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"What is it about the New Year that always brings to us the promise of renewed hope? A better year, a better you; a clean slate? With the New Year less than 15 hours away, millions of us are thinking with a revitalized sense of confidence about everything from losing those ten pounds that have been weighing us down (literally) to finally paying off our debt and funding our retirement. For me, I&amp;#039;ve learned that resolutions are wonderful, but they can&amp;#039;t be achieved if you overwhelm yourself with a long list of them and have no real solid plan for achieving them. So I&amp;#039;ve decided to keep things simple and focus on only a few things that are really important to me. Sure, I could go on (endlessly) listing things about myself and my life that I could improve upon, but I instead wish to focus on the good and be super-focused on those areas of my life that really need improving. They are: Spending quality time with my three beautiful, kind and wonderful children. Here&amp;#039;s the upside: I have not one; but two amazing jobs that I love. I have my career at the health center and my job writing for WomansDay.com. But working four, 15-hour days and spending Fridays writing doesn&amp;#039;t leave me a bunch of time to keep my house clean and spend quality time with my kids. I will make it a priority. This I know for sure. I will continue on my path to becoming debt free. This means different things to different people, but to me it is security, independence, pride and well-being. I can&amp;#039;t seem to even muster much of a smile when I&amp;#039;m saddled with debt and I don&amp;#039;t want anymore sleepless nights. Been there, done that. This is my year. Yes indeed. I want a safety cushion of savings and by October, I will have $5,000 (minimum) in the bank dedicated for emergencies only. This too, is critical to my peace of mind. I&amp;#039;ve already had too many visits from my frienenemy, Murphy&amp;#039;s Law, to know that this is a must. I have already reached my goal of starting to contribute once again to my 403B (the non-profit equivalent of a 401k). I am starting with $200 per month and I hope to increase that amount when I receive my yearly increase. I want to be healthy. I need to start going to the gym three times a week and not let ridiculous excuses get in my way. I&amp;#039;m 40 and not getting any younger; it&amp;#039;s time to get serious about my health and well-being. Like I said, I prefer to keep it short, simple and achievable. I don&amp;#039;t want to bite off more than I can chew and I need to feel as though my goals, financial or otherwise are achievable. I know I will do it because I have you to hold me accountable. What are your goals / resolutions for the New Year? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a45704/happy-new-year-1017/>