The Back-to-School season as the official beginning of our year. Weâre not big on resolutions in January, but back-to-school time inspires us to shake off the summer slump and get ourselves in gear.
Last year at this time, my husband and I were feeling overwhelmed. We were overscheduled, tired, and worried about money. From our conversations surrounding these problems, a theme emerged: we were getting lax. Undisciplined. We knew what we needed to do, but we werenât bringing our A game.
This brought on the inception of âYear of the Gazelle: 2023-24.â I made a poster with a majestic gazelle and seven goals on it, printed in bold type. I stuck it on our fridge, and with that, we had established the focus for the upcoming year.
1.) Aggressively knock out car payments. We successfully paid extra on our monthly car payments and paid them both off early. We had to scrimp a little bit, but it ultimately frees up our monthly cash flow by quite a bit. Paying off a debt gives me a rush I couldnât have anticipated earlier in my adult life. Paying off a debt makes me feel powerful and invincible. I give us a rating of 10/10 stars.
2.) Funnel $$ into savings. I directly deposited my main job and my side gig earnings into a separate savings account. Even if we had to dip into savings for something, it was nice watching the number in that account slowly grow over time. I sleep better knowing thereâs an extra cushion in the bank for rainy days. 8/10 stars.
3.) Menu planning and 4.) âUse it up.â These two go hand in hand, serving as a reminder to shop for groceries with a plan in mind, and actually eat leftovers instead of leaving them to die a moldy green death somewhere in the back of the refrigerator. When we stuck to menu plans, there was considerably less waste. Still, we couldnât quite break ourselves of the bad habit of âshopping while hungry.â There is definitely room for improvement in this department. 2/10 stars.
5.) Weekly time in the writing shed. I love the little shed my husband built me in the backyard. It is quiet and cozy and a great place to think and get work done. While the intention was there, neither of us achieved making it a regular part of our routine, although we did use it more often overall. 6/10 stars.
6.) Schedule fun. Our weekends have been much better since weâve instituted the âschedule funâ rule. The key is paying attention to open days on our calendar and protecting them, earmarking that time for something enjoyable: i.e. not âcatching up on errandsâ and definitely not laundry or other mundane household chores. For instance, instead of lazing away a random Saturday morning, we got up, took a walk to check out the Farmers Market, then walked a little further for breakfast at a favorite local hangout. We explored more hiking trails and forest preserves in our area. Even if we were just watching a show on a weeknight, we scheduled it ahead of time and parsed out the episodes. I like spontaneity sometimes, but having something to look forward to is much better than slogging through a tough week with no dangling carrot up ahead. 9/10 stars.
7.) Respect rest. This was my favorite of all of them, I think. The Year of the Gazelle will go down in history as the time when I finally, finally realized how much better everything is after a solid nightâs sleep. I work better. I make fewer mistakes. Iâm more patient, a better listener, less distractible, and the list goes on and on. I could get used to this. 10/10 stars.
