New Year Resolutions!

I'm not usually a big fan of New Year Resolutions but I quess if I had to come up with a few I would have to go with....

1. I want to start going out more. I am such a home body that normaly I just stay home most nights. But I am young!!! I need to start going out more before I get old and it becomes sad

2. To pay off and cancel at least two credit cards.

3. Go back to school and really work at it.

4. To try new foods. Bring on the sushi bring on the mango's bring on the kiwi. I've got a new blender and I'm not afraid to use it!!! For the fruit not the sushi. I'm going to make smoothies and try new fruits. At least once every other week I will try a new food. But really try them, not just taking a bite and making a face and never going back. I mean find a new food learn some recipes to use with it and actually give it a shot. That means that in a year I only have to try 24 new foods. Plus I'm up for suggestions!

5. I'm going to go with read more too. I want to finish reading the books for our bookclub sooner. For example here it is December 30th and I haven't finished reading A Christmas Story yet!!! Shame Also, I have a stack of books that I bought and never read. Well, I have A LOT of books that I have never gotten around to reading but only a few that I actually did want to finish. And the stack really isn't that big. Only 7 books;
Mansfield Park by Jane Austin
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
Beauty by Robin McKinly
The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
And a book called "We Are All the Same" but I don't remember the author.
This year I am reading those books!

I don't consider these resolutions so much as things I need to do since I'm graduating in May:

Stop buying things at Dillards and save up for a car
Exercise consistently
Eat more fruits
Eat smaller portions
Eat to be healthy, not just for taste
Clean more
Adjust to my boyfriend's friends who are around more since the recession took away their jobs-this is a current problem that may or may not be resolved. I'm leaning towards may, but you never know

So I am having a some problems with my new year resolutions.
First of all, I do want to go out more but I am finding this one hard because I'm kind of broke. I am so broke I am seriously concidering taking a job at homeland just to get my head above water. HOMELAND people!!! How sad is that? So if I really am that broke I can't justify going out more even if it is a resolution.
Second of all...okay look I do want to go back to school but unfortunatly it just isn't a priority right now. I am so stressed out about my bills and everything else I have going on that I've pushed it to the back burner right now. I mean if I ever want to get ahold of my debt problem before it skyrockets, then I really will have to get some sort of a second job, and that doesn't leave much time for school. Don't get me wrong my debt isn't that bad, I mean I'm nowhere near the 7 figures range yet and if I went to declare bankruptcy they would probably laugh me out of the building, but that is why it is so important to me to get control of it now before it does get that bad. Plus I am getting tired of people asking me about school and then feeling as if I have to lie to avoid a lecture about how important it is.
So here are my updated resolutions
1. Go out when I can but also just try to spend more time hanging out with friends even if it is just watching movies.
2. Pay off and cancel at least two credit cards
3. Try new foods when I can.
4. Read more. On that list of books I need to finish, I finally finished The Last Picture Show thursday night. I was really excited.
and 5, instead of focusing on school right now I am going to go with the time honored resolution of loosing weight...for more info on that see my blog

DONT CANCEL YOUR CARDS!! Just pay them off and keep them. It will ruin your credit score even more to cancel them. Part of it is based off of your current outstanding debt to total available debt. So you want more, not less. Also, if you've had the card for a while, that's a good thing. If you feel the need to get rid of anything, make it the most recent cards. You should call the credit card companies and see if they'll lower your interest. They want your money and might be willing to accept a little less instead of nothing at all. And I think they made bankruptcy harder to declare.


Try not to worry about school. Tell people they can pay for it if they really want you to go. Or say that youre still exploring your options-looking at schools or looking for a program that will fit your schedule and personality.

Have you tried Hastings? You like it there. Do what you have to to get by. Maybe making a payment schedule and figuring out how much interest you are paying on each card would help. Schedules and lists always make me feel better.

the three places I would give anything to work at are Borders Barnes and Noble and Hastings, I called all of them and none of them are hiring right now. I think it is just because it is just after Christmas, so places like that are still getting rid of their holiday help instead of hiring anyone on. But just because I take a crap job right now (aka Homeland ) doesn't mean I can't keep applying at the other stores and once they are hiring go there.
Do you really think it is that bad to cancel credit cards? I just don't trust myself with them. I can't seem to keep them paid off! I cut them up at one point but this guy I knew who used to work for chase told me not to throw away the pieces, I don't remember what the reasoning was but he was very serious about it, so I saved them and then ended up maxing out the cards by using the pieces to get things on the internet. I'm just no good at this money stuff!
One of the cards is just for a clothing store, would that be as bad to just cancel?

Yeah, it would still lower your amount of available credit if you cancelled the store cards. It all counts. You could still cut them up. Give them to me and I'll never give them back. Or throw the pieces away in a few different trash cans, like at work and your apartment. Job stuff will work out, or it will just seem less hopeless as time goes on and you get used to things. Happy thought, right

So I got my tax return money in today and guess what I did with it!?!
I paid off one of my credit cards
I did cut it up into 6 pieces and Ame suggested that I get a vase and as I pay off my cards and cut them up I put the pieces in it. I think that could actually make a pretty nice arrangment. As of right now I don't feel the immediate need to go and use my cards now that I have less of a balance on them. So maybe I will be able to have them out and not use them. But if I feel any temptation at all the whole, flowers, and cards are going straight into the freezer!
Then I took the rest of the money and made very LARGE payments on the others.
Ame and I looked at each one and figured out which one had the highest interest rate so I can focus on that one first.
The job thing hasn't really taken off quite yet. I applied but my availabilty was really limited at the time because I only had one day off a week that I was guaranteed. One of my managers was gone while I was trying to figure all this out, now that she is back I got permission from both managers to give me Wednesdays off. So Now that I have two days off a week that I can give to this other job (whatever it may be) I am hoping that I will get one soon.
Weight loss is going good so far.
I got a lot of reading done in January but not as much this month.
I haven't been trying as many new foods lately but with being on a diet and all it gets a little tricky.
I have been doing a good job about hanging out more with friends. Well, at least I think I am doing a good job at it

So how are everyone elses resolutions going?

There is also a new Zach Efron/ Mathew Perry movie coming out that might help. I thought it looked kind of cute...corny...but cute

Kate you are so freaking awesome!!!
I am very proud of you
I hope everything goes well with the foster care classes!
I have been walking alot too lately but do you know how much weight I've lost in the last month???
ONE MOTHER F c ING POUND!!!
How messed up is that!?!
As far as the reading goes I think it is kind of nice that we are only doing one book this month. Give people a chance to catch up and take a breather.