I never really took New Year's resolutions too seriously; I knew I was the type of person who has really good, exciting, creative ideas that I never followed through on. But since NT has joined the household, AS and I find that his organization has spilled over into our lives as well. Instead of putting things off, we face them head-on.

So now I see the New Year not as a time to make lame resolutions I won't keep, but an opportunity to clarify and define some goals that I've been thinking about for some time. And this blog will help me return to them from time to time and assess my progress.

My progress in '07 has been amazing to me. I finally stopped leaving leaks and loopholes for my money to escape through, and took control of it all. Beginning in March I weaned my household off credit. The only purchases not made with cash were completely planned, with plans on how to pay them off. Since July, when I started tracking this, our total debt has gone down more than $14,000.

A final note before I stop stalling and make with the goals: Some of these are going to be two-year or lifetime goals. Most of the things I've been thinking about lately are long-term goals, things that used to frighten and intimidate me, but now I see as very do-able in the long run.

1. Become personal-debt-free within two years. That's right, by Dec. 31, 2009, I want to see my nearly $70,000 of credit card and personal debt go pffft! Not sure how I'm going to do this just yet, so I'm going to start by paying the crap out of things, snowballing debt, and seeing where that gets me.

2. Look seriously at what it takes, character-wise and money-wise, to become a mom. I am 33 and almost (not quite) to a place where I want to have kids more than anything. This is a very new feeling for me, so I want to go slow, do lots of research, talk to some moms, talk to my doctor, and by, say, mid-2009, know whether this is the way I for sure want to go, and (if so) when.

Wow, putting that onscreen was rather intense! :-) Now for some "easy" ones:

3. Continue to work out almost 5 times a week. Been doing pretty well since September, taking a break for the holidays, want to come back strong Jan. 2 and continue, hopefully for the rest of my life. :-)

4. Grow my second balcony garden, and try for bell peppers this time!

5. Complete my debt-repayment "Ad Hoc goal" by 3/31/08 (see sidebar for info).

This is everything I've been planning anyway, but it feels good to write them all down.