It's taken me a long time to figure out my goals for this year. I'm trying to be realistic, while still challenging myself, and that's hard to balance, especially because I spend my days with a one year old aka a tiny tornado. I always enjoy working on these goals, so here's what I am planning for 2016.
(The pictures have nothing to do with my goals; I just think posts with pictures are more fun to read.)
1. Finish the KonMari method on everything we own.
When I set a goal to get rid of 300 things last year, I discovered an organization/decluttering book called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I used the author's method, called KonMari, to get rid of a lot of items (well over 300). I found a great checklist which helps you sort through every single item that you own and I got about 2/3 of the way through the process before I lost momentum. I want to finish going through every item we own this year.
2. Get rid of 200 items.
While completing goal #1, I will get rid of another 200 items this year. I am going to go back over some categories I did last year as I think I will be able to part with some more items now. I know this seems like a crazy high number (especially after doing this last year too) but I count every single item that goes in the trash/donate/sell piles, whether is a shirt, a pen, a book, a coffee mug, a poster, a broken sewing needle, or an expired bottle of pills. It's really nice to have a better idea of what we own and where it is, which eliminates a lot of time spent looking for lost items.
3. Send a handwritten card or letter once per month.
I love receiving these items, but I almost never send them. I want to do better about sending birthday
and thank you cards and also just writing a note to let someone know I'm thinking of them.
I really want to organize our desk and computer area so I have a better way to pay bills, file paper, and keep organized. I've purchased a few items and pinned a lot of ideas on Pinterest, so I've just got to put it all together now.
5. Make 24 new recipes.
I think 2 new recipes per month is totally reasonable. I've got a lot of recipes bookmarked and saved, so it will just be a matter of actually putting them into our meal rotation.
6. Complete Blood:Water Mission's 40 Days of Water challenge.
Each year during Lent, Blood:Water Mission hosts a challenge for participants to drink nothing but water for 40 days and to donate the money they would have spent on cokes, coffee, tea, etc. to give life-saving water to those in need. Kory and I have done it in years past but didn't participate this past year. Part of me really doesn't want to do it because I don't want to give up my beloved sodas, but that only convinces me further that this should happen.
7. Learn how to use our camera.
This one is carried over from 2015, and since I didn't accomplish it, I want to give it another shot.
8. Go on 1 date night per month.
We've got lots of people who volunteer to watch Peter for us, so I want to take them up on their offers and make sure we continue to have date night every month.
9. Keep up with my One Line a Day journal.
Now that I've had this for over a year, I can already tell how much I love reading my entries from the previous year. It's like TimeHop or Facebook Memories, but with stuff I actually care about. :)
10. Read 10 books.
I easily accomplished my goal of reading 5 books last year, but then I kind of stopped once I reached that goal. I want to continue reading all year long, so I'm aiming a little higher this year.
11. Take a baby-free vacation.
We've already got plans for this, so it's kind of cheating to make it a goal, but I'm still putting it down because A)16 is a lot! and B)It's still going to take a lot of work from me to make this happen. We haven't had an actual vacation with just Kory and I in several years because our trips are always to see family (which we love!) or to youth group events. I'm equal parts excited and nervous to spend a week away from Peter.
12. Decorate one of our bedrooms.
It's no surprise that Peter's room is the only room in our house that is fully decorated and organized. Our guest and master bedrooms look a lot like they did when we moved in, though we did paint a couple walls in the master at least. I don't want them to look like they're straight off a magazine page, but I would love if the paint, decorations, and bedding all looked like they belong in the same room.
13. Visit the public library.
I can't believe this, but I've never even set foot in our library. They have some weird hours which used to be my excuse while I was working, but now I have plenty of time to get there while they're open. I even saw recently where someone said you can borrow digital books from them as long as you have a library card-that's an easy money saver!
14. Go on {at least} one family outing per month.
It's way too easy for us to spend lazy weekends at home, which are nice occasionally, but I'd like us to make a better effort to get out of the house and make memories as a family.15. Make six crafty Pinterest projects (not recipes).
This is another repeat from last year. I enjoy doing crafts and sewing, but don't always make them a priority. The fact is that I'll never be done with sweeping, laundry, and dishes, so I want to just let them go at times in order to do something fun and relaxing for myself.
16. Plant a garden.
I find immense satisfaction in growing fruits and vegetables for our family to eat. This year might be a little trickier with a certain "helper", but I want him to grow up understanding just how delicious a fresh-from-the-garden tomato can be!
No comments:
Post a Comment