Many are rethinking resolutions for 2011


Associated Press

Lori Biancofiori has been looking forward to 2011 for a long time. That’s when she hopes to leave 2009 behind for good.

Her husband was laid off, her salary shrunk, the transmission blew on their car, and they racked up $17,000 in credit-card debt. Now, nearly three years later, her hubby’s working again and up for a promotion after months of clipping coupons, slashing expenses and sticking to cash.

The Chicago couple has never been more serious about a New Year’s resolution: to dig out of the hole by March.

“We want to start trying for a family in the summer,” said the 33-year-old Biancofiori, who works in human resources. “We’ve been putting it off since fall 2009. There was no way we could afford day care with the mess we were in.”

Has the uncertainty of 2010 prompted a resolution rethink? Does vowing to lose 5 pounds feel downright frivolous as the Great Recession lingers for so many?

Kelli Calabrese, 41, and her husband have been up against a costly property dispute, bad investments, three home floods, two broken water heaters, a few broken bones and the demise of numerous big- box appliances over the last 31/2 years.

Her husband lived through stints of joblessness in the mortgage industry and underemployment as they raise two kids. They spent thousands on repairs to their house in Flower Mound, Texas, ahead of a sale, only to have the deal fall through $15,000 later.

“This year, extravagant trips, a new car and investing 20 percent of my income will not be making my resolutions list for 2011,” said Calabrese, a personal trainer. “We’ve learned to re-identify need and greed.”

The economy remains a big focus heading into resolution time at Mylifelist.org, a social network for goal-setters with more than 10,000 members.

“The major recession-related trend we’ve noted isn’t smaller goals as we anticipated,” said the chief operating officer, Shelagh Braley. “What we found are more people are using the site’s tools for practical planning, including budgeting and setting aside a longer preparation time to make their achievements happen.”

Losing his job as a construction manager last February led to a major resolution rethink for 26-year-old Tyler Tervooren in Portland, Ore.

Rather than sitting behind a desk thinking about high adventure, he plans to have some: running a marathon in South Africa on a private game reserve, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, making his way to Russia to trek up Mount Elbrus.

How’s he paying for it? By blogging — about risk-taking.

“I decided to start my own business because there were no jobs available,” Tervooren said.

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