Update on 2011 Resolutions

I can't believe it's 2012.  This last year was a blur of tragedy, victory, and surrender to the will of God.  I wanted to give an update on how I did with my 2011 Resolutions.  You are my accountability partners!

Updates in red:

Personal- Read one non-fiction book per month.  According to Goodreads, I read 19 books in 2011, 15 of which were non-fiction!  Yay!  I met my goal.  I have a similar goal for 2012, which will be discussed in my next post.

Spiritual- Read 3 chapters of the Bible each day. Spend 10 minutes in prayer/meditation each day.  I did fairly well with this.  One thing that created a problem was Jackson's wake up time.  I'd set my alarm for 6 am and he'd start crying at 6:05.  That doesn't allow much time.  In 2012, I'm planning on getting up at 6 am everyday.  Jackson has been sleeping until closer to 7:30 so that should give me plenty of time (fingers crossed).  Of course Yoder baby #2 may have plans of his own.  I may be doing Bible study at 2 am, who knows.

Physical- Work out 2 times per week. Take Jackson on a walk twice per week (once warmer temperatures arrive).  Other than my 2 month attack of bronchitis, I did this almost every week.  We didn't do as many walks outside but probably because this has been the rainiest year in Central Ohio.  Boo.

Relational- Call each grandma once per week. Write one encouraging letter per week. Limit facebook usage to 15 minutes per day.  I could have done better with this!  Unfortunately, only one grandma is able to converse via phone now, but I HAVE to d a better job of calling her.  I've also thought of some people I should have sent letters to- guess I have a great way to start 2012.  I did a week-long sabbatical from facebook and it was amazing,  I foresee another one in the near future (at least until I'm awake nursing at all hours of the night haha).

Financial- Cut our grocery budget by $60 per month. Save 10% of all incomes for retirement. Cut cable (TV) after the Super Bowl.  I honestly believe that "Extreme Couponing" ruined my grocery savings.  I was doing so well the first half of the year at keeping our grocery budget down and using coupons on so many sale items, but it seems that stores caught onto the madness and more and more people were trying coupon fraud, so away went the deals.  I'm going to try to get back into the couponing lifestyle these first 2 months of the year before baby comes and see how things go.  Fellow couponers, what have been your thoughts on this?  
We didn't get to 10% of our income for retirement.  Why is that so hard?  I blame it on our kitchen debacle and some fun medical bills.  2012 will be better.   Brian is going to be 30 next month and for some reason that makes retirement seem closer than ever.  Haha.
We did cut cable after the Super Bowl.  We've talked about getting it back a few times, but then we see one show or commercial on the 5 channels we do get and we're reminded that TV is complete trash.  90% of it is immoral, stupid, and way too sexual or Godless to show our children.  I don't miss it at all- and the prospect of paying $50 a month to get it back doesn't move me.  And, if I'm really desperate for some Fox News election coverage, I can go to the Y and watch while I work out.  This is a double duty- saving money and staying in shape!
 
Business- Increase my sales by 35% over 2010.  I did just over a 19% increase.  I'm very pleased considering I didn't really PUSH for sales.  Life happened a lot this year.  God knows how much I can handle and he gave me just the right amount.

Did you stick to any of your resolutions from last year?  Do you think it helps to tell the whole world (or the blogging world) what you're planning to do??