Is your desk overflowing with pens and markers you never use? Do you have a collection of “impulse planners” that gather dust? This year, let’s declutter our lives and wallets together!
We will combine planning and creativity to turn our to-do list into a DONE list. Today, we look at some 2024 goals, including a low buy year.
Imagine a year where you focus on experiences, growth, and saving money.
For 2024, a real low buy is one of my biggest goals. It’s not about the money but how much stuff I already have. I don’t need anything. I just want it. And my ADHD impulse spending kicks in.
Ohhhh shiney!
It’s a real challenge that I work on every day. And I’ve seen people say stuff like “just do it” and “you have to have a system” or “you have to work on it every day.” I hate when people say that stuff because I do work on it. I do have systems, but I can’t always control the ADHD impulses.
That is my long, rambly way of saying that I will attempt another Low Buy year. I started really strong in 2023, but it lasted only a few months. And attempts to hop back on the wagon always fell short.
I started by reviewing last year’s video, linked here-ish, and I think I had too many guidelines. It became hard to follow. I also tried to track it separately from the rest of my budget stuff. This year it will all be tracked in a budget planner.
I’m going to streamline everything for 2024. KISS.
Keep it simple, stupid, so that’s what I’m doing.
My guidelines are gonna be pretty basic. I will set a monthly budget and TRY to stick to it. I will review and adjust at the end of each month if needed. I will shop my stash before I buy anything. If I have something similar, skip the purchase. I also want to write down items I want and why and really think for a couple of days before purchasing.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rules.
I have some subscriptions that I plan to keep, including Ali Edwards, Sweet Bean Plans, and Archer and Olive. I also will grab all the KrissyAnne Designs Celebrations add-ons.
One of my big goals is NO BOOKS. I have a stack of books and about a billion Kindle books. I don’t need any books. It will go on my Amazon wishlist if I can’t get it from the library. I won’t buy any of those until I get through my book stack.
Speaking of Amazon, I need to limit my Amazon impulse purchases. It’s too easy. I do get a few things from Amazon, so I’m not going to give up Amazon completely, but I will limit those impulse buys.
Besides the low buy, I do have some other goals for 2024.
Although I’m not using a MakseLife planner this year, I still loosely follow the system. I like some of their categories, but I like to combine Fun and Relationships into Personal as they have a lot of overlap for me. Learning and growth go together. And that leaves Work, Health, Finance, and Home. So I ended up with six areas. I thought about what I wanted in each area and came up with the following.
Personal:
- Read 52 books
- Project Life
- Weekly Art Project
- Play video games
- Watch TV shows, documentaries, and movies
- At least once a month events/activities
- Weekly + Monthly Resets
Growth:
- Watch videos weekly for self-improvement/continued learning
- Nightly journaling
- Monthly Charity donation
Work:
- Consistency in posting content
- New Images for Fine Art America
- Write book
Health:
- Again, consistency with running and lifting
- Eat to fuel
- Meal Prep
Finance:
- Pay off the final credit card
- Stick to budget
- Continue building an emergency fund
- Max out Roths
Home:
- Home Improvements – exterior paint, AC replacement
- Follow Clean Mama Planner
- Plan gym space and office makeover
This feels like… a lot. It will be about finding the balance and using my time wisely. I sometimes spend more time than necessary mindlessly scrolling*. Instead of doing that, I could read or work on project life. We usually watch TV in the evenings, and instead of scrolling, I can work on art projects or writing.
*I figured out why I mindlessly scroll in the evenings. I have a needy pibble that insists on sitting in my lap. It is easy to scroll. I need to make other things easy to do with a lap full of pibble.
What are your 2024 goals? I’d love to hear what you want to accomplish and support you.
Watch the video version here: