Resolutions Update

I'm taking my resolutions more seriously than usual this year because I think several of them entail fairly major shifts in lifestyle (as opposed to the "make homemade cards!" types of resolutions I've made in the past).  In my opinion, being successful at anything takes a bit of planning and dedication.  Lifestyle changes in particular require consistency at first before it becomes simple force of habit.  Like brushing your teeth every morning. So how am I doing so far?

Tidy kitchen before bed every night, put away dishes in the morning: I'm really proud of myself for sticking to this one since December.  Last night was the first day that I really thought long and hard about not doing this - the kitchen counters were a mess from bread making and other cooking, it was close to midnight and I had spent most of the day working to get an abstract together for a deadline so I was mentally tired.  But I did it and felt great immediately.  Went to bed with a peaceful brow.

Minimize my needs to give away more:  I took a serious look at my expenditures (helped along by mint.com, love this service!) and realized that I was paying way too much for internet at home and that I don't watch my netflix movies enough to warrant the subscription.  So I've made the switch from Comcast to Centurylink ($30/month less = $360/yr) and canceled netflix ($12/month less = $144/yr).  It doesn't sound like much, but it's an extra $500 a year and requires no alteration in my current behavior.  I have also been trying to be maximally sensible about my grocery budget and being careful about food waste.  Bar Method of course, is quite spendy, but I am really good about going and I know that cutting this would eliminate all exercise from my life.  So to me, $175/month is more than worth it as a long-term investment in my health.

Eat less meat:  When I made this resolution a bit over a week ago I had put into place specific non-meat days and days that I could eat meat IF I wanted to.  This actually went well overall - I definitely ate less meat than usual and even on meat days I often didn't have any.  At least, until Thursday when I was derailed by an unexpected meeting that involved free pizza for lunch.  I dashed in late and grabbed the pizza closest to me, which of course contained pepperoni.  The rest of the week was back on track.  So I'm adjusting the details of this resolution to include more flexibility.  I'll simply keep track of days I eat meat and days I don't and make sure the meat eating days don't take over.  This resolution has not been at all onerous.  I only have to watch that I don't eat too much starch to compensate for lack of meats, but it's been very painless since I really like tofu.  Note that this resolution is helpful to my grocery budget as well.

Get to work earlier: This has also been generally successful in principle if not in detail, but also the hardest.  Here in Portland it stays dark out until maybe 7:15am when it just STARTS to brighten.  The earliest I've managed to wake up is 6:45 and it's only because I have to go to Bar Method.  However, since I've managed to get to work earlier (9 to 9:30) despite not waking up at 6am, this resolution is also being adjusted.  Especially since I'm not at all hungry upon first waking up so sitting around at 6am would be a total waste of time.  I think instead, I will wake up at 6:30 so I have time to have coffee, get my lunch together and work outfit laid out.  Then I will go to class and come home and go.  I've been eating a banana for breakfast at work on my class days and this works out great.  On days I don't have class, I have more time for breakfast at home.  On a related note, keeping track of my hours all week turned out to be quite laborious and ultimately, not terribly informative.  The most valuable part was keeping track of when I wake up and when I go to bed, so these are the notes I will continue to make, along with meat vs non-meat days.

Hoo!  I think that's it!  My internet usage is still an area that needs attention probably, but I still have not been able to formulate any specific resolution around it.  This may be a task for 2013.