Goals for 2012

I've been pretty bad about keeping up with my goals. I've been meeting them {sort of} and I am conscious of them, but blog recaps have pretty much gone to hell in a handbasket over the past few weeks. So, in honor of the New Year, I'm revamping some of my goals and making some of them a bit more long-term.

*Boost savings: Always a goal, but definitely one I need to pay attention to. I had several things that brought my savings down in the past few months, and my odd jobs just aren't building it up as fast as I'd like. So, I'm looking for some new ways to earn money until I get full-time employment.

*Pay off 20% of student loans: I've started paying my student loans, and while I can't afford to pay them down yet, I want to make this a priority. I'm technically allowed to defer many of them, or reduce payments. While I might opt for this for a time, I still want to pay more than I have to every month. I think that sets up a good habit, and will whittle away at the principle.

*Run a 5K and a 10K: I've wanted to run a 1/2 marathon for awhile, but I'm not a runner. I'd like to work up to these small races so that I can reasonably begin half-marathon training next year. I hope that moves a little faster {ha!}, but I think these are pretty realistic limits for me.

*Learn to sail: Why have I not done this? There's not a good reason, so unless something happens in the job department, I will be doing this. This will knock a thing off my bucket list.

*Read 75 books: This past year I made it to 51 {see my list here and here}, and I'd really like to knock out more. I'm going to be more selective about what I read in the sense that I often got stuck this past year. I'd start a book, and keep reading it even though it wasn't interesting to me. So, I'd procrastinate reading it and would lose several weeks in the process. Life is too short to avoid reading because of a slow book! I'll keep track of this via my A Year in Books tab, and via the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge.

*Get a full-time job: Self-explanatory. I'm concentrating on my job hunt strategies and networking skills, and hopefully these will make my job search a bit more fruitful.

*Learn another language: I used to speak Spanish fairly well for a beginner, but I stopped using it. I'm going to brush up on those skills and hopefully expand on them. That will make me more marketable, and more able to travel and/or live in other countries. This is also on my Bucket List.

In the short-term {January} I'd also like to:

*Clean out the garage: I've been holding off because I don't know where I'll end up, but there are some things I know I want to eventually replace. Rather than moving them when I do move, it makes more sense to sell those items on Craigs List and replace them with what I want when I can afford to do so.

*Lose 5 lbs: Normally, weight doesn't motivate me. I want to be healthy and comfortable, and feel attractive. Healthy food and being active take care of these, but recently I've enjoyed playing numbers games {how fast can I build up my savings, how little can I pay for something, etc.} and so I think it will be fun to challenge myself to this goal.

What goals have you set for yourself this year?