Hi! Nice to talk to you! As I said in my “goodbye-ish” post that I would come back when I felt called to; and now that I have so much of my life documented on here that it feels weird to not wrap up 2023 on here as well.

I’ll be referencing my 2023 Goals/Plans/Aspirations post. The cover image is my 2023 vision board. On Tuesday, I’ll post my 2024 Goals/Plans/Aspirations and it will include the virtual version of my vision board (I’m also making a physical one this year, just for fun).

Last year was such a good year, I had so much fun. However, I don’t think I accomplished that many of my goals, I think I had more fun than anything else. I do think I needed that after the pandemic and how hard I (and all the other healthcare system workers) worked during the pandemic. But let’s get into the goals:

Financial goals:

Goal one was to pay off my credit cards and to stop carrying a balance. This is so far from the case. I spent so much money last year. I did a full YouTube video called “2023 Spending Wrapped”. But I did basically the opposite of paying off my credit card debt. This time last year I did not know that I was going to rejoin Pi Beta Phi’s Alumnae Advisory Committee for the chapter I was in when I was a Collegian and that would result in me going to Pi Beta Phi Convention in Phoenix, Arizona in July, which would then result in me having to make my way from Phoenix to small-town Northern Ireland for my cousin’s wedding. Which resulted in a 5 day layover in New York and a 12-hour layover in London, England. I did not know that I would get the chance to buy Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour tickets for $280 and go to Minneapolis in June.

I also wayyyy underestimated how much each of the weddings would cost. I budgeted $600 for each friend wedding, of which I had two, and spent significantly more than that. It’s hard to calculate out how much my October wedding cost on it’s own as I bundled it together with my sister’s wedding and a visit to the Pi Beta Phi chapter I serve. But I do know for my August wedding, the flight alone was over $500 and so was the hotel in downtown Toronto, plus gas down to Thunder Bay and back to get to the airport. And for the October wedding, just the hotel was nearly $400. I very much underestimated hotel prices; they have gone up so much. Same with flights.

Goal two was to save up a $1000 emergency fund. This I have done multiple times over, I know that the point of an emergency fund is to use it when you need to, but Jesus Christ how many emergencies can a person have in one year like wtf. I spent so much money on my car this year that I think I want to have $1000 just for it in a separate account. Or no car, I would love to have no car. I hate owning a car. I think after I move money around to cover Friday’s car panic I will have about $200 in my emergency fund.

Goal three was a $5000 moving fund; this I made not bad progress on in the last half of the year, but then I used that money when my old laptop died at the end of December because I had used my emergency fund to pay for car repairs at the start of December and hadn’t been able to replenish it yet. So I’m back to square one here.

Goal four was to save up a $7000 emergency fund; this did not even get considered.

Next I broke down how much I wanted to spend on each wedding; as discussed my friend wedding budgets did not work, however I don’t think I did that badly on my sister’s wedding and my cousin’s wedding. My total for my trip to Ireland was $2502.96. Y’ALL!! I knew I was close but I hadn’t actually looked back on that goal and I cannot believe that I was within $3!!! I am so happy about that. I don’t have to pay for accommodations in Ireland unless I am in the south because I have so much family in the North and I was there with my parents so they drove if we needed to drive anywhere.

Similar to my October friend wedding, it was lumped in with my sister’s wedding and my week in Guelph. However, my flight was about $700 (it was expensive because I had planned to drive, and then my car broke down last minute and I had to buy last minute plane tickets), and I got my dress for $69! I think I spent like $130 on shoes, and then I want to say like $150 on the gift. I remember wishing I could have done more, but it just wasn’t in the cards at the time. And I had set my budget at $1000. I wish more of it had gone to gift and less to travel, but c’est la vie (or soo la voo, iykyk).

Travel Goals:

My travel goals were pretty set in stone for last year. Going through that post reminded me that despite having tickets and hotel room for Maggie Rogers in March in Minneapolis I didn’t get to go. I think I gave my ticket to a friend of a friend like a week out because I fell and broke my tailbone in February on the ice (I just love winter so much😑) and could not have handled the 8-hour drive one way. I guess I made up for it in June with Taylor Swift in Minneapolis, but I’ve now had tickets to Maggie twice and not actually made the show. As discussed above, I also went to Phoenix for Convention and then planned some long layovers in New York City and London.

Food and Exercise Goals:

This was the loosest section; I try not to set appearance or weight-based goals here because that will send me into a binge-purge spiral that no one needs. However, I think I continue to improve my relationship with food and have gotten better at the “gentle nutrition” side of intuitive eating but I would definitely say the fitness side has been worse. Between breaking my tailbone and finally acknowledging that my hip is not okay I had to slow that wayyyy down and focus on physio exercises basically exclusively.

Career Goals:

This is so interesting to me because I was so new in my current job when I wrote that and was only focused on the fact that I don’t like where I live and wanted to change my career so I could move. I was so naive. I’ve done really well at my job this past year. I received an award from my employer for going above and beyond. It’s interesting how you can recognize how important and valuable the work you are doing is and also hate it at the same time.

I said in that post that I was going to see if I liked emergency management or wanted to pivot back to health promotion, which is hilarious. While I’m not sure I want to pivot to health promotion, I totally would, or to something else, but I know I don’t like emergency management for sure.

Personal Development Goals:

I did not take a French class.

I crushed DuoLingo Spanish. I’m at like at 570 day streak.

I wanted to work on my procrastination habit. I don’t know about that.

Fun/Weird Goals:

I did maintain all my spreadsheets, I’m in love with budgeting spreadsheets. I really enjoyed my cost-per-wear tracker, but I think I have moved on from her. I think I learned what I needed to learn from her.

I kind of learned how to finish needlepoint ornaments and stand-ups. I’m working on it.

I did stitch my stash, I don’t think I bought a single canvas last year.

I think I did medium on remembering a reusable mug. I definitely did better in 2023 than 2022.

And that was 2023! I’m really excited for 2024, I just have a good vibe.

See you tomorrow for my 2024 goals/plans/aspirations post!

Laura