Resolutions That Don’t Suck

I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions.  Generally speaking, if you don’t have the willpower to do something any other time of the year, you probably won’t grow that willpower just because the last number on the calendar changed.

Seriously, if you’ve got something worth changing, change it right away, don’t wait for a special day.

That said, this is the time of the year that many people choose to try to improve…something.   Some people try to lose weight, other people quit shooting meth into their eyeballs, yet others(the ones I’m going to talk about) decide it’s time to get out of debt.

Now most people are going to throw out some huge and worthless goals like:

• I need to lose some weight.
• I need to save more.
• I need to be a better person.
• I need to shoot less meth into my eyeball.

The problem with goals like that is the definitions.  What is “some”, “more”, “better”, or “less”?  How do you know when you’ve won.

It’s better to take on smaller goals that have real definitions.

Try these:

• I’m going to lose 20 pounds.
• I’m going to save $1200.
• I need to stop locking my children in the closet when I go to the movies.
• I am never ever going to shoot meth into my eyeball again.

But Jason, I hear you saying, where am I going to find $1000 to save?  Well, Dear Reader, I’m glad you asked.  Next time though, could you ask in a way that others can hear so my wife doesn’t feel the need to call the nice men in the white coats again?

Let’s break that goal down even further.

Instead of saving $1200, let’s call it $100 per month.  That’s a bite-sized goal.  Some people don’t even have that to spare, so what can they do?

Let’s make that resolution something like “I’m going to have frozen pizza instead of my regular weekly delivery.”  If your house is anything like mine, that brings a $60 pizza bill down to $15 for some good frozen pizza for a savings of $45.  If you order pizza once a week, that’s $180 saved each month, double your goal.  That’s a win with very little suffering.

Now, you can take that extra $80 that you hadn’t even planned for and throw it at your credit cards.   That’s a free payment every month.  Before you know it, you’ll have your cards paid off and a decent savings account.

Then you can thank me because I made it all possible.