Aim for a Quick Win February

When you're paying down your debt, and trying to save toward your long and short term goals, sometimes you just get bored. Fatigue sets in, and you feel like everything you're doing is for nothing. You may feel like you're not getting anywhere, or actually accomplishing anything. You may have even looked back at the grandiose goals you made in December for the year of 2011, and thought, I'm never going to accomplish this. Your motivation may have fallen by the wayside. You need help.

To help me reduce my spending, I have decided that I will work on some projects that need to be finished. Not because I'm on a deadline, (like finishing the baby blanket before the baby was born), but because they are unfinished. On my list of things to finish:

• DD2's blanket; started 12 years ago, never finished....it was a bit overzealous for my skill set at the time, now I think I can manage it
• DS's blanket add-on: I knit a baby blanket for him when he was an infant; I'd like to add to it as he gets bigger, so the blankie grows with him
• MIL's hat: she only asked me to make her one last week, and I definitely want to give it to her before winter is over

Other knitting and craft projects in my mind that need starting:

• dishcloths: I make dozens of these per year as gifts for Xmas
• Mittens I started for the Keeping Kids Warm charity
• Plastic Canvas crafts: I was given loads of plastic canvas and wool from the charity to make them things that they could sell at their bazaar dates
• Hugs from Doug: microwavable heating/cooling pads made from recycling my son's receiving blankets...Must...work...on....this...
• Cloth reusable bags for Xmas gifts....I would like to make several for this year's holidays
• Baby blanket: a friend at playgroup asked if I would knit up a blanket for a gift for her. When she brings me the yarn, I will make it for her.

I think I could certainly keep my hands busy for the month with just crafting/yarn projects that are in my mind's list. If you add the growing pile of books to be read, the mountain of laundry that needs to be done, household chores, a month's worth of meals to be made, along with my work duties, I should never be bored this month. I am going to *try* to stay off the bits of the Internet that cause time suck for me, specifically Faceb-ook, Neo and trying to read 26 blogs everyday while trying to come up with five weekly posts of my own.

Financial quick wins to aim for:

• Knowing that one debt will be paid off this month (yay) because of automatic deductions.
• Focusing all of my efforts toward one debt or savings payment at a time, working my way down the list I have.
• Convincing Hubby to divert monies (that were previously used for a debt that was paid off last month) to increasing payments on other debts or into savings not to be touched.
• Pay off one more debt in full (the lowest being $400 right now).

In the grand scheme of things, these may seem like minor adjustments. But if our Journey to Debt Free Forever has taught us anything over the last two years, it is that sometimes the small changes are as beneficial (if not more so) than the big changes are. Accomplishing some of these tasks will give me the 'Quick Win' feeling, and help me to stay motivated along the path we've set for the year.