2020 – Decluttering Goals

So… Thursday is the same as Tuesday, right? I guess my blogging goal is still a work in progress… Anyway…

One of the four themes for goals that I mentioned in my first post of 2020 was decluttering…

A couple of years ago now, I had a goal of getting 1000 items out of our house.  I stopped keeping track part way through the year, and while I know I got further along than my last update in May of 2018, I did not make the 1000 goal.

So what are my 2020 decluttering goals?

• 2020 Decluttering Goal #1: Track the number of items leaving the house & work toward a total of 500 items for the year.

Not quite as ambitious as the 1000 items from 2018, but figure that 500 is a bit more realistic (especially since I am starting mid March)… And of course, what do I do when I have something I need to keep track of?  Create a bullet journal spread!!

With this spread I will colour in a block for each item that leaves the house. Since I started tracking last week, I have got rid of 4 items:

• 2 pairs of toddler shoes (could maybe count this as 4 items?)
• 1 baby carrier backpack
• 1 baby bathtub

So here’s the updated spread:

In order to help myself with meeting that 500 item goal, my second decluttering goal is a bit more task oriented goal:

• 2020 Decluttering Goal #2: Pick and complete 1 small decluttering task each week.

The idea being, I will use this blog to give myself accountability for a small task each week to work on organizing and cleaning up my house, and in doing so, work toward my 500 item goal.

Of course, this means another bullet journal spread!

This week (we will call this week 1), I am picking the computer desk area. Obviously my spread only goes until July, not for the whole year, but I am not sure that this particular notebook will actually last that long, so I will deal with that when I get there…

I chose that spot for this week because with all this craziness with the COVID-19 pandemic, I will likely be working from home as much as possible going forward, so I need to get myself a nice tidy spot to set up my computer. I could use the kitchen table, but if I use this desk, then I can keep my computer set up and also close off from the little monster who is also home right now…

For the goal going forward, I will try to do an update with some before and afters every few weeks. I personally LOVE before and after photos…

So there you have it… My decluttering goals for 2020.

Do you have any decluttering goals for 2020?

Advertisement

2020 – Blogging Goals

In my last post I went over my four overall goals for 2020. I guess they were more themes for goals rather than specific goals… So I want to revisit each one with a bit more details, hopefully working towards a “SMART” goal that I can eventually say that I have definitively met.

I’ll start with #3 from my last post because once I commit to blogging, then I can use the rest of my goals to fulfill the blogging goal…

2020 Here We Go!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I am well aware that it is the beginning of March, but I can still say “Happy New Year!”, especially since this is my first post of 2020.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am really hoping to get back in to blogging this year. I really enjoyed it in the past, and not only do I feel like it is a nice creative outlet for me, it is also a good means of documenting and staying accountable for my goals.

I had thought I would get started blogging right away in the new year, but life had other plans for me… I won’t go in to the all details of it, but the short story is that my husband is moving up the ladder at his current job, and unfortunately for me, this means that he is now working out of town for 4 days a week (started at the beginning of January). Adding in the time for travel, that basically makes me a single parent for 5 days a week… A single parent who is also working full time and is responsible for the zoo at our house (1 giant dog + 2 cats)… So, needless to say, it has been an adjustment and I’m still not totally sure I have it under control… But that’s a discussion for another day…

So, what are my goals for 2020?

I’m actually not 100% sure on all my goals at the moment because I think I may take a more fluid approach to my goals this year, rather than making big promises in January February March that are no longer relevant later in the year… But, I have a few overarching themes that I want to address…

And that was 2019…

Hello Friends!

Somehow we are already midway through December.  2019 is ending pretty soon, and the excitement of a new year is ramping up.  I have many goals for 2020, as I always do at the beginning of a new year… But the big one is that I really want to get back in to blogging!  I miss it!  I miss reading blog posts, I miss writing blog posts, and I miss the wonderful online community of friends that I have basically abandoned for over a year now…

2019 flew by in a blur… Lots of things changed and I tried to resist that change and hold on to a lot of things that I felt defined me…  I am slowly realizing that I may have to change my ideas on what I think defines me as a person… 2020 is shaping up to be filled with more changes, and all the challenges that come with that (especially for someone who seems to resist change like I do).  There is lots to look forward to, but also lots that will be difficult and will push me outside my comfort zone.  Plus, 2020 will probably involve potty training a toddler… Not looking forward to that…

Back in March, when I thought I was going to start blogging again (hahaha!), I had many plans and ideas for posts… Most of which are not totally relevant anymore, and, since my brain is mush, my memories of those topics are quite fuzzy… But that’s okay, I’ll probably start with some simple posts just to get myself back in the habit and can work on remembering all the inspiration I had eventually…

Even when I was not actively posting anything here on my blog, my posts about my bullet journal have remained popular.  I am still bullet journaling, although it has definitely taken a turn from the pretty to the purely utilitarian.  I figure that an easy way to get back in to blogging would be to go over some of my recent bullet journal spreads and ideas.  I have a draft post for my “new bullet journal” that I started back in April of 2018… I’ve since been through at least one more journal, if not two… So there is lots of bullet journaling to catch up on…

Anyway, I hope that you all have a happy holiday season, and I look forward to catching up with all of you as I get back in to blogging in the new year.

-Jena.

 

And just like that… 2 months go by…

I was so hopeful when I posted that “Hello, Stranger” post at the beginning of March… Things seemed to be falling in to place, and I had found a bit of spare time to blog…

And then the little one got sick, and my husband went away on a trip, and I dog-sat for my sister for spring break, and we had to do some basement clean-up to get some work done down there, and my dog hurt his paw (he’s fine now), and… and… and…

And now, somehow, it is May.  April?  Not sure what happened to that month…

I’m still working on my new normal with work and baby and such… Trying to find the balance that will also let me blog, because I do really enjoy blogging.

Please have patience with me, I’ll figure it out eventually.  Until then, I’ll randomly pop-in to say hi, and hopefully post something interesting…

Hello Stranger… Been a while…

Did you miss me?  Did you wonder where I’d gone?

Yes, it has been a long 6 or so months since I last posted (my June financial update), and a lot has happened, but I don’t want to abandon my blog, and I’d really like to get back in to posting regularly.  (Okay, I never really posted regularly, but I posted occasionally…)

So, before I just jump back in to posting about my goals and my struggles at becoming a better version of me, I figured I would do a quick life update…

June 2018 – Financial Update

Well… that month just flew by… And now it’s time for another update on my financial goals:

Goal #1 – Emergency Fund

Human Emergency Fund: $0

Pet Emergency Fund: $1570 (- $2720)

Big decrease in the pet emergency fund this month… Some of it was used to get a lump removed from Bentley’s paw, and regular pet expenses… But then a large portion of it was borrowed to fund other expenses, like upgrading some of my husband’s work equipment.  Those expenses I have put under our “planned spending” account that is labeled “husband’s education fund”… So they don’t fall in to our regular monthly expenses… 

May 2018 – Financial Update

I’m late again, but here’s the May update on my financial goals:

Goal #1 – Emergency Fund

Human Emergency Fund: $0

Pet Emergency Fund: $4290 (no change)

We didn’t increase or decrease either of the emergency funds in April, but the pooch has had some issues already this month, so my guess is that the pet emergency fund will have decreased when I do the next financial update in June.

1000 items in 2018… May Update

One of my goals for this year is to get rid of 1000 items from our house. The last time I did an update on this goal, back in February, I had parted with 54 items. Since then I haven’t really been putting any effort in to removing things from our house… in fact, we have probably brought in more than 54 new items while preparing for the new arrival.

When I pulled out my record sheet to see where I was at, there did appear to be 1 more X on the sheet, so we were sitting at 55… so, sometime in February or March, I got rid of 1 thing…

In any case, after a few weeks of maternity leave, I started to have enough energy to tackle some projects around the house… which means I’ve started to go through things that have been down in the basement for months and months with our renovations. And things started to leave the house… it helped that my husband was also motivated to get things out of the house!

And then… Barb over at Decluttering the Stuff put out a challenge to get rid of 100 things before May 1st… I joined the challenge thinking it would be motivation to catch up on my decluttering…

April 2018 – Financial Update

It has been over a month since baby arrived, and I’m slowly getting a handle on things… Attempting to get some sort of order and schedule to my days.  So, even though it’s nearing 3 weeks late, I’ll post my financial goals update for April.