November Knockouts

My Goals for November 2020

by Andrea Watson | November 1, 2020

Hello again dear readers! Another month has started and now that I’ve eaten enough candy to kill a horse in the lat 24 hours, it’s time to settle down and think about what November should look like for me. I’ve got some goals in mind for this month, and although they are short-term, hopefully they will lead to bigger things down the road. Of course, I want them to be s.m.a.r.t. goals. This means that I want them to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. So with that in mind, let’s jump right in!

One: Noom it up

A few weeks back, I began using this app called Noom. It’s for weight loss and healthy eating. It went well in the beginning. All I had to do was track all my food, a few short daily lessons, and start setting a couple of small goals and bam-I lost ten pounds in about two weeks. It’s a really cool psychology-based program, But after a while, I realized that I drink way too much Mountain Dew and I am totally addicted to it. This brings in SO many calories every day that I’ll never really be successful with Noom or any other diet plan until I can stop drinking gallons of the Devil’s soda every day. I pretty much gave up. Stopping was too hard for me. But I didn’t really give it a fair go.

For my first goal I am going to say that by December 1st, I will be completing every daily lesson on the noom app and tracking every meal. I am not going to put a number of pounds that I have to lose by then, that would be too much pressure and I would fail. I am just going to be doing what the app says I should do. A month is a good trial period and the goal seems reasonable. Hopefully this will lead to losing weight and eventually feeling more energized and confident, which is what I ultimately want.

Two: Get Paid

A couple of months ago I began doing freelance writing. I am now a content writer with one client plus a couple extra side jobs. It’s a good start, but I am not making as much money as I really need. My second goal is to make $600 extra dollars by December 1st. I think this is reasonable, since I made close to $500 in October. I plan on starting to write resumes for people as well as doing the content writing and I may need to post an ad or two. Hopefully I will be able to attain this goal. December is coming up and that means I’ve got to buy presents for Winter Solstice and Lucien’s birthday. It’s always a big stressor every year. Hopefully this year will be better thanks to my new income.

Three: Prepare for December

So this goal depends a lot on the second goal, since I need money to prepare. But every year I find myself scrambling for gifts at the last minute, I don’t want to do that this year. My goal is to take the money I make with my writing and buy the gifts I need for Lucien before December 1st. This will take some stretching and rearranging of money, since our cost of living just went up by about $100 per month and we are already on a tight budget. And although we don’t celebrate Christmas, there is still Winter Solstice, and that requires gifts just as Christmas does. This year, I will be ready before December comes.

Four: Make a Budget

This one is important. As I just mentioned, I now have to pay more to live every month than I did just a month ago. I also have bills that are backing up. I don’t like living like this. I hate having a bunch of debt. So my fourth goal is to work with my housing case manager to make a budget that works for me. It needs to be good enough that I can pay off at least one bill in December. They aren’t very big, not even $200 each, but I need to pay them off. I also owe a few of my family members money and I really hate having that over my head.

Five: Plan Meals

Ahh, yes, one of the things I hate doing the most-planning meals. Although I don’t like to do it, planning is the only way I can make my food budget last for an entire month. I have to write down every little ingredient, including spices so that I can shop accordingly. Also, I have to make the meals cheap and filling at the same time, without having the same thing over and over. No, I will not feed my son and myself beans and rice for days on end. I would rather take money out of another part of the budget. Variety is important. Luckily, there are a bunch of recipes on the Noom app and online too. I have the resources, not I just have to get back in the groove. By December 1st I will be planning all of our meals a week in advance, and taking only one day per week to shop for food.

And that’s all, folks! I think five is enough. Plus, they will be sufficiently difficult to accomplish, so I know I have a challenge ahead of me. A lot depends on finances, and that means I will have to work extra hard to find another client or two to make enough money. Either that, or pull a super-magic budget out of my sleeve. But my goals are s.m.a.r.t., so I know they can be reached. It will just take a lot of effort; and that I am willing to give. I would like to invite you to think of some of your November goals and maybe share one or two down in the comments. Until next time dear readers!