Getting back to basics, here are 100 suggested resolutions for 2025 (and yes, all of these can theoretically be achieved in one year).
- Get your HAM radio license.
- Buy a basic HAM radio.
- Learn the basics of using a HAM radio via YouTube videos.
- Join a local HAM radio club for even more learning opportunities.
- Join local HAM-nets (Google for a list for your local area) regularly for practice using your radio.
- Exercise daily (a walk and basic calisthenics each day will suffice).
- Cook healthy food at home as the rule and not the exception.
- Get your teeth cleaned and, if needed, fixed.
- Make sure your physical health markers (weight, blood pressure, A1C, etc) are all at normal levels.
- Fix any other health issues (new glasses, hearing aids, mental health issues, reverse diabetes, etc).
- Revamp/update your EDC kit for optimal use.
- Revamp/update your BOB seasonally (spring, fall) for optimal use.
- Revamp/update your vehicle’s BOB and emergency kit for optimal use.
- Revamp/update your home preparedness gear/supplies for optimal use.
- Revamp/update your INCH bag…just in case.
- Revamp/update all medical kits; toss expired stuff, replace missing stuff.
- Pay off your home.
- Pay off your vehicle(s).
- Pay off all consumer debt.
- Pay off all other debt(s).
- Pull your free credit reports and ensure they are correct.
- Increase your income.
- Update your resume even if you don’t need it right now.
- Develop multiple streams of income.
- Pay your taxes on time and in full.
- Stack cash, safely and securely, at home.
- Make an investment plan for the upcoming year (Roth IRA, 401k, mutual funds, etc).
- Review your health, life, auto, home, and long-term care insurances and make any necessary changes.
- Make a list of your bills (including recurring subscriptions) and see if any of these can be reduced/eliminated.
- Increase your emergency fund with each paycheck.
- Allocate savings accounts to various needs (home improvement fund, vacation fund, Christmas fund, etc).
- Make sure you have your/your family’s important documents (birth certificates, marriage/divorce documents, Social Security cards, DD214, adoption records, vehicle titles, etc) stored safely and securely at home.
- Create a “when I die” folder.
- Review and update your end-of-life documents (will, living will, medical power of attorney, etc).
- Inspect your entire home and make a list of home improvement tasks to complete (clean gutters, repair the deck, new appliances, etc). Work on these improvements throughout the year.
- Decrapify your entire home. Clean out closets, get rid of junk, get rid of clothes you no longer wear/fit, donate items you no longer use/need, etc.
- Check the expiration dates of important items (driver’s license, passport, credit cards, vehicle registration, etc) and add these dates to your calendar/”to do” list.
- Install several layers of home security (fence, alarm system, dog, tactical nightstand, etc).
- Improve/develop a range of friendships/relationships with others (at work, via hobbies, with neighbors, etc).
- Plant a garden; even a window garden will do for starters.
- Stockpile seeds to be used within the next few years.
- Practice canning, making jams, making pickles, making jerky, and other food preservation skills.
- Increase your water/food/consumables stockpiles; rotate and inventory these seasonally.
- Shop thrift stores and pick up/use DVD movies, books, board games, and other non-electronic hobby/entertainment items.
- Practice making basic plumbing/electrical/construction repairs on your home (lots of good tutorials on YouTube).
- Go camping at least once a season (spring, summer, fall, winter).
- Join a local walking/hiking club and explore your local area.
- Pick up some useful physical fitness hobbies (running, golf, bicycling, etc).
- Pick up some useful survival hobbies (hunting, fishing, archery, shooting, etc).
- Volunteer in your community and learn some useful skills (CERT, SAR, EMT, firefighter, etc).
- Make sure you have two additional ways to cook food if your stove becomes unusable.
- Make sure you have two additional ways to heat your home if your HVAC system becomes unusable.
- Make sure you have two additional ways to create/store electricity if the electrical system goes down.
- Make sure you have two additional sources of lighting if the electrical system goes down.
- Practice drills with your family (fire drills, lockdown drills, communications drills, etc).
- Buy and degoogle a cell phone (tutorials on YouTube).
- Put Linux on an old laptop (tutorials on YouTube).
- Get in as much range time as possible if you are a gun owner.
- Read more books.
- Do less doomscrolling/social media posting/watching YouTube videos that only try to sell you stuff.
- Learn about Stoicism; incorporate these principals into your daily life.
- Learn a new language.
- Learn to play a non-electric instrument (drums, fiddle/violin, piano, etc).
- Play games of skill (chess, horseshoes, poker, knife throwing, etc).
- Instead of doomscrolling do crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, sudoku puzzles, etc.
- Try bartering (example here).
- Consider moving if your current living situation is not optimal.
- Learn to tie a variety of knots.
- Learn how to navigate with a map and compass.
- Learn fighting skills (karate, judo, taekwondo, etc).
- Do a no-spend week, or better yet, do a no-spend month.
- Consider how to make your daily driver a bug out vehicle if needed.
- Create a “safe room” in your home.
- Do some preventative maintenance on your tools, guns, machinery, etc.
- Buy (and hide) some luxury items to pull out in case of disaster (toys for the kids, chocolates, whiskey, etc).
- Go dumpster diving.
- Go foraging.
- Do a taste test of survival foods (MREs, Mountain House, Costco survival food bucket) to determine what you like and what you definitely don’t want to stockpile.
- Research the most common disasters in your area and do some preps specifically for these possibilities.
- Live out of your bug out bag for a weekend in both wilderness and urban areas (fix any problems you find after this experiment).
- Challenge yourself to reach a huge goal such as running a marathon by the end of the year, sewing a complete wardrobe, traveling to a far-flung place, etc).
- Travel internationally at least once this year.
- Hide a useful cache at the beginning of the year and retrieve it at the end of the year (or sooner if there is an emergency).
- Practice being as close to zero-waste as possible.
- Do a “don’t break the chain” challenge (pick a simple challenge like flossing daily if you often forget to do this and “don’t break the chain”).
- Pick one bad habit to quit this year.
- Avoid mainstream media and find a variety of balanced news sources to check out daily.
- De-stress daily (meditate, yoga, journal, deep breathing exercises, etc).
- Pick a day and do everything you can to avoid Big Brother tracking you for the entire day.
- Do a complete maintenance service on your vehicle, get new tires if needed, deep clean it, etc.
- Use cash only, no credit cards/Zelle/Apple Pay/etc for an entire week (or better yet, an entire month).
- Only eat what you have in your home for two whole weeks (no grocery stores/restaurants/UberEats/etc).
- Do something random and spontaneous–take a new route to work, take the day off and go for a long drive, give a stranger $100, etc.
- Learn about fasting and consider doing a fasting challenge.
- Replicate your favorite commercial foods (Pop tarts, Starbucks Frapuccino, Blooming Onion, etc) at home (lots of recipes online for this).
- Learn a new skill (sewing, leather working, trail running, lockpicking, etc).
- Back up everything–photos, files, documents, digital survival guides, etc–digitally and securely store this device.
- Attend a prepper-related event–Rubber Tramp Roundup, Thunder Ranch class, prepper shows, etc.
- Splurge on something you have always wanted to do or have a memorable family vacation.
- Check off other self-improvement tasks using the Clean Sweep program list.