January brings a fresh start. It's clean and clear; the first month in a new calendar and the first month is a new year of goals. I know not everyone is goal oriented (Like my husband!) but I am. I love my goals; my lists; my plans . .. even when they don't work out or get done. I love having a way to measure what is being done (and, honestly, not done!). It also shows me what is important. If something is on the list but never gets done it is either not important or too big of a project.
I mentioned in my first goal post about an accountability group I'm part of and that focus is picking one main item for the month and focusing on that one item. Then focusing on individual items daily. I'm not going to follow that to a tee but I like the overall concept.
My January focus is
Strengthening our Family Finances
Strengthening our Family Finances
Why did I pick this for January? Because it sets the temperature for the rest of the year. If we can start strong, we can carry on through the year but if we start behind, we can never catch up.
Here is what I'm focusing on this month:
1) Become an active Shipt shopper. For me, this means grabbing 2-4 shops a week. I think this is doable between evenings and days Darryl takes off since I can only do this while he is home.
2) January will be a "no spend" month. I've written out a calendar budget of all things planned. Beyond that there is no spending outside of groceries and fuel. No buying Kindle books, grabbing coffee, or picking up dinner :-) Just trying to curb the spending and maybe even get a little ahead this month.
3) Cut the grocery bill. I feel like I've made some progress on this but I would like to use the weekly add more paired up with mperks coupons and Ibotta. Ibotta is a great way to earn money just for shopping. I've managed to earn almost $100.00 and that's with not using it consistently. I would like Ibotta money to become my scrapbooking fun so it motivates me more to use it ;-)
I know it doesn't seem like a lot but I feel like if I can do these three things consistently this month, I can establish a pattern or habit that will continue throughout the year.
If though that's my main focus, it doesn't mean I'm not looking at the other items on my list - I am. I have goals for those items as well which might fall more into the "daily" goal concept.
1) Add exercise to our daily routine. I'm looking to just take a walk daily
2) Since this is a no spend month, projects are off limits so instead I want January to be a time I focus on working in the basement cleaning stuff up and out.
3) Get back to our school routine including Math Minutes and Cursive Writing.
4) Have one movie night at home this month
5) Find one activity to do this month as a family.
6) This is a no spend month, right? So I technically can't spend on getting one item for our grinch calendar 2019 but I should earn some Mperks rewards so I will plan to use that to pick up the first item.
7) Make sure the Holiday Binder is up to date through New years.
8) Scrapbooking - Use what I have here to finish up a few projects. Also, use this no spend month to work on organizing photos on the external hard drive.
9) Do the Flylady routine daily, weekly, for the month.
10) Work on the first song to sing at church
11) Play piano - just play. Not really measuring this but I just want to sit down and play.
12) I do need to reserve our camping spot for the Family Reunion so I do plan to use Shipt money to do that as soon as I get my first pay day.
13) This should have technically been number one but I want to work on planning my day. Taking time the night before and writing out specifics that I want to get done the following day. This helps me so much on daily focus.
14) A must - make sure that I'm two weeks ahead on my Co-Op class as I may not always have a vehicle/way to get to Friday School depending on when we are able to find a car to purchase. I need to leave the next weeks lesson with my stuff at school each Friday that I am there.
15) Read, read, read. First, I need to make my book goal list for the month and then I need to read. I also want to start out this month reading outloud to the boys. Maybe at lunch . . .I'm not sure yet.
16) Create a lunch schedule rotation that not only keeps my boys happy but doesn't repeat lunch and dinner options (such as chicken nuggets) . Along with this, I want to work on their ability to eat a few more food items. This is not an easy feat, trust me, but it's time to start stretching them just a little ;-) LOL (I'm a little "picky" too so it won't be too crazy!)
17) Complete our Taxes and file them by the end of the month.
18) Help Josh with his gold AWANA sections daily. He has a goal and I want to help him accomplish that goal! Also, finish January with all things current in school.
19) Think about February plans - Valentine's Day and Darryl's birthday. Lay out a plan, budget, etc. Don't wait until the last minute to do things for these events.
I got to thinking as I wrote out the first 15 goals - wouldn't it be great to have 19 goals each month for the whole "19" concept?? Well, it worked this month! So maybe my focus for "19 in 19" is to try to accomplish 19 goals each month ;-)
