As we careen headlong into 2023 I’m reminded of how optimistic I was going into 2022. I was riding high on the 2021 wave and looking ahead at some great possibilities for the year. Today’s post will not be as optimistic. These are my goals for 2023.

Major Goals

1. Stay Gainfully Employed – I work in tech, real tech, for an enterprise SaaS software company you’ve probably heard of. Thankfully you wouldn’t have heard us listed in the wave of layoffs hitting my sector. Our CEO has pledged not to do mass layoffs, but that doesn’t mean we wont see reductions in headcount anyway. Although I feel very secure in my job and with my team, this thought is still lurking in the back of my mind. I don’t have full control over this goal, but I can stay alert and aware of internal opportunities should my footing get shaky.
2. Seriously Focus on My Health – I’m already well into this one. I’ve cut out all weeknight alcohol and changed to a very low carb diet. I’ve also invested in some new equipment for my home gym that I use almost daily. I finally signed up with a new primary care doctor after a six year hiatus, and I’ll be getting a full physical in February. Although I am already doing these things, the fact remains that I’m 20 pounds heavier than I want to be, and I’ll feel a lot better when I shed some fat.
3. Beef Up My Emergency Fund – With the fear of the rug being pulled out from under me, I started holding more cash back in November. However the market was tanking and I was reluctant to sell company stock that had been 40% higher at the beginning of the year. Starting next month I’d like to increase to close to a year’s worth of cash in my emergency fund. I recently moved my existing emergency fund into an account earning 3% APY interest, so holding all this cash will at least be earning me money.
4. Complete a Small Renovation – Well small-ish. We are going to have the wallpaper removed from our two-story entry, have the whole thing painted and put wainscoting throughout. The kids have destroyed the wallpaper and it’s just time to live a wallpaper free life. This is a big project that will require a lot of ladders and equipment I don’t own and wouldn’t want to rent or buy. I am fine paying someone to do this job. This may lead directly into putting built-ins in my den and living room, but I feel like we should have done it years ago and I wouldn’t be upset to do it now.
5. Stay the Course but Have a Little Fun – I recently realized almost 60% of my paycheck is automatically invested. I’m well on my way to retiring in my late 50’s and if I continue at this rate I’ll probably find myself able to retire at or about 50. I also re-invest most of the stock I cash out, or I pile up money in emergency funds. I think I can find a way to be ok with a little more spending on things like family vacations and starting to exercise my spending muscles a little more. I don’t want to wind up as one of those people who forgets how to live because I’m so focused on saving.

Minor Goals

1. Get Serious About Gardening – Last year we experimented with a new garden location in our backyard and it worked out great. We only grew tomatoes, herbs and green beans, but we got a lot out of it and we now know where in the yard our food will grow best. Plus there’s irrigation right there, so I don’t have to water all the time. This spring we’re going to expand the bed for our garden, and plant many of the vegetables we plan to eat all summer.
2. Get the Garage Under Control – For nearly six years I’ve watched as things pile up in my garage. Bikes, scooters, sleds, bins of balls, and other assorted yard toys have taken more and more floor space to the point that some days I can’t even walk through the two car garage. I also have a lot of tools that I use often, and somewhere under all of the junk is a workbench I use quite a bit. My first step to getting control of this junk was to take advantage of Home Depot’s winter organization sale and buy a whole wall of Husky cabinets and pegboards. Once those are in place I can turn my efforts to clearing the garage floor and utilizing our wall space properly.
3. Buy Out or Replace My Car – I’ve tried every permutation of cars I can think of. Two owned outright, one owned/one financed, one owned/one leased, two owned/one leased, two leased, two leased/one owned. In the end nothing makes me happy about having cars. That’s not to say I’m not a car guy, I love cars, but I HATE cars. I hate paying for them, I hate maintaining them, and where I live I also hate driving them. For the past eight years, every time I’ve gotten a new family hauler, I’ve had another kid and the car has become inadequate in some way. This ballooned to the point that I leased an Expedition in 2020, and now that lease is coming due. I have 21k miles on the car and even though it’s so huge we call it “Goliath,” it’s a great car for our family. While my wife is clamoring for some new features, if the buy out is right I may just wind up keeping the car and paying it off in a year. I’d love to eliminate a car payment.
4. Attempt to Write a Book – I have a problem where I sketch out great book ideas and then never delve into them. In one case, I outlined an entire 10 chapter personal finance book that I’d love to write and then just dropped it. This is the task I’d love to take on this year. I don’t even care if it turns out terribly, I feel like I have to give it a shot, and maybe after I do it the other book ideas will flow.