Goals for the next decade

Another navel-gazing post!

Deal with it. It’s my birthday week. Until Thanksgiving. Then the pilgrims can have November back.

Things that I will do while in my 30s:

• Get (and stay!) completely out of debt — that includes credit cards, car loan, and student loan. Only after those debts are paid in full am I allowed to contemplate buying real estate. I’m going to keep myself honest and track my debt here, on or around the first of each month. As of today, my total consumer debt is a whopping $20,269.35. Next update: beginning of December.
• Start a side business  — I’m starting that now, actually. I’ll be helping people create very simple, very elegant web sites. I’m of the (very strong) opinion that every business (no matter how small) needs a website, but I’m of the equally strong opinion that it shouldn’t be too expensive, and it should be easy, once in place, for the person who owns the website, to update it. I’ll even teach you how to update it in the future. Any takers? Other ideas include Kathleen’s caramel, snuggle pants, advertising here, opening a distillery, an Etsy shop, etc.
• Write a Novel — this will happen in the next decade. And it will be somewhere on the spectrum, between “mindless drivel no one will read” to “Pulitzer material” but it will absolutely happen.
• Make the product I work on profitable. We’re close, but not quite there yet, and in the next decade, I would like us to get to the point where we fire all of our other clients and work solely on the product I love.
• Travel. I love traveling to new and familiar places. I intend to do even more of this, once my #1 goal is met and I have more room in the ol’ budget.

That’s it. I want to be a better friend/daughter/sister/granddaughter/niece/coworker/girlfriend too — not just while I’m in my 30s, but forever.

I was going to put “marriage/babies/mortgage” on this list, but then I thought long and hard about it, and decided against it. I would love to be a wife and a mom and a homeowner but those aren’t in my ten-year plan. Which means that instead of plotting for those, I’ll focus my energy on getting out of debt, starting a side business, writing a novel and traveling, and let the other pieces fall where they may.

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