2013 goals

It’s January 2nd and most people are thinking about the fresh start that a new year brings.  Things they want to accomplish this year, goals they want to achieve, “New Year’s resolutions”, etc.  I don’t set New Year’s resolutions but I do like to set GOALS for the new year.

I set a bunch of goals for 2012 and although I didn’t accomplish all of them (or maybe even half of them) at least I set goals!  If I had never set any goals, I wouldn’t have reached any of them.

I tend to expect way too much out of myself which led to setting too many goals and trying to accomplish too much.  I also don’t have the greatest self-discipline as others do either, so while my list was completely accomplishable, for my level of discipline it is not.   While Money Saving Mom could have accomplished my goal list 3 times over last year, I am not her!     So this year I hope to set fewer, more attainable goals AND increase my self discipline/motivation to get them done so I can have more crossed off at the end of the year.

And also writing down my goals and sharing them here really helps with accountability.  It helps me have a written list that I can go back to and check myself on.  Last year I did a goal update post each month.  This year, I won’t do a new post each month, but will just go back to this original post and update it and then share it on facebook.

I am using the same categories as last year with different goals under each one.

2013 goals

Grow closer to the Lord

• daily Bible reading
• read several devotional books
• make prayer a priority – work on a missionary/family/friends prayer list and a prayer journal

Make our marriage a priority

• date nights every other Friday night – going to start a date night jar or list that we will choose from to vary up and add some variety in things we will do – out to eat, coffee date, game night, movie night, take a walk, make dinner together, double date with another couple, etc.
• family day every other Tuesday
• find ways to encourage him – notes, texts, calls, special lunches, encouraging words
• make more meaningful memories/develop traditions together as a family – holidays, trips, routines, special days.  Any tips on how you do this in your family?

Grow as a better woman, wife, homemaker

• Read at least 6 books this year (I would actually like to read 12, but had that goal last year and only read 3 so starting smaller this year.)
• Make healthier choices for myself – exercise, eat healthy, get enough rest
• Get my home organized and clean and maintain it – start with massive re-organization/purging this winter, develop a weekly cleaning schedule, keep main living area 30 min. to company clean.
• Menu plan, incorporate new recipes into our family (at least one a month), cook more from scratch.
• Do a homemade/clean living project each month and add that permanently to our household.  I want to incorporate homemade cleaners, soaps, mixes, etc. into our home.  Like my homemade taco seasoning.  Here are some I plan to tackle in 2013 – homemade laundry detergent, homemade glass cleaner, homemade floor cleaner, homemade furniture polish, and more! 

Continue to grow my blog

• blog about my monthly homemade/clean living project
• learn how to take better photos/use my camera better – have a course I need to work through.  Plan to do that in January/February.
• Continue to bring you budget friendly ways you can decorate your home on a budget.
• attend at least one blog conference – already bought my ticket to Haven, yay!
• manage my time better with work/family/social media
• do and share lots of DIY projects, crafts, room redo’s and more – will share my Home Goals for 2013 in a later post

Be a good steward of our finances

• save more this year by managing our money better
• continue to save towards the purchase of a car.  We saved almost to our goal last year even with low finances in November/December.  But we haven’t need to purchase a car yet so will continue to save. 
• increase our general savings or savings for retirement
• give more – find valid areas outside of our church to this or maybe take on a missionary for support as a family?

Minister to those around me

• have guests in our home once a month – making this a goal yet again so I have something to strive towards.
• minister to others – write our college kids regularly, write a handwritten note to someone else at least once a month.

So there we go!  Some are the same as last year since I didn’t accomplish them last year, or they are things I need to work on each year.

What are some goals you have for this year?  How did you do on your goals last year?