2010 Resolutions

Ok, I realize that 2010 isn't -quite- over yet, but it's close enough that I think I can post about the progress I made on this year's New Years resolutions.

Before I start, I want to mention that when I make a resolution, it's not really an empty thing I do because it's New Years and everyone else is doing it. When I make them, I intend to stick with them. I don't save goal-setting for New Years as well either...I make goals throughout the year, some of them short-term and some of them long-term; however New Years is a convenient time to set new goals because of the "new start" symbolism that goes with it. Anyway my resolutions were:

-Spend less time on the computer
-Get back to the healthy diet I kept in the summer of 2009.
-Quit buying books on Amazon.
-Save money.
-Learn better housekeeping.
-Practice French.

I did pretty well. I'll list progress in point form:
-I do spend less time on the computer, and the time I do spend is used more wisely (looking up and printing articles for school, doing other research that could be helpful to my studies, such as a growing interest in demographics, blogging, writing other stuff).
-After I made my resolutions post in January, I went on a fat binge that especially got larger after I went to Athens and decided that copious amounts of olive oil makes food taste AWESOME. By the summer, I had gained 15 lbs and didn't fit into any of my "fitted" clothes. I decided to renew my commitment to eating healthy, exercising and losing weight. It was a slow start at first because I had just made progress on the exercise and not the diet to go with it, but after I got sick in September I was able to change my eating habits and moderate my cheese and olive oil intake. Today (yes, TODAY) I weighed myself and I've hit my weight goal! Go me. While weight isn't everything, I also fit into my clothes again, and the mirror is showing me my good work as well. so yep...check!
-While I never -quit- buying books on Amazon, I do buy significantly less of them than in 2009. As a reader I'm always tempted to actually OWN all the books I want to read, but I've learned to just buy some of them and put a halt as I catch up on actually -reading- them and be more content with keeping a wishlist on Amazon should I decide to read more later. I also check my online spending on other products by avoiding impulse purchases and only buying things that fulfill a specific and genuine need, and I still compare prices both on and offline before I make them.
-I've assessed my spending and cut some things, and in the fall I reassessed my budget. Unfortunately this reassessment showed me that even on my basic needs, costs are more than I had originally budgeted. Trying to cut this further is proving difficult. for example, basic food doesn't really do it for me. For one, because of my allergies I have to eat meat at least a few times a week to get enough protein, and I can't seem to curb buying nicer, high quality foods. I do buy seasonally and this saves me money, and gardening in the summer helps. Though, these things don't seem to make a massive enough impact to help my budget all that much. My household costs are also higher than I originally thought. Going into this place being a first-time homeowner, I didn't really think of all the expenses that I'd have for maintenance and such. Things like deck oil every year (3 cans for 2 coats, over 90 Euro) to protect the balcony...stuff like that. As a renter I never had these expenses. Anyway...
-I HAVE learned better housekeeping. I'm still no Martha Stewart (or even as nitpicky as I was in Canada) but my house is cleaner and tidier than it was this time last year and I'm working out better long-term organization solutions for my stuff.
-I enrolled in a French class in the fall. I intend on continuing in January!

So...not half bad!

I have to think of what my resolutions should be for 2011.