Resolutions are for sissies!

I’m not the type to make New Years Resolutions. People always ask, I pause and think, and I give them a smart-ass answer and grin. But, the start of 2007 happens to coincide with my existential crisis, so instead of resolutions (which are for sissies!), I’ll go the extra mile with…

7 Things I Will Do in 2007

1. Get a job. It’s inevitable, but simply writing it down helps. I’ve heard back from two companies, but both of them are offering jobs that are out of my acceptable commuting region. However, this makes me hopeful that someone within my driving distance will soon call.
2. Sell something on eBay. I have a lot of crap, but I rarely get around to selling it or even giving it away. But doing something once can start an addiction. One eBay sale could lead to me discharging all of my extraneous stuff.
3. Get rid of all this stuff. Related to #2, yeah, I have a lot of extra stuff. And with a planned move across the country (at some point in the next five or so years), I need to bring my total assets down to a carload’s worth or less.
4. Make a budget… again. I had one, and then I quit school and dug myself into the hermit hole that is my bedroom in my mother’s house, and I let my budget get away from me. I’ve been avoiding redoing it, since I have no income. After I accomplish #1, this will be the first thing I do.
5. Start a retirement fund… for serious. Yes, I’m obsessed with personal finance. My ability to calculate compound interest has left me frightened for my life over what will happen if I don’t start saving right-friggin-now. But the end of the year, I will have opened some sort of account and be contributing to it.
6. Go back to school. Yeah, I took a “leave of absence.” But I’ll be back, before the end of 2007.
7. Pay off my credit card. The only good thing I can say about my ability to wrangle myself into credit card debt is that Chase only gave me a credit line of $2,000. Still, the amount I’ve wracked up will take about $150 a month to pay off by the end of the year. I guess I’m not going to the movies anymore!

And for even more list-y fun, here’s…

7 Things I Might Do in 2007

1. Pay off my car. Contingent on how early I accomplish #7 of the previous list. If my credit card debt magically disappears earlier than expected, I’ll start putting all of those payments into what I pay on my car.
2. Get a better job. Let’s face it – whatever job I get this month, will probably not be the dream job. If it isn’t, I’ll probably start looking for the upgrade about the time I go back to school.
3. Organize a killer garage sale. My mom has a ton of books on garage sales, and she’s moving this year. Plus, anything of mine that I sell is stuff I don’t have to try to sell on eBay.
4. Start up that business I thought of. This is rather contingent on the conditions that surround #6 of the previous list, as it has a lot to do being on campus.
5. Start some other business I haven’t thought of yet. This is all probably a byproduct of being an entrepreneur since age 6. I should really just start my own business… again.
6. Try out Prosper. I’d be trying as a lender, throwing in a $50 here and there to see how it goes. If someone defaults, well… that’s the risk of investing.
7. Start a protest outside a Wal-Mart. I’m already boycotting them, but I’m often angered by the fact that nearly no one understands how evil the company really is. I probably should have given out copies of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price for Christmas.