{ Goals for 2017 }

I will start by letting you know that I don't do New Year's Resolutions.  I feel it puts so much pressure on one to perform and succeed that it ends up hindering the whole idea of change.

So I am doing goals.

I have quite a few on my list, things that I want to achieve, projects I want to finish, movies and series I want to watch, financial goals, exercise goals, personal goals and so forth.

My mind has been on overdrive with all these ideas in my head, all these things I want to do and need to get down on paper so I don't forget.

One thing though, I am NOT forcing myself to do this, or making it a all or nothing kind of thing, I don't think that is fair because you never know what life can bring and sometimes you have the best of intentions to do something, only to not be able to.

I will let you know as I accomplish them, you will be on this journey with me :)

FINANCIAL GOALS

We have never been able to have a steady savings.  There I've said it.  I've always envied those who have a constant savings account, with money that is kept there for an emergency or a rainy day.  Truth is, and if I'm going to achieve these goals, I need to be completely honest, we have never had a savings.

You can ask how, or why, but to be honest we've just never made enough to be able to pay bills and still put money aside, and the few times we've tried, something and it's always something, has come up that had us having to spend that money.

Our goal for this year, small as it may seem to some of you, is to get $1000 in savings without touching it at all for anything.

We are also going to do a no spend month, probably in February as I'm starting this kind of late.  That means, no eating out, no unnecessary purchases, if it's not a necessity, it's not being bought, and whatever money we make goes into savings as well.

At the moment we have two car payments, one of which is not even running and we can't afford to fix it either.  One credit card payment, and then we are paying the IRS back for our 2014 return, after an error with my husband's retirement plan.  (long story)
In 5 months, both the IRS and one of the cars is paid off, which is a great thing.

Our goal is to actually snowball one of those, either the IRS or the car payment, into the credit card payment so we can make a dent in that.  If you have credit cards you know how frustrating when you can't afford to make more than the minimum payment and yet those interest fees slam you every month and you're literally in the same place and just not budging.

So in summary:

• Pay off IRS
• Pay off Dodge Charger
• Make a big dent in the credit card
• $1000 savings account

EXERCISE AND HEALTH GOALS

With everyone that had been going on last year, I fell off the exercise bandwagon.  I no longer had time for Zumba or eating healthy or anything like that. 

I did no exercise at all, most of my time was spent on the couch.  Again being completely honest here.  I had no motivation for anything, it was pretty bad after Lola passed away, as she was my workout companion.

I stopped eating healthy because I just didn't have the energy or motivation to worry about what I was eating, so I ate a lot of junk food, I ate take out, I indulged in glasses of wine and chocolate and copious amounts of coffee throughout the day.

That is going to change starting tomorrow.

I am back to doing Zumba, a couple of you have asked me if I go to a class, and while I wish I could, I mean I would absolutely love that, there is none nearby and since we're down to one car, it just doesn't work.  That's ok, because I have a Zumba playlist on Youtube that I use to get in my exercise.

I am going to drink more water, or rather, back to just drinking water and no more soda.

I am also going to plan out what I'm having for breakfast and lunch and go back to eating healthy.

Summary:

• Zumba 2 times a week for an hour
• Smoothies for breakfast
• Yogurt and granola or salad for lunch
• Only water

PERSONAL GOALS

First and foremost I'm going to put my needs first.  Now I'm not saying that I'm going to ignore other people especially my husband and children, but this is the year I need to concentrate on me and taking care of me, so that in essence I can take better care of everyone else.

One of the things I want to do is to start reading the Bible every day.  I've tried this before and I've failed miserably.  I do ok for about a week and then I am done.  I need to change that, I need to bring God into the front and center of my life and let Him lead the way.

I'm going to stop bending over backwards for people who don't matter.  I'm talking about those who you constantly look out for, reach out to, and in return they don't have the time of day for you.  Everyone is busy, so I don't see that as an excuse to ignore people, to not reply to messages or even try to make any effort.  So those people will be cut from my life.  The less drama I have, the better and I need to feel that I'm surrounded by only those who truly care about me.

Become a better wife and mother.  Or rather, go back to what I used to be.  I've talked a little about this in the past few days when I mentioned how I had lost my mojo.  Well it's back, and I'm loving every single second of it.  So I'm going to continue working on that.

Summary:

• Think of myself and take care of myself
• Read the Bible every day
• Remove unwanted people from my life
• Become a better wife and mother

I am determined to get back to my old blogging style.  To share with you my days, to share recipes, photography, thoughts, homemaking tips, to maybe inspire one or two of you in your homemaking. 

I thought about getting rid of my food blog, but I'm not going to do that.  I do think I'm going to try and combine it with this main blog though.  I am not quite sure how to do that yet, but I know that I want to focus on this blog.  I'll still post recipes on the other, but it's going to be all about Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I want to continue with the Happy Homemaker Monday and maybe add more categories or change it up a little, so if you have any ideas on categories you would like to see, leave them below.

Going to look through my old blog features and see if I want to bring back any of them.  I used to do Slow Cooking Thursdays many years ago and it was very popular.  Slow cooking Thursday or just Cooking Thursday, Five Senses Saturday, Sunday Meanderings, Tackle it Tuesdays, Menu Plan Mondays etc.  Not all of those are mine, obviously some belong to other blogs, but it's all things I used to participate in.  Let me know if you want me to bring any of them back or if you're ok with just normal random blogging posts about my day.

I'm shooting for blogging daily, now I may miss a day here or there depending on what is going on in my life, but for the most part, you will know that I'm here and I'm actively blogging. 

There will be book reviews as always, hopefully product reviews, but I don't want to overload it with stuff like that, I really just want to go back to a place of memories and daily life.

Summary:

• Daily blogging
• Bring back some features
• Product Reviews
• Book Reviews

CRAFTING GOALS

Oh boy, I have so much I want to do.  Crocheting is at the front and center of these goals.  I want to crochet more, I want to start selling my crochet which is something that has always intimidated me, I don't know how everyone else does it, but I find it really hard to set up some sort of store and start selling what I make. 

There's always that sense of it not being good enough.  I mean, I'm just a little crocheter, self taught, who makes things for fun, I don't consider myself a professional or expert in any way.

So that is definitely something out of my comfort zone but which I want to do this year.

I want to make a few more Sophie's.  You probably think I'm totally bonkers, and maybe I am, but that blanket was such a joy to make that I just know I have to make more.  I want to make one for my daughter so she can take it with her to college.  I would like to make a few for Christmas presents or even one to sell, though I'm afraid it would be quite expensive, but we will see.

I want to sew more.  I have a few projects I would like to make or finish.

Summary:

• Sell crochet goods
• Make Sophie for Jasmine
• Make one or two more Sophies, maybe even sell one
• Sew more

All of these may seem like small things, like I shouldn't even have wasted my time thinking about them and just DONE them.

But they are real goals, attainable goals, that just need some effort on my part, and if I can do that, then 2017 will turn out to be the best year yet. 

I'm going to work hard on getting all of these accomplished.  I may do every single one, I may only reach one or two, I may fail at a few, or I may even stumble and end up not getting through any of the goals, but it doesn't matter, the fact that I'm going to try is what matters.

So if you have anything you want to do, anything you want to change, just go for it, because even if you don't get it, the fact that you even tried is well worth it all :)