Resolutions that worked

Happy (almost) New Year to one and all. This will be the fifth big holiday in a row. In the last 40 days we've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. That's a lot of celebrating in just 40 days. The most jammed-pack times of the year are the hectic days between Turkey Day and New Year's Day. And in just another month, on Feb. 2 we celebrate Groundhog Day. Seems like a lot of partying to me.

Now it's time to make another New Year's resolution. Most of the time, like so many people, I don't keep those promises very long. But a couple of times we followed through on a resolution that my husband and I made. We resolved to save enough money for a down payment on a new car. The way to do that was to empty our wallets and take out all the quarters each evening and put them into a large glass container. Each day we looked to see how fast the quarters were moving up in the container. The year was 1963 and quarters were still made with pure silver.

We saved up $750 for the down payment - all in quarters - and bought our car. The following year the quarters changed and they were no longer made with pure silver. Copper was added to them and they were less valuable. At least, with the help of our New Year's resolution, we got a new car.

There was another resolution that I was able to keep, and not only by losing weight but also by making money while doing it. This is the way it worked: I was working at a middle school in San Diego when 10 members of the staff made New Year's resolutions to lose some weight. We formed a "15 pounds for $15 club." Ten people put $15 each into a shoe box and then they got weighed in the nurse's office where the nurse, that was me, recorded their weights every Friday for two months. On that last Friday I was worried that I might be a half-pound over the limit so I wore a light dress with no slip and little sandals. At the end of the contest the $150 that was in the shoe box was divided up among each participant who lost 15 pounds. There were only two of us so we split the pot and each got $75. That was enough to buy some new clothes. Not too shabby, huh?

It helps to diet along with a friend for support. Good luck and Happy New Year.

-- Linda Monohan may be reached at 782-5802.