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Do you buy your lunch every day? If you are looking for ways trim spending and save a few bucks and incorporate a positive New Year resolution into your lifestyle - packing a lunch at home and investing in a travel mug to transport home-made coffee are two easy cost-cutting strategies. Last year, on most Thursdays, I bought lunch while working on-site with clients. Each time, I spent an average $10.00 for lunch and often purchased gourmet coffee, as well, for an additional $5.00. This year I am brown-bagging a healthy lunch on Thursdays and enjoying my coffee in a nifty travel mug. I am saving $500-600, depending on how you calculate the costs (and considering that I do buy lunch goodies at the grocery store, but at a fraction of the cost of eating-out). I still buy gourmet coffee occasionally, but not weekly. Bottom-line: When you really scrutinize 'how' you are spending your hard-earned money, there are plenty of ways to improve. Small, consistent steps toward achievement - of dreams, resolutions and daily goals - pay big dividends over time!

With that in mind, I intend to pack my lunch, on Thursdays, in 2009. It is just one way that I am taking small, measurable, manageable, steps toward my dreams, resolutions and daily goals. Unfortunately, for far too many people, the experience with goals and resolutions is negative. They make lofty, unrealistic, resolutions at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, for instance. A month later, they scratch their heads and wonder why they haven't made any progress. In the end, they usually give up. Rather than giving up on the whole notion of making and keeping resolutions, why not try a different approach? Start with a dream that you truly care about - something that inspires passion and interest; something that you want to do every day. Turn that broad dream into a specific, one-sentence resolution that describes the 'who, what, when, where, why, and how' of your intention. Then build a realistic plan and make that resolution a reality with daily goals.

One of my resolutions is to save money and the environment by brown-bagging my lunch. Specifically, my resolution is: "I resolve to pack a healthy, inexpensive lunch, on Thursdays when I meet with clients, in an effort to promote a good diet, maintain my weight, save money, and preserve the environment by reducing paper waste in landfills." It takes commitment and planning to take small, daily steps toward achievement, but with this type of simple, common sense strategy,

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