop down to $20/mo for the next year for the same service (savings: $35/mo).

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 3,422 Member

    I like that weekly challenge!:D I am always trying to figure out how to cut costs, mostly because the jobs I enjoy just do not pay well!🥲

    Continuing the 3 cups per day water challenge..

    Using all my groceries..

    AND for this week getting back patio clean and organized for summer grilling out in June.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Wednesday

    Weeding 0/60
    Budget $315/$500

    My son hasn't used his gym membership in a couple months, guess he doesn't need me to pay for it any longer! (Savings: $75/mo) And in perusing my monthly account statement, I found a charge to a Sears warranty program I thought I had cancelled long ago (after I tried to get them to actually honor their end of the agreement, and was rebuffed with technicalities for why they didn't have to). Cancel them, with a note to self to check if they try to charge me again next month (and if so tell my credit card to ignore them going forward). (Savings: $55/mo)

  • HappyAdventures
    HappyAdventures Posts: 3 Member

    still working on sleep routine.

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 3,422 Member

    ✔️ water

    ✔️ only threw away 2 bananas i forgot in the freezer

    ✔️patio fairly organized and clean, going to cook out tomorrow if not all rainy!

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Thursday

    Weeding 0/60
    Budget $365/$500

    My wife is less thrilled by this idea, but she has agreed to put on hold spending each month on adding to her collection, saving $50/mo.

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Friday & Saturday

    Weeding 0/60 - Son is home on leave from the Army, have been spending time indoors with him rather than outside weeding, will get back to this after he leaves next weekend
    Budget $440/$500

    If my wife can give up her collectibles for a while, I can give something up as well, and in my case it's my gym membership. I have access to a free gym at the military base where I work, it's just mighty inconvenient on days I don't work to drive 20 minutes each way when my local gym is a 2 minute walk. But for now, I'll make it happen. (Savings: $75/mo)

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Sunday

    Budget $540/$500

    Even though we do most of our eating each week via home cooked meals, we've still been averaging about $100/mo on fast food, maybe a couple lunches after church or as a replacement meal one night when work and commute run long and I don't feel like cooking. Well, for the foreseeable future, that option is now off the table.

    Weekly goal: met.

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 3,422 Member

    That's pretty good budgeting! I wish I could I knock off $500 more from mine! If you're $40 over that means your wife can go back to collecting!?:D

  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 14,420 Member

    Don't tell her that! lol