Lifestyle

My 2021 Year in Review with New Year Goals

a woman in red pants in Florence - my 2021 year review goals

Another year flew by, and I am glad it is almost behind us. 2021 has been another challenging year for most of us and the whole world. In 2021, the pandemic kept dominating our lives. We have all had to adapt to a “new normal” lifestyle. For me, the result has been a year spent mostly working from home.

I have had weeks without any face-to-face social interaction besides with my husband. Once we got vaccinated in April, we started having some small outdoor gatherings with friends. Even though my social life is still more digital than it used to be before the pandemic, I really do my best to find joy in my everyday life.

As the new year approaches, I like to look back at all things that happened in the last year. I get to see what I did, and what I did not do. I like to take count of the goals I accomplished. And If I failed to follow through on all my goals, I know I have another chance to make them happen in the new year.

I believe that sharing my goals on the blog is a great way to hold myself accountable. It helps me stay the course when life unavoidably gets in the way.

So, I am happy to present my 2021 year in review.

Personal life

2021 was a decent year. It had its ups and downs, just like for any person, but overall, it was surely an improvement over what 2020 offered.

My younger sister Irina passed away in May 2020. Although I knew it was coming, it was still a shock. The worst of it was that I could not even fly to Lithuania for her funeral due to the pandemic and all international borders being closed.

Thus, I had to make all funeral arrangements online and say goodbye to my baby sister over FaceTime. A year and a half later, it still doesn’t feel real to me because I hoped that she would beat her cancer. But I try to find comfort knowing that she is in a better place now and no longer in pain.

My daughter Ksenia got married in Tuscany in August 2021, and her wedding in Italy was the highlight of 2021 and likely many years to come. Getting there was certainly not easy. Wedding planning is already a stressful endeavor, as I am sure many of you who have planned a wedding know very well, but then combining that with planning it in a foreign country in the middle of a global pandemic added an extra sprinkling of stress. Let’s just say I am extra grateful we got there.

Even though my daughter hired an Italian wedding planner to help with the logistics of the planning, the uncertainty of all our guests being able to travel to Italy to a non-refundable wedding kept us biting our nails. Luckily, things started to improve in the spring and the Italian government opened the borders to foreign tourists, and everyone was able to travel to Italy.

Roman and I were so happy to see our little girl getting married in a beautiful ceremony in the Tuscan countryside. The whole event was a wonderful release for us and all our guests after a difficult year. After the wedding, Roman and I spent some time traveling. We visited Florence, Venice, and Bellagio on Lake Como. I am happy to say that those three weeks of wedding and travels were the best three weeks we ever spent in Italy.

my daughter wedding in Italy - personal goals review

Personal life goals for 2022

Learn how to live in the present and stop worrying about the future.
Being thankful for today, for my life, for my friends and family.
Keep up with my everyday physical exercise.
Plan a vacation in August and early October.

Financial life

1. Emergency fund and other savings

We were able to increase our savings in 2021. It was easy to cut unnecessary expenses and find more ways to save money with both of us working from home.

Working from home helped us save a lot of money on gas, parking, lunches, business clothes, dining out, etc. I am happy to know that we managed to meet our goal and increased our emergency fund up to $35,000. From now on, we want to use this money only for emergencies.

In 2019, we opened a separate savings account and called it “travel”. Roman and I like to travel and often pay for our travels with emergency fund money. I wanted to stop that practice and find other ways to pay for our travels. Since 2019 we were careful with our spending and big purchase items, which is why we were able to save $10,000 in our “travel” fund.

2. Retirement accounts

I have a habit of checking on our retirement savings three or four times a year. Our main goal is to stash as much money as we can before we retire. Between the two of us, we have several retirement accounts – 401(k), Roth 401(k), IRA, and Roth IRA.

We roughly contribute around 25 percent of our income to 401(k) and Roth 401(k) including my employer contribution. I know it is not enough but that is all we can afford. I try to increase my contributions at least by 1 percent each year, unfortunately it does not happen every year.

The first half of 2021 turned out to be great for us. The stock market was going up and we had a significant increase in our retirement portfolio. But November brought a lot of negative news, and the stock market has been volatile since then.

The market dropped because of the spread of the new Omicron variant and the Fed’s fast tapering plan. I checked our retirement and investment accounts and noticed a small decrease in value. Even though December might be a volatile month for the stock market depending on what happens with Omicron, I hope we will close out 2021 on a good note.

3. Home mortgage

I want us to be debt-free as we are getting closer to retirement. Thus, our number one goal is to reduce our home mortgage. We bought our house in 2002 and did various big and small renovation projects that increased the value of our house. Right now, we are trying to stay away from any additional upgrades or renovations and just focus on paying off the mortgage. In 2021, we brought our mortgage balance down from $230,000 to $223,000.

Financial goals for 2022

laptop, pencils, notepad - my year-end review

Since we spent all our travel money in Italy, I want to build back our travel fund to a minimum of $10,000.
We had to install a new boiler in our house because the old one failed and cannot be repaired anymore. We paid for a new installation partly from our emergency savings and partly applied for Mass Save Heat Loan with a zero percent interest rate. Our emergency savings account dropped to $20,000. The 2022 goal is to rebuild it back to a minimum of $30,000.
Another big goal for the next year is to reduce our home mortgage by $20,000.
Keep up with current contributions to retirement accounts and see if I can bump up my contributions to 13 percent.

Blogging

2021 was a year when I challenged myself and pushed harder to improve my blogging skills.

I did not know about all the additional work required when I launched the Save, Invest & Retire Blog in 2019. The blogosphere changed so dramatically over the years. According to the stats, there are 500 million blogs in the world today. That is a lot of competition to deal with for a new blogger.

In 2020, I became more knowledgeable about the blogging world and set up new goals for blog content, email marketing, traffic building, and a social media strategy to grow Save, Invest & Retire. Not everything worked out the way I wanted it but setting up the goals and working towards them helped me to stay motivated.

Blogging goals for 2022

Be more strategic with how I help people prepare for retirement and hit their financial goals. I want to make learning about retirement planning as easy as possible, so anyone can do it.
Work on my Pinterest strategy to create more visually attractive pins and increase the number of followers.

Final thoughts on my 2021 year goals review

I hope you enjoyed this post. I mostly wrote it to myself even though reviewing my 2021 goals was a painful exercise. I did achieve a good portion of my goals but not all of them. I think it is important to remind myself that missing a few goals is perfectly human and there is always the opportunity to try harder in the following year. I will continue to try my best and improve on my successes from 2021 to 2022.

Looking ahead to the new year

The world is still in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic, but there are many signs of an economic recovery. I am not sure what to expect of the upcoming year though I remain hopeful that things will start turning up eventually. Our financial goals for the new year should be simple – keep working and saving money for retirement. And for the rest of the world, my hopes are much like everyone else’s – that we get out of this global pandemic soon and get back to our normal life.

How was your 2021? And what are your goals for 2022?

How to Host a Perfect Holiday Party – 8 Things to Do

by Maggie 2 Comments

holiday party table-hot to host a perfect holiday party

Holiday season is around the corner. We look forward to the holiday season as a chance to host parties and gatherings with family and friends. The food and décor, the drinks and music – it all makes hosting a holiday party the highlight of the end of every year.

If you are traditionally a guest, you have an easy role to play by bringing flowers, dessert, or a bottle of wine. But if you are the host, the holiday celebration can become hectic and stressful.

Even though planning a whole evening of fun can be overwhelming, my list of 8 things to do before your guests arrive should help you host a perfect holiday party.

1. Create a master to-do list.

I like to start all my holiday parties’ preparations by creating a master to-do list. After years of hosting parties, I have learned that staying organized and planning ahead of time works best for me. Creating a to-do list means being prepared rather than being overwhelmed.

Here is how I start my to-do list:

What is the best day and time to have a party?
Who is on my guest list and how to invite them?
What kind of food to serve? Do I want to ask guests to bring a dish or dessert?
How to decorate the house? What kind of centerpiece for the table?
What is my budget?

2. Figure out how much you can spend on a holiday party.

With the big holidays approaching it is hard to control our spending because we want to make everything perfectly beautiful and festive. November and December are the last two months of the year which are big on festivities. From my past years, I know how easy I would blow through the budget and then feel stressed about how to pay for it in January when the bills come in.

With the food prices on the rise, throwing a holiday party can be expensive. That is why your budget should dictate how much celebrating you can do.

The first thing you need to do is decide if you want to host any of the big traditional holiday meals such as Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day. Perhaps, you rather have a quiet party just for friends and coworkers.

The next thing is to decide who will be on your guest list this year. With a never-ending pandemic, I believe this year gatherings will be smaller.

Who are your guests? Make a list and send them an invitation three weeks before the party.

These days digital invitation is the most popular way to invite your guests. I personally do not remember the last time I mailed off an envelope with an invitation card.

I often use Canva because it is an amazingly simple design program to create your own invitation. Also, Canva offers a wide selection of printable invitation templates you can use and personalize to fit your event style.

Canva.com – a free graphic design tool

By doing it online, you will be saving money by not using envelopes, cards, and stamps as much as it was popular in the past.

After deciding on the party theme and guest list, start figuring out what you need for the party (food, beverages, decorations, gifts, and so on). Before buying anything take an inventory of what you already have in your storage boxes, closets, and kitchen pantry.

The main thing to remember is that you don’t need to blow your budget by throwing a stylish holiday party because the best parties are not necessarily the most expensive ones. Stick to your budget and create a plan for a less costly but still festive gathering.

Here are some ideas on how to stick to your budget:

If you want to maximize your holiday spending and get paid for every purchase, the right cash back credit card can be a very useful tool.

14 Best Cash Credit Cards by Bankrate

3. Create your holiday party menu.

When it comes to the holiday party good food is key!

The best advice is to plan your menu in advance, so you will have a clear idea of what you will be serving to avoid the stress of last-minute cooking. If you are hosting a casual gathering with friends, ask your guests to bring a dish or appetizer to share so you will spend less time in the kitchen cooking for your guests.

But if it is a traditional sit-down dinner you will need to do more food planning.

Don’t go overboard with appetizers. I like to keep the list of appetizers simple. Instead of making a bunch of different appetizers, I prefer to make only three of four. My favorite appetizers are nuts and olives, cheese and fruit board, or charcuterie board because it does not take a long time to put all ingredients together. In addition to that, it is easy to make a beautiful presentation on a board so your guests will be impressed by it. Sometimes I add to my list a spinach dip because everybody loves it.

Choose entrees and sides. Nobody wants to get stuck in the kitchen while your guests are sitting down for dinner. The best advice is to choose dishes that can be made ahead of time and then reheated in the oven.

holiday party menu - how to host a perfect holiday party

I recommend preparing all side dishes like stuffing, sauce, casseroles, and veggies on the day before your party. On the day of the party, it can be easily reheated or finished off. The main dish like turkey, ham, or a roast of lamb is easy to cook on the day of the party because it has to sit in the oven for a long time.

To avoid the stress of last-minute cooking, I usually look at the dinner recipes from the previous years and cook one dish that everyone enjoyed eating. That way I will have peace of mind knowing that at least one dish will be a success.

Dessert. We all know that no matter how big a holiday dinner was, there is always room for dessert. I would recommend preparing the hard stuff like pie crusts and pie fillings a couple of days before your party and store them in the freezer. Before your guests arrive, take them out, assemble, and place on the serving dish next to the dessert plates and teacups.

Wine, cocktails, liquor. I am not an expert on wine, beer, or cocktails but we stock our bar with typical vodka, gin, rum, whiskey, tonic, fresh lime, and a bucket of ice for every holiday party.

We usually serve one specialty drink with appetizers. A cape cod cocktail looks very festive and easy to make by mixing vodka with cranberry juice and garnish with a lime wedge.

With the main course we like to serve red and white wine.

But finding the perfect drink for a dessert course can be a little tricky because desserts tend to be full of reach flavors. Its recommended to pair light desserts with wines like Riesling and Moscato or Port and Sherry if you will be serving a dark chocolate cake.

Drinks to Pair with Desserts from Food For Net

Ingredients list. After you figure out the party menu, write down the ingredients you will need to prepare each dish. Keep it handy when going grocery shopping. Without a thoughtful food plan, you might end up buying too much or running out of the important ingredient when there are no shops open. It happened to me several times!

4. Decide on your holiday party color theme.

I believe that everyone wants to host a stylish event. From décor to dessert – there are many tips on how to create an unforgettable experience for your guests.

When it comes to deciding on a color theme, I usually prefer to use seasonal colors. To create a beautiful table setting for Thanksgiving dinner I like to use traditional colors like reds, oranges, and yellows. All my tablecloths and napkins are coordinated with autumn colors.

But there is nothing wrong to mix and match other colors for your table. Put together classic fall décor in reds and pair them with deep greens and blues to get a more modern look. You might want to use cooper and gray which works for any season. Whatever colors you choose, make sure it is coordinated with your dining table centerpiece.

5. Set up the mood.

My favorite part of hosting a party is setting up the table. I pull out our fancy china, silverware, crystal wine glasses, and candleholders. This is the time of the year to use them because it makes the table look elegant.

When I host a big party, I like to add a few special touches like placing the table cards with the guest’s name. You can write your friend’s name on a decorative card. In addition to that, you can attach a pretty ornament to the card so your guests can take it home after the party. Placing cards always make an evening more memorable.

A beautiful centerpiece from a local florist can make the table look super festive. But it will cost a lot of money and might last only for a few weeks. To save money on table décor, I recommend buying a few bunches of flowers from the grocery store and arranging them in bud vases. Do not forget to pick flowers based on your party color palette so this homemade centerpiece will look unique.

Bundles of fresh herbs arranged around candles can make another beautiful detail for setting up the holiday mood. It is a seasonal touch that smells so good.

Music is a must because it puts everyone in a festive mood. This is true, especially during the Christmas party. Make a playlist of your favorite songs ahead of time. But make sure not to play it too loud. Just keep it at a comfortable volume so that your guests can socialize and enjoy the party.

Simple Planning Tips for Stress-Free Holidays

6. When your guests arrive, gave them a warm welcome. It might be obvious, but make sure that you or your husband greet them at the door when the guests walk in. Sometimes you are busy in the kitchen or getting ready but make sure that you welcome your guests.

7. Prepare the coat closet. I always make sure that we clear out the space in our coat closet for guests’ coats, scarves, hats, and handbags. If you don’t have enough room in your coat closet, designate a bedroom or side room to place coats. Just make sure that the area is organized and cleaned.

8. Do not forget the final touches. In my experience, the last 15 or 30 minutes before the guests arrived could be very stressful. I wanted to make sure that I follow my last-minute tasks and do not forget to light the candles, start the music, and adjust the lighting. Also, I make sure that the drinks area is all set up and snacks and appetizers are ready. That way I can offer guests something while they are waiting until everyone else arrives.

This is the best part – enjoy your party! All your planning and preparation has come to a perfect holiday party. Now it is time to eat, drink and have fun. Enjoy your friends and family time as you get together to celebrate this festive time of the year.

What are your best holiday party tips?

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Simple Planning Tips for Stress-Free Holidays

by Maggie Leave a Comment

a family around Christmas table - planning tips for stress-free holidays

The big holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year- come up fast every year. Even though the holiday season is hectic for everyone, I personally love the thrill of it. Most people feel a little frantic during November and December and get overwhelmed with planning for celebrations.

It is so easy to get distracted from the fun part everyone wants to be having. That is why holiday planning tips are the best way to keep your sanity and have a stress-free time with friends and family. The main goal is to create a plan, stick to it, and avoid rushing around at the last minute.

Though this holiday season may still look a bit different than pre-pandemic, there is still plenty to do for a cautious holiday celebration.

This post is all about how to make the holiday season less stressful and more joyful.

Start planning early and create your holiday itinerary

Many of us do not have the time to plan too far ahead of the holidays. But I have noticed that if I start planning early, my holidays are less stressful.

To avoid the pressure of last-minute tasks, I would recommend creating your holiday itinerary for the whole family. Then you should add all your activities to the calendar with the final dates.

Here is a checklist of the holiday itinerary you will want to make sure to add to your calendar:

Holiday parties
Family gatherings
Family activities
Local events and festivals
Family photos
Holiday cards
Travel
Shopping days
Cooking and baking days
Gift wrapping days

Planning a holiday budget

It has been a difficult year with a global pandemic, unemployment, economic crisis, and travel bans. Hence, be realistic about how much is your holiday budget this year. Keep in mind that your holiday spending should not rob your emergency savings account.

The first step is to decide how much money you can comfortably spend this holiday season. Write down that figure on a piece of paper. Is it an educated guess, or did you just pull that figure out of the air?

If you want to create a reasonably calculated budget, I recommend creating a list of the holiday expenses categories and then assigning a spending limit to each category.

Here is a list of my holiday budget categories to get you started:

Holiday cards, postage, and shipping
Holiday gifts and wrapping supplies
Decorations
Food
Entertaining
Family activities
Travel (hotel/Airbnb, air tickets, meals)

Numbers do not lie, and creating a holiday budget helps me to have a feeling of control. I would not dream of purchasing extravagant gifts or spending money on traveling if I do not have enough money saved for the holidays.

Create a master to-do list

When it comes to planning for the holidays, it is important to be realistic with the time you have and the tasks you need to complete. Do not think you can work for hours without a break. There is a limit to what you can fit into your busy days. That is why I recommend creating a list of the most important things you can do to get ready for the holidays.

Here are the three most important to do things on my list:

1. Holiday home preparation

Cleaning and decluttering

The more I can do to remove clutter and clean my home before the holidays, the better off I feel later. Usually, we do deep cleaning – I call it “fall cleaning”- at the end of October. We deep clean our home by washing the windows, cleaning the bathrooms, dusting the light fixtures, decluttering the basement and closets.

I do this because when we have a holiday party, I do not want to feel overwhelmed with cleaning when preparing for a holiday meal or decorating our house.

Decorating

My favorite part of the holidays is decorating our house. Usually, I start early and decorate one room or one area per day. It gives me a reasonable timeframe to decorate the whole house ahead of time with no rush.

Whether we like it or not but many of us have been using the same holiday items for years. Hence, before anything goes up on a tree, on a wall, or a windowsill needs to be inspected and sorted out.

Look through your holiday storage boxes ahead of time and decide what you want to keep or toss. Get rid of everything that is broken, crushed, or sit around in a tangled mess. Do not forget to test everything with electrical parts.

After you took an inventory and evaluated what you have got, you can add to your shopping list a few decorations that need to be purchased.

2. Holiday hosting

If you are a guest at the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner party, you probably do not need to set aside a great deal of money for hosting. But if you are the host, the holiday celebration needs to be carefully planned. When people plan their holiday expenses, sometimes they forget to include the cost of feeding a large group of people vs. a small party.

holiday table - holiday hosting - planning tips for stress free holidays

Grocery shopping list

There are many ways to organize and manage your grocery shopping list and meal planning. You can have your grocery list on a piece of paper or your phone.

I prefer to do it on my phone because the paper lists get lost easily. But it does not matter if it is on paper or your phone app, just write all your food plans down in one place. With the list ready you will be able to start grocery shopping and food preparation when the time comes.

Menu planning

When it comes to the holiday hosting your food is key! As I mentioned before, try to plan your meals in advance to avoid the stress of last-minute cooking and baking without a clear idea of what you will be serving.

First, you need to know what to buy. And without a thoughtful food plan, you might end up buying too much or running out of the important ingredient when there are no shops open. It happened to me a few times! A simple plan is all you need to start your holiday food shopping.

And when it comes to the holiday menu, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

I have a list of things to consider when planning my menu:

What kind of party am I hosting – formal or casual?
How many appetizers to serve and what kind? I like to have at least one traditional appetizer and then get creative with a few others.
What kind of cocktails to serve with appetizers?
Think about the color and texture of food. Perhaps, I can serve something creamy such as ‘potatoes au gratin’ and something crunchy such as ‘arugula salad’. To make a table festive, I usually look to the season for the colors.
Look at the dinner recipes from the previous years and cook one dish that everyone enjoyed eating. I will have peace of mind knowing that at least one dish will be a success.
What kind of wine to serve with food? Red or white or both?
What should we have for dessert? Should I make a cake or ask if someone wants to bring it?

3. Holiday shopping and gift-giving

Holiday gift ideas

When it comes to buying gifts, the best advice is to make sure that you can afford those gifts. Do not go into debt buying holiday gifts. Only spend what you have in your account.

I love the holiday season, but every year I am overwhelmed with gift-giving. But I really do love buying gifts for my family and friends, and I am trying to stay organized before I start shopping.

The first step in organizing your holiday shopping is to make a list of every person you plan to buy a gift. The next step is to set an overall budget for holiday gifts. Then, you have to figure out how much money you can spend on each gift. It does not have to be a lot, but it is important that you stick to your budget.

With the list of gift recipients and the budget, you can start thinking about gift ideas.

I like to use the Notes app on my phone to create a list of gifts. The best part of capturing the gift ideas on your phone is that most of us always have our phones with us when shopping. When it is time to start your holiday shopping, simply open your list to refer to, and you are good to go.

Holiday shopping

Each holiday shopping season is unique. But the pandemic has thrown us into new territory with a new set of seasonal behavior. I believe this year we will see a hybrid holiday – a blend of a pre-pandemic mindset with a pandemic lifestyle.

homemade cupcakes - holiday gifts ideas - planning tips

Thus, if you want to cut down on shopping, consider alternatives such as homemade gifts or gift exchanges. Make stocking stuffers or small gifts instead of buying them. Most people would take a bar of homemade soap or baked goods over store-bought stuff.

Homemade gifts don’t need to be fancy or sophisticated because they show your loved one that you care through your time and attention. There are many different ways to make holiday gifts, and you do not need to be very crafty. Look at Pinterest for homemade gift ideas.

Homemade Christmas Gifts from Country Living Magazine

Final Thoughts

The key to enjoying stress-free holidays is proper planning. Don’t underestimate a simple plan to help you deal with this crazy time of the year when everything tends to happen at once. And ask your family and friends to help with different tasks.

Holiday planning and preparations should not fall on one person’s shoulders. Do not be afraid to ask for help from family and friends or delegate holiday- related tasks! It should be a collective effort with everyone helping out!

How do you plan for the holidays? Share your ideas in comments below.

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