Our Personal Goals for the New Year

Over the past few weeks, I've repeated over and over again that I want to live intentionally in 2016. To achieve some of my creative goals, like finishing a draft of my book. To pay down debt and live within our means. To be more mindful of and less wasteful with my time. Of course, we can't be too strict or rigid with our lives. After all, we never know what's around the next corner. But that doesn't mean we can't set goals for ourselves.
Here are a few of our personal goals for the new year...
1. Eat at home more often  As I mentioned in our Financial Goals post, we've been trying to save money by eating out less often. The biggest help in this area is meal-planning. I've been meal planning for about a year, and I can't tell you how big of a help it is! It takes all of the guess-work out of cooking and makes grocery shopping a less haphazard process. 
2. Eat cleaner and greener I know I'm an adult, but I have the taste-buds of a little kid. Like seriously, why can't pizza be a vegetable? I will admit that I do not eat enough vegetables; so this year, I've been trying to fix veggie sides more often. So far, I've been eating a lot of salad and sweet potatoes. But this week I plan to experiment with roasted cabbage and cooked carrots. And, you might have noticed there are tomatoes up there in that picture. Do you have any yummy veggie recipes to share? I'm all ears! Yes, that was a sad attempt at a corn joke. 
3. Reduce household waste I've been trying to reduce our food waste by packing more lunches and actually eating our leftovers. Additionally, I've been aiming to do a better job recycling and using reusable grocery bags rather than piling up the plastic bags. 
4. Exercise regularly  Mark and I usually exercise together at least four times a week. I have to say, I love it. It's a great way to unwind after a long day and is a healthy way to just connect as a couple. It's something we share together. Plus, it is a definite mood-booster.
5. Get outdoors more often I sometimes turn into a hermit during winter. It's just so cold that I don't want to venture outdoors, but we all need our vitamin D, even in the winter! Over MLK weekend, Mark and I visited both the Monocacy and Gettysburg battlefields. It was so much fun in spite of the chilly weather. 
6. Be more intentional with time A.k.a., less pointless phone browsing. I can't lie-- I love Instagram and Snapchat. Maybe because I love photography? But I do tend to find myself pointlessly browsing on social media in the evenings. Lately, I've been trying to do things like read, write, or knit instead. Something that engages my mind rather than blurring and crossing my eyes instead. 
7. Finish our final home renovations and touch ups Owning a fixer-upper is not easy. There always seems to be a long list of to-do's. But lately, our list has seriously shortened. This year, I hope we can actually FINISH everything on that list and finally have no renovations looming ahead of us. 
8. Finish a full first draft of my novel THE BIG ONE... dun dun dun. I've got a whole year though, ya'll.... Surely I can do it! Wish me luck! 
What are some of your goals for the new year?