I’m checking in with the progress of my goals for 2019.
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If you set goals for yourself at the beginning of the year, now is a great time for you to evaluate your progress. Checking in every few months is a great way to keep on track rather than let your New Year’s goals fall by the wayside.
It’s been four months since I set my seven goals for 2019. Now I’m checking in to report my progress, to see which ones I’m succeeding with and which ones I’m falling behind on and need to put more effort into.
My New Year’s Goals for 2019, Part 1.
My New Year’s Goals for 2019, Part 2.
My Goals for 2019 – Check-In
1. Finish the KonMari Method
My dearest wish was to get a lot of the Konmari Method knocked out over the winter before I started my spring garden. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
The fact that I blog about my progress doing the Method makes it tricky, because I need to photograph the process step by step. We had terrible weather this winter, with mostly cloudy days and lots of rain. This meant there was rarely enough light to do photographs, and when there was enough sunlight it rarely coincided with any free time I had to declutter. (I also do not own any lighting equipment yet.) So I’m stuck in this blogging catch 22.
This summer, I hope to finish the Komono (miscellaneous) portion of the Method. I’ve already completed a few sub-categories, so I just need to get to the point where I can write the posts. I’d really like to get it all finished!
(In case you are new here or have never heard of the KonMari Method: it’s a method of decluttering by Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo. I highly recommend her book The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up. She also has a Netflix show called Tidying Up which aired in January of this year. If you want to read a condensed version of her book, there is The Lifechanging Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story which is a shorter graphic novel that teaches you all the lessons.)
2. Turn the Room of Crap into a home office/craft space
If you’re new here, and have not yet read the saga of the Room of Crap, here is a link to Part 1.
So far I haven’t made a lot of headway with this room. I walk into it, look around, see the piles of stuff, get overwhelmed, and walk out. Right now it’s just a mess, and I’m not sure what to do about it. (Shove it in a closet? Burn the house down?)
I had a breakthrough, though. I realized part of the problem is that I don’t yet have any storage solutions for the things I’m keeping. Everything is just lying on the floor, which makes it look worse. In order to get the mess under control, I need to complete the infrastructure of the room so I can put in storage solutions. This means getting paint on the walls, shelves put up, and desks in.
I’m in the process of choosing paint colors for this room. I’d love to do an accent wall with a bold color with white shelving and have matching desks underneath. Once I have a proper place to store things, the room will start to come together. (I’m not much of a decorator. Do you have any design or decorating ideas for me for this room? Leave them in the comments below!)
3. Create emergency kits for all the vehicles and an emergency Go-Bag
I haven’t done this one yet, but I really need to get to it.
A friend of mine found a first aid kit on lightning deal on Amazon and notified me. I’m really glad she did, because it’s a really great kit with lots of stuff in it. It has enough, in fact, that I can use it to divide three ways to put in all the cars. Link to the kit I bought here.
I plan on making this goal a priority later this spring. We’re getting into hotter weather when the kids tend to get more scraped knees and such, so I want to be prepared. I’ll also be working on hurricane preparedness this summer. That includes creating a go-bag.
4. Make more strides to live sustainably
I’m really glad I set this goal for myself. When I started this blog, I never considered writing about sustainability, even though it’s something I’m passionate about. I find that I enjoy writing those posts, and I hope my readers find them helpful and are inspired by them.
At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to accomplish this goal. After all, I’m already doing quite a lot. It’s never enough though, and we should always strive to do better. Then it came to me as I started planning my spring garden: this would be the year we began composting.
I threw out a lot of kitchen scraps. It pained me. I knew I should be turning it into good cheap plant food instead of landfill fodder. Once I found a method to use my compost, I learned just how much was getting thrown away – and it was even more than I imagined. Now I’m turning it all into excellent free plant food instead of sending it to a landfill.
I don’t have a structure or place to hold a large compost pile. I live in a suburban neighborhood with a fenced-in backyard that backs up to a few other yards. My neighbors may not appreciate me having a large hot compost pile.
For now, I’ve started the “compost in place” method. Basically you take a big pot or large plastic tub, drill some holes in the bottom for drainage, then add your compost. You can add a layer of shredded paper, newspaper (nothing glossy), cardboard tubes, any paper products that can decompose well without chemicals. Then add kitchen scraps. Vegetable scraps, egg shells, and coffee grounds are great. I avoid avocado pits because they take an eternity to break down. You can even add cooked food or milk that’s gone bad if you want. Then, top it with a layer of native soil or potting soil.
We had to create a wire cover for our compost, because it was attracting creatures who were going through it at night and making a huge mess.
I just planted zucchini seeds in two of my compost-in-place buckets. Both of them sprouted in a matter of days. I’m excited to see how the plants do growing in that medium.
5. Publish 100 blog posts
This is a goal I’m not doing well at, at all. It conflicts with #’s 6 and 7. I can’t write two blog posts a week AND spend more time with my family AND find time to relax. Unless there is a way to create more hours in a day?
I have small children, and one of them brings home colds and other nasties from school, so we’ve been dealing with our share of sickness this year. I hoped it would end now that it’s Spring, but instead I’ve been suffering from allergies, colds, hay fever, and the stomach virus that’s plagued my family.
I’ve been choosing to take more rest instead of working on the blog every free moment I have, so I’m not on track to publish 100 posts this year. I have decided to give myself grace for now and to focus on writing one quality post per week. If I can get more good, quality content out in the future, then great, but I’ve decided not to stress out about it anymore.
6. Spend more time with family
I think that, by “spend more time with family” I mean, “be present with family”. And by being present, I mean actually paying attention and being in the moment.
I have a lot of trouble with living in the moment. I’m a “head in the clouds” type, always in my own head, easily distracted, always dreaming and looking ahead to the future. As Yoda says to Luke Skywalker, “Always has he looked away, never his mind on where he was.”
My little children are growing up right in front of my eyes – it’s breaking my heart – and I’m trying to be present with them and enjoy each and every moment. It’s been hard with us all being sick, with me being exhausted, and with my to-do list piling up faster than the laundry.
I’m working on it. I’m working on putting my phone down if my daughter talks to me and actually listening to what she’s saying instead of paying attention to the intrusive voice running through my head at the same time. It can be a struggle to stop folding the clothes when my kid wants me to pay attention to her, when I have a thousand other things to get to that day. I know it will be worth it, when I can look back on my life, and know that I paid more attention to my kids than things that were less important.
7. Take more time to relax
Finally, another goal I can tell you I’m succeeding at!
Once I realized I wasn’t going to reach my goal of publishing 100 posts this year, I was able to stop thinking about the blog and working on it 24/7. Instead of trying to edit photos while the baby naps, I’m taking the time to read books. This has been hugely helpful for my mental health. I’m also trying to get the kids to bed earlier so that I have a little time to read before bed.
Reading is one of the ultimate forms of relaxation for me. Manicures and spa days? Meh, they’re nice sometimes, but I don’t find them relaxing. A good book? Definitely.
I hope my check-in inspires you to do one of your own. If you set goals at the beginning of the year, I encourage you to check in and evaluate your progress.
I’d love to know: did you set any goals for the new year? How is your progress going? Leave a comment below!
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