Ask the Readers: What Are Your Goals for 2017?

Editor's Note: Congratulations to Gina, Miss Kim, and Ashley for winning this week's contest!

2016 is closing out! With the new year comes new experiences and opportunities — and new goals and resolutions.

What are your goals for 2017? What steps will you take to achieve those goals? What are some lessons you learned in 2016 that will help you with your new goals?

Tell us about your goals for 2017 and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards

We're doing three giveaways — here's how you can win!

Mandatory Entry:

  • Post your answer in the comments below. One commenter will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!

For Extra Entries:

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If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on Flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.

Giveaway Rules:

  • Contest ends Monday, December 26th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Winners will be announced after December 26th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
     
  • You can enter all three drawings — once by leaving a comment, once by liking our Facebook update, and once by tweeting.
     
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  • You must be 18 and U.S. resident to enter. Void where prohibited.

Good Luck!

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Amanda

My main goal is to reach the 10K mark in my emergency fund. I also want to attend every international festival in my city and track the number of words I write each month.

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Nancy

These are super goals, Amanda

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Mike Byrne

Get my blue belt in Martial Arts- go regularly as I committed.
Get daughter potty trained so she can go pre-school rather than daycare and save us $900/month!

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Elena

My goal is to eat healthier.

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Karen Patterson

My goals are to take a daily walk and read at least 20 pages every day.

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Chris

My main goal is to start doing Callanetics again to firm up my core. Other goals are to just exercise more in general (walking, biking, swimming) and to use my balance board while I'm watching TV.

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Julie Wood

I spend a lot of time helping others and it really is burning me out. I am going to take more time for myself and do some fun things. I want to take a vacation next year!

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kelly tupick

My goal is to get out and walk more and to try to get into more of a routine.

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Donna Sako

2017 is a year I hope to lose weight and save more. I was a bit successful in those things this past year despite challenges of emergency expenses and holiday temptations. I have been helping others pay of their debts and got rid of one really large one for them this past year. But they have one more to go. My biggest challenge is to help them at the same time I keep my expenses down.

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Elle

A goal is to get more sleep and make it a bigger priority.

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Matt

I want do pass an important exam that's in a couple of months.

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Jen D

2017 Goals: Keep on budget, exercise 5 days per week, eat healthier, learn new ways to be frugal. These are the same goals I usually have. One way I've learned that helps keeping on my grocery budget is to shop once every two weeks...it really does make a difference and the fridge food really gets used up.

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Joyfully Frugal

My financial goals for 2017 are to start aggressively paying off my debt and to lead a more minimalist lifestyle.

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JACQUI

My new years resolution is always to lose weight, this year I am adding that I will push myself to list more items on ebay to help pay off our student loans!

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Leah @ The Frugal South

My word for 2017 is Giving. I'm focusing on giving to my family (financially or with my time), giving my blog readers what they really want to help them in their lives, and giving back to myself - forgiveness, self-care, and acceptance. It is going to be a great year!

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Mami2jcn

My goal is to focus on my family and to not sweat the small stuff.

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Ashley

My goals in 2017 are to finish paying off the debt that we began snowballing in the latter half of 2016, increase our savings by 50% (at least), close out our high interest credit card, as well as pay off our loan.

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Ashley

My goals in 2017 are to finish paying off the debt that we began snowballing in the latter half of 2016, increase our savings by 50% (at least), close out our high interest credit card, as well as pay off our loan.

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Ernest S.

My 2017 financial goal is to diversify my income through a secondary business and some passive income streams. I think it's an important step to reaching financial independence!

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Ernest S.

My 2017 financial goal is to diversify my income through a secondary business and some passive income streams. I think it's an important step to reaching financial independence!

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Gina

My goals for 2017 are to lose weight and earn more. I'll try to get a better paying job and start a gym routine. 2016 taught me to trim more expenses.

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Gina

My goals for 2017 are to lose weight and earn more. I'll try to get a better paying job and start a gym routine. 2016 taught me to trim more expenses.

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Tracey

My goal is to save money to update my digital camera. I have a photography business as a side gig and want to improve the quality of my photos and skills.

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Marie

Declutter, exercise more, and pay down student loans.

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Jen2

I have several financial goals:
(1) beef up emergency savings
(2) redo hall bath
(3) put 25% down on new-to-us minivan

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Nancy

1) Increase my charitable/non-profit giving. I've added monthly contributions to ACLU, Natural Resources Defense Council, and ProPublica
2) Save for vacation. My daughter and son-in-law are planning big family cruise to Alaska for June 2017. We have some vacation money saved. My goal is to save $300 more per month toward that trip.
3) Learn something new. I've enrolled in a Spanish language class at my local community college.

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Fiscally Fit Chica

I love those goals Nancy! I too, want to increase my charitable giving. You may check to see if your local public library subscribes to Mango Languages. There is a free app you can download on your phone or tablet, and you of course can use it on your PC. It will help with your Spanish class a lot!

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Chris

My goals for 2017 are health related. But I am on track with continuing my financial goals as well.

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Chrissy

My goal is to spend more time living in the moment without worrying about what's coming next or allowing myself to get to "busy"

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Lisa

My goal for 2017 is to fully fund a 6 month emergency fund.

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Kelli

My #1 goal for 2017 is to pay off my CC debt. I would also like to travel more (if that's possible while working on that other goal!) and get healthier by decreasing my junk food intake and increasing exercise.

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Lisa

My goals include saving at least $3,000 into my Roth IRA, buying a house with my fiancee, getting married, and traveling to see my parents in (New York) and sister (in California).

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Monique Hubert

I hope to try more new activities and not get bogged down in the details in 2017. My plan is to have smaller goals that lead me up to my bigger goals. I learned from this year that it's easy to get overwhelmed by overly challenging goals.

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Betty

I am going to eat healthier. I eat well already, but often add a bad snack by day's end. I also will increase my exercise routine. Here's to an amazing 2017!!!

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Natasha

I want to cut down on the amount I eat out in order to save for more useful pursuits.

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Donna D

My goals are to take a daily walk and eat better.

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Kim D

My main goals are to eat healthier (focus on meal planning, cutting down on carbs and processed foods, and cook at home more often) and to save money (think more about purchases, coupon, and identify things I can get rid of/sell like older clothes, furniture I'm not using, etc.). We have a baby on the way - due February - so hopefully this benefits her as well!

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Catseye

Now that I'm done with school for now, I'll be looking for full time work in medical billing or medical coding.

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Megan J

We just made our goals last night: Reach $15k in our emergency fund, pay off $25k in student loans, and save $1500 for a new mattress. Hopefully we are successful!

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Susan P.

One of my goals is to increase my investment account and use my funds wisely.

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Liz

I want to read one book per week and try to meal plan more

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MelodyJ

My main goal is to be more organized. I learned that being messy cost time and money.

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Tamara Bronaugh

In 2017 my goal is to focus on fewer things and do those things better. I tend to have 20 things going on at once and cannot give my best to any of them. So....FOCUS is my goal.

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Mike Ash

After thorough review of my finances, I'd like to retire - well, at 62, maybe not really "retire" but transition into a less stressful line of work/hobby. Become a
fulltime writer, photographer or writer/photographer.

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Nicole

My goal for 2016 was to pay off 80% of my private student loan, and I actually accomplished it! My 2017 goals are to pay off as much as possible of my other government student loan, and to save up enough money to move to Los Angeles in either 2017 or 2018 :)

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Michelle

In 2016 my husband and I were able to pay off our student loans, so our goal in 2017 is to pay off both of our cars. One step at a time! We would also like to start eating healthier.

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Susan Smith

My goal for 2017 is to loose 30 pounds.

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Tracy

The last half of 2016 my stress level has increased at work. My goal for 2017 is to reduce the stress. The stressors will remain, but I need to learn how to deal with them better and in a more healthy way.

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Andrea Jenkins

Hello, I am one of those people that just loves life. So, to honor life, and living, I am making the goal of losing 30 lbs in 2017. I'm doing this because I want to be a healthier me, and be at my ideal weight. I don't want to continue the family cycle of heart problems and other debilitating conditions which result from poor health choices. That being said, bring it on 2017: I'm ready for you!!!

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Rebecca Ross

My goals are to pay off my parents the money we owe them, to redo our bathroom, so that things don't leak anymore, to finish getting the rest of our kitchen cabinets from Ikea, to buy a riding lawn mower so my husband doesn't have to walk seven miles to mow our back field for 4 hours at a time, and to have our house sided in vinyl siding, since it has started peeling.

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JD

Finish my PMP certification, and start working out 3 times a week.

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Guest

Work out consistently and buy another investment property!!

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Jeff

continue to lose weight

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Jen

My goal for 2017 to successfully help manage our new business venture.

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Suz_Glo

We moved to a new city mid 2016. I love our new neighborhood but our house still feels like a building with our stuff in it. I want to turn it into our home with some careful updates and redecoration -- including getting rid of some of our stuff! We did extensive work (new floors, new bathroom, room addition) on our last house so I feel like I have good experience but, as always, I want to do it right the first time so it will be a slow process.

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Sam

Pay down student loans by 20k, top off wedding fund with 2k more, max out Roth IRA and at least part of HSA, get a new and better job.

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Dyan

Pay off at least half of my credit card debt and travel twice.

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lisa

regain control of my life after so much pain and betrayal and financial ruin...i am going to envision myself in 2017 as a phoenix rising from the ashes. this is not much of an exaggeration. my heart was broken. my cat kept me sane with such pure love and fluffy sweetness and purring presence. this new yr will be my chance to feel like ME again and never let my ex-BF control my mind and infuse his toxic b.s. into my good heart. i pray god sends me a kind man with humor...someone i can share life with, because i finally realize i deserve better than verbal and emotional abuse. in 2016 i realized there is a word for what my BF did to me, "gaslighting" and it's so damaging. i am in recovery, thank goodness.

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Lynda

to continue adding to my down pay fund for a house and to start a 529

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Michelle D.

My goal is to get more organized in 2017.

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Ashley Park

My goal for 2017 is to pay off all my credit card debts and start saving at least 5% of my monthly income per month.

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Happy Love

I want to finish paying off the hospital bill from my second baby's C-section.

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Ana Lee

My goal is to exercise more and eat better. More fruits and veggies.

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Laurajj

My goal for 2017 is to switch my family over to healthier products that we use around the home. In 2016....I worked on healthier meals...oh I learned so much. So this year I want to find healthier detergents, shampoos, cleaning products and things like that!

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Kat

My goal is to stretch for 15 minutes a day.

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Chris

My goals are to lose weight and fix up the house!

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CF

My goal is to cut back on sugar and start eating healthier.

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Sam

We will continue to attack debt and even pay off our home in February by following the debt snowball plan. Thanks Dave Ramsey! Hsalty and wellness are always goals...we are recent vegetarians, so that will help. Goal number three is to bless another family each month in financial or service opportunities...less about us and more about others.

Happy And Blessed New Year!

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Aiza

My goal for 2017 is to work hard and play hard.

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Thomas Murphy

I want to buy a new house.

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Miss kim

My goal is to learn something new everyday.

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Michael Kim

My 2017 goals are:
1. Get rid of clutter in my house
2. Exercise regularly
3. Juice or fruit/veggie smoothie daily
4. Learn Spanish

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Jay

My goals for 2017 are to maximize my retirement contributions through my employer and to try to save money every week to put towards a home down payment that i plan to purchase in the next few years.