Seven New Years Resolutions You Should Keep

6. Eat out only one time a week.
I’m not conducting any studies and I’m not a statistic wizard, but I do know that I eat out WAY more than I should.  And it adds up – not just financially, but also on my hips, thighs and ankles.  The majority of the people I know have reached a point where we have stopped taking the 10 minutes to pack a lunch before we go to work, we get home and are too tired to put together a meal, we’re at the mall and the food-court begins calling our name… We all need to stop the madness.  If you eat out on your lunch break five days a week and manage to find a place where you can do so for $5 a meal, and also go out to dinner two nights a week because you just couldn’t face the stove after a long day of work and so you spend $10 for each of those meals, you are spending $2,340 a year on dining out.  That’s right, over $2,000 on what is probably burgers, fries and pizza by the slice.  Wouldn’t your wallet (and stomach) be happier if you just went out once a week and ate at a nice, sit down restaurant where they sell real food?  Think about it: you could order yourself a $30 meal (think lobster tail, salmon fillets or a nice cut of steak) once a week and STILL save over $700 a year.  So start packing a lunch daily and begin making dinners a couple nights a week that are large enough to store the left-overs to enjoy again.  Bonus for you: People love people who cook.  Use the money you save to spring for some cooking lessons at a local community college, and maybe upgrade your pots & pans.  It will be money well-spent.

7. Stop talking on the phone while driving, standing in line and milling about in public.
OK, here is a big one.  Cell phones have made communicating with each other amazingly convenient regardless of where we are (see #2 – you really don’t have a good excuse).  The problem is, that now it is TOO convenient, and we are all blissfully unaware of how irritating our conversational skills have become to those around us.  Believe me – you can’t drive in a straight line when you’re arguing with your spouse on speaker phone, the cashier at the grocery store doesn’t want to hear you explaining the symptoms of your current ailment to your doctor as she is working, and no one on the corner of 5th and Main cares to hear you setting your next manicure appointment.  PLEASE let these calls go to voicemail (that’s what it was invented for) and return these calls in the privacy of your PARKED car, your home, private office or off in an empty area where no one can hear you.  Bonus for you: you will become a more alert driver, will be able to achieve resolution #5 more easily and will find that the people around you hate you much, much less.