Setting Goals for the year before Medical School

I have a confession, I am a chronic list maker. I love to take the things rolling around in my head and make lists out of them. I have a certain paper size I like to make lists on 5X8, at work I use the 5X8 Junior Legal pads, at home I have several notebooks that are 5 X 8.
Something about seeing all my thoughts in list form on a tidy little sheet of paper makes me feel organized. Who cares if my blinds are dusty (by the way does anyone have any super easy tips on how to clean wooden blinds?), who cares if my home office/gift room looks like a disaster I have a list, or two, or well, fifteen!
So what's on my list right now? My monthly budget (which I apparently is a huge FAIL, good thing I'm starting now), estimated moving costs (to put a deep seated root of fear in me and inspire me to budget and save), and my goals to achieve before medical school!
Ah, the goals list... I've been thinking and carefully crafting my list of goals that I want to achieve before medical school, I thought it might be fun to share! Hopefully for inspiration for you, and if you want I'd love to hear what some of your goals are now! These are in no particular order...

~ Spiritual Growth - to be honest although I went to a christian college, I've found that my spiritual life has been sort of hit or miss since becoming an adult. I know medical school is going to be trying in ways I can't even imagine, but I also have a very keen sense (in a way that's completely new to me) that this really is God's will for my life. That being said (as cheesy and cliche as it sounds) I want to have a growing spiritual foundation underfoot, so that daily through the struggle of school I'll find my Rock.


~ Saving, saving, saving... I fear, that ya'll will soon become tired of my gratuitous repetition of this theme, but I can see now that it's going to be a struggle. Since my student loans won't come in until mid-September and school starts at the beginning of August I need to be financially prepared for the big move to the Bay Area and also need to be prepared financially to live for a few months before my loans come in. Right now I'm aiming for $12,200 for moving expenses, August living expenses, and September living expenses. That is a lot of money! One thing all of our cross country moves has taught me is that moving is always more expensive than you plan for!


~ Fitness... although I always seem to wish I weighed less than I do, I really want to create a habit of fitness in my life. In college I was a swimmer and I had a fantastic running partner so I was always fit and days where I didn't work out seemed weird. At the ripe old age of 26 I am a total couch potato, seriously its gross 4+ hours of TV a night... blech. So my goal is to get back into the habit of doing something active regularly, although I've tried a wide variety of things, I'm thinking I might start running again... not with a race or goal in mind, but just running because I love running.


~ Cleaning House... Okay I clean the house regularly now, but what I mean by that is getting rid of old and unused nonsense (which is why I'm selling a bunch of stuff on ebay right now, drop by and see if anything catches your eye, my username is danimjo). My goal is to go through and clean out the closets and the rooms one by one and narrow things down. Some people have great luck with garage sales, but for whatever reason every time the PBF and I have one it is a total flop, so I'm trying things like ebay and craigslist to sell whatever we don't want. After that we'll probably just donate whatever is left.


~ Second Job... This one is a huge maybe. I am nervous about saving all I need to for starting medical school, and so I'm seriously considering getting a second job part-time. The challenge here is that I'll need to work evenings and weekends. This of course leaves only a few fields open as options: retail or restaurant-unless any of you successful work from home readers know your company wants to hire me :). I have a long history of working in the restaurant industry and its the best bet to earn the most while working part time, the PBF is a chef and he and I met while we worked together. However, I hate the hours, and I'm a work a-holic. So I'm always that server that comes on saying I want 2-3 shifts a week and then I end up picking up for everyone and before you know it I'm working 6 shifts a week. I'm also always the server who has the 4 o'clock in time and then ends up closing because you can easily earn an extra $100 closing as opposed to going home at 9 or 10. That is not how I want to spend the year before medical school. But I know a few months of $400 weekends sure would boost my "Saving my way to $12,000" confidence!


So, there it is, in not so concise form, my goal list and all the associated ramblings that are rolling through my head!