Final Update on My Challenges for 2014

Hey everyone, I'm back and I'm ready to get my blog on. You may (or not) have noticed that I haven't blogged much this year. I was ill just before Christmas and it really knocked me for six and to be honest it's taken me a while to get my blogging mojo back. I've been feeling pretty lazy for the first 2 weeks of the year, but now I'm ready for some action so hopefully I'll get back into posting at least twice a week from now on.
  

Back in December 2013 I set myself some challenges for 2014.  I posted an update in July here and October here.  Here's an update on my challenges.

1. Watch 50 DVDs from my collection and then give them away. FAILED. This was a big fat FAIL I'm afraid as I ended up getting Netflix last year and watched more on that then DVDs.  I'm going to try and get round to watching my DVDs this year as I want to declutter and I think I will have a few DVDs that I can get rid of.
2. Sort out 100 items to get rid of (either sell, throw away or giveaway). This can be any type of item and is all part of the decluttering process. Completed.
3. Read 20 books from my collection. I moved my original target from 10 to 20 (big mistake I got a bit cocky) and only managed 17 in the end. I'm happy with this amount as it's helped with my decluttering. 
4. Read 25 magazines (mainly bought for the free gifts). Completed
5. Finish 100 beauty or toiletry products.  Completed
6. Lose 1 stone in weight (I really need to lose more, but this seemed an achievable target).  After my final weigh-in just prior to the Christmas period I had managed to lose 9lbs over the year.  I'm disappointed with this but to be honest apart from joining the gym I haven't really done anything else so I'm carrying this forward into 2015.  This is a must try harder challenge.
7. Pay off my credit card debt. I've paid off nearly 80% of the total balance. I'm pretty pleased with this, but I definitely need to watch what I spend this year.  Luckily my credit card is interest free so I'm not paying any interest as long as I pay it off before the interest free promotion runs out.  
8. 30 day no spend.  Completed.  I managed to do 60 days no spend.
9. Earn £50 from completing online surveys.  Completed
10. When the 30 day no spend is up I will adopt a 1 in 1 out policy. If I buy something that I don't need, then I will have to get rid of 1 similar item. I have failed this one as I haven't kept track of things, so this is one I did not complete. FAILED
11. 50km on my exercise bike.  Completed.
12. Paint my nails a different colour at least once a week and use up 10 nail polishes. I realised early on that my nails were not in great condition so I decided to concentrate on improving the condition of them rather than completing this challenge. FAILED
13. Sell 100 items on EBay (this is linked to challenge 2, but I am keeping it separate to keep track of how much I manage to sell).  Completed.  
14. 30 days no chocolate. Completed 
15. 30 days no fizzy drinks. Completed
16. Use up 100 samples of beauty products.  Completed.  
17. No Junk Food for 30 Days.  Completed.  
18. No Eating Out for 30 Days.  Completed. 

I think I did ok with my challenges last year.  I definitely could have done better, but I'm happy with the amount I completed.    In the end I completed 12 and failed 6. Not bad but I definitely could have done better.  I feel like a report card would say needs to try harder. In hindsight some of the challenges were hard to keep track of and some of them I pretty much failed before I started.  It has given me a better understanding of the type of challenges I need to set myself this year.

Watch out for my 2015 challenges soon. 

Have you set yourselves any challenges this year?  Leave me a comment or a link your post.  

Leighlee