The end of June means that the year is half over. Ever the goal-oriented one, I’m happy to report that I’ve made some progress on my New Year’s Resolutions. At the beginning of the year, I knew that this would be my year of work, to be able to implement major life changes in 2012. Without further ado, my goals and progress:
1. Significantly pay down my credit card debt. (More specific goals and action plans are for me to know.)
This is a work in progress and I have a long way to go. Working hard to save, I am becoming more and more budget-minded everyday. As of today, I only have two credit cards, when I started the year with four. I often went without to pay off those two prior to closing them. Unfortunately, the two I plan to keep carry the larger balances, so I cannot cross this resolution off.
2. Find a new job and escape retail.
I escaped! I finally found a job as a Leasing Consultant at an apartment community the first week of March. I’ve been there over 90 days now. I work there to hopefully take advantage of the discount on rent early on in 2012.
3. Pack my lunch the night before a workday.
Fail. Oh well… I still have six months to work on this one.
4. Only possess what I love, want and use.
I truly have pared down and love it.
5. Have a fabulous time on my little trip to Italy.
I am so happy that I made Italy happen this year. I truly had a fabulous time.
With my debt manageable with new bills, enough money saved and an emergency fund established, I will move into a one bedroom apartment in my apartment community sometime in 2012!
I hope it will be early 2012! I tell myself January 1st to make myself feel better plus to work towards a more concrete goal. I simply cannot wait to have my own place again! This Miss Independent will be soo happy! I can hardly wait to… to decorate how I want and to entertain and to hostess out-of-town guests and to shop for my own food in a grocery store and cook how I want and for less than five people and not drive to work and walk to my beloved Target a block from property! With my own place, I will also sign up for match.com again; I’ve always been pretty successful with it. Even though no guy I’ve gone out with has thought it a problem (or voiced it anyway), I hate mentioning the fact that I live with my parents. So I’ll probably also be dating next year, which is really fun. Always a daydreamer, I now think about living in an apartment all the time! What’s more is that I’m even dreaming what my apartmentwarming party will be like! Italian antipasti and bottles of my new favorite red wine Valpolicella (to hopefully warm up a sooner winter day)??? (That’s the local wine I enjoyed in Verona.) Or a bright festive New Year, New Home theme? Ooh or maybe Chinese New Year? It’ll be the Year of the Dragon! …if it’ll be sometime during the month of January! I’m also taking volunteers to help me move! (Refer to resolution number 4 if you’re having doubts!) There’ll be plenty of pizza and bottles of beer for after! I hope to not have snowmaggedon this year!
My life hasn’t been the most exciting ever when I’m not spending so much money, but I did have a fabulous time Friday night. A friend and I wined and dined over an Italian feast. Lots of food and lots of girl talk. It was nice to “get ready” and dress for dinner too. I wore my favorite sheer black top over a black camisole and a dark jean skirt. My friend looked great with a purple top (that I so want to borrow!) also paired with a jean skirt. Great minds think alike.
How exciting for you! I will never forget the feeling of my very first apartment where I lived alone without a roommate. It was liberating. I so enjoyed the feeling of setting up my first place just as I liked it and having a place where I could call home. It's a fantastic time in anyone's life and very formative in who you will become later on. Enjoy!
[I somehow cannot comment as myself, but this is Michelle.]
Grazie, Staphanie! 🙂 This is actually my second time living alone as my first experience was in a huge studio in my beloved Philadelphia for nine short months. I call the house I currently live in my parents' so you're right, it would be nice to simply call a place "home." This time around I'll have more furniture of my own purchasing, so my style will be revealed. If living alone leads to who you will become, then I am already quite the hostess! I can't wait to do it all again… I will enjoy it, thank you so much!