I don’t know about you but when I think back to last week I keep thinking it was New Years. Umm that was two three weeks ago! (I am a little behind on posting…) What is happening? Time is going at warp speed around here! I wanted to start 2019 off with a bang.

I did have a different bang in mind… Someone has been sick every week since the New Year. I’ve had a slump in getting things done. I talked about this last week and gave some tips of being productive. So I’m going to use those tips and get this year back on track.

This is what I am going to do (and how I planned on starting my year):

• Make more realistic goals
• Make a plan to simplify and organize my house
• Create a better way to track food, exercise, mood, and sleep
• Spend more quality time with those I love

Make More Realistic Goals

Goals are a great way to keep you motivated and working towards something amazing. I have found two ways that can hinder my goal progress. 1) Not having a well thought out plan. 2) Having too many goals or too big of a goal.

If I want to have a clean and simplified house I can not simply make a goal and that it will come true. I need to plan a time to sit down and think or write what I want, what I envision. For example: I went through every room in my house and made a list of things I want to clean, organize, and tidy up.

Then I need to take that big plan and break it down. I have my whole house divided up by rooms. I plan to focus on one room every month. That way I can split it up over many days if I need to. When I think about working on my living room over one month it seems so much less daunting then thinking about my whole house.

As I tackle things on my list I can cross them off. This really helps me to feel accomplished. Oh, and I guess also the nice clean room… haha

Another set back I have had with goal setting is setting too many goals at once. For about 6 months I have been writing monthly goals for blogging. I was having a hard time meeting them all.

Sadly it took me way too long to realize I was making too many goals at once. So for January I made 3 blogging goals. One for social media, one for general blogging, and one for educating myself.

I didn’t stop there. I made a game plan for each of my goals. When I look at my 3 blogging goals for January I am much more confident that I can meet them. I may have a long way to go but I can still do it.

Make A Plan To Simplify My House

I already mentioned my plan to simplify my house. I am pumped to be so much more organized about tackling my house. You can get your own printables here that will help you plan.

Remember you want to take some time to think about what you want for your home. What do you want it to look like? Feel like? How do you envision yourself using the spaces you have?

After you have given it some thought it is time to write your plan down. I’m very much a list person, easy and to the point. You can make a vision board, write some paragraphs, etc. The point is to write your plan down so you have something to stick to and stay on track.

Now that you have your plan written down in some format you can start to make mini goals. My mini goal for January was to make my master plan and take before photos of my house. Now I am going to decide which space to work on first, which I will during February. Then I will plan what I will do weekly.

Once one space is finished (or when the month is over) I will move onto another space in my house. I will be doing before and after photos to show my progress and blog posts about each space, possibly mini spaces as well.

Create A Better Way To Track Food, Exercise, Mood, And Sleep

Pretty sure I have mentioned this before…. but in order for me to be successful in tracking my food intake, exercise, etc. it needs to be easy. I have tried food journals and calorie counting apps. I am not successful, like ever! It takes too long. Or I have to create all my foods. It didn’t work for me.

So if you are like me and need an easy way to track your food intake, exercise, mood, and sleep then I’m on a mission to make the perfect printable. I was hoping to have it done and ready but better late then never, right? 🙂

I promise as soon as I have created the perfect (well, perfect for me and hopefully for you too!) life tracking printable I will let you know. Until then do the best with what you have.

Spend More Quality Time With Those I Love

At night when I am laying my babies down for bed I ask them to tell me 5 of their favorite things from the day. I love hearing what they have to say. I like that they get a minute to reflect on the things that happened. And I am learning more about each of my kiddos.

There are few that tend to be the same: doing this right now (meaning 5 favorite things and singing), eating breakfast with daddy, and usually playing with someone in the family. Right there are three examples of quality time that my kids are voicing that they loved from the day.

We have a goal of doing more family dates and one on one kid dates this year (things that are free and things that might cost money). This quality time when distractions are put away can really help build wonderful relationships with those you love.

Eddy and I have been planning out our year as much as we can. This is the first time we have done this and I am LOVING IT! Why did we not do this before? I got the inspiration from funcheaporfree.com.

One thing we are putting a better effort in is date nights. With Eddy’s work schedule it will be hard to have a specific date night each week. We plan to have 4 dates each month. At the beginning of each month we will sit down and plan out our dates. Some dates will be home dates, some will be going out with other couples, and some will be just us. The point is to make time for each other.

Another must have is GIRL’S NIGHT!!! Woohoo! Talk about starting 2019 off with a bang, I have two girl’s nights planned, thanks to other friends who got the ball rolling. I also need to make plans to hang out with my mom, sisters, sister in laws, and mother in law. Because I have the BEST family, I just love spending time with them. I know that is not the case for everyone. So I suggest you find some people that you can be real with and let stress go when you hang out with them.

What are some goals that you have for making this year your best year yet?? What are you planning on doing to start 2019 off with a bang? I would love to hear what you are working on. Let’s help build each other up and motivate one another. 🙂

Update: Click here to read more about my plans. 🙂

Xoxo, Steph