5 Goals Update

So it has been one month since I posted about my “5 Goals to a Happier Life in 2014”, and I wanted to give an update on my progress with those.

Some things I have done pretty well on and others, not so much. But it’s only been one month and I think any progress is good!

So I posted that I wanted to lose 30lbs by the end of June and I had set a goal to lose about 5 pounds a month. Well I FAILED! In January I didn’t lose a single pound. I was lazy and didn’t even really try. So to give myself a little more motivation I decided to try a reward and penalty. For every month that I meet my goal, I get to reward myself with a new outfit. And every time I don’t reach my goal I then have to divide my remaining weight for the month to the remaining months. So since I didn’t lose any weight last month, I now have to lose either 10 pounds this month or more realistically 6 pounds a month for the next 5 months. I have also changed my mindset of why I want to lose weight. I’m not just doing this for me. I’m also doing this for my wonderful husband, because he deserves to have a beautiful, healthy, happy and confident wife. Not that he doesn’t tell me I’m still beautiful, but I definitely don’t feel it!

Now, I have done much better when comes to my goal of paying our bills on time and sticking to a budget. I have gotten on a schedule of paying the next month’s bills ahead of time to avoid them being late. Since we literally live payday to payday (more like payday to 5 days before payday!) it has been difficult to get all of our bills paid on time. But anytime we have some extra money I make sure to pay some bills ahead of time. That way we aren’t so short on money at other times.

I had set a goal to work on my relationship with my husband, and this has definitely not been easy! Mainly due to the fact that we live on completely opposite schedules. You see, he works the graveyard shift. So he goes in to work @ 9 pm and doesn’t usually get home until after 8 am and he works 5-6 days a week. So that leaves a 1-2 days a week where we get to be together after the kids go to bed. And usually by that time we are both so tired we don’t have to energy to even stay up and watch a movie! We ended up not having our monthly date night in January, but we are going to try to have at least two this month. We had a spontaneous date last Saturday. We were deciding what to have for dinner and decided to ask my MIL to babysit for a couple hours. We went to Costa Vida for the first time and loved it!! It was so nice to have some adult alone time!! Hopefully we will be able to go on another date next payday.

For my cleaning goal, I started a weekly schedule. I’m not super great at following it every day, but it has definitely helped me keep the cleaning manageable. I have one main cleaning chore that I do each day, then I make sure to do the dishes and de-clutter the front room every night. I have gotten better at making the Princess pick up her toys every night to help. I also made sure to leave the weekends free of specific chores and one day during the week to use as a sort of “make-up” day so that if for some reason I didn’t get one or more of the chores done I have time to get them done before the weekend. But I can also use that day as a “day off” if I need it, too. It has also helped with my motivation that the missionaries come over every Saturday. So I have to at least clean on Saturday if not any other day.

I have been able to spend more one on one time with my daughter. We have played her games like, Hungry Hippos, Candy Land, and Cupcake Party. As well as computer games on pbskids.org. I have some folder games that she loves to play and we started going to the library. The games have turned into a lesson for both of us about patience. She has very little of it if she has any difficulty at all, and it drives me insane when she just gives up the first time she gets something wrong.

So all in all, I think I have done pretty well at keeping up with my goals. There is still plenty of room for improvement and I plan to continue working hard on it! I think my main focus for February is going to have to be my weight loss. I really don’t want to have to add on more pounds to the next few months again!!!

I will continue to give monthly updates about my progress. Hopefully this will help keep me motivated so I can have something good to report!!!

Did you make any goals for yourself or even your family?

How did your first month go?

5 GOALS TO A HAPPIER LIFE IN 2014

In 2013, I had a couple pretty big life changing events happen. In June we welcomed baby #2, our Big Boy. This addition resulted me not being able to return to work due to the high cost of daycare. So I became a stay at home mom!!

I was really excited to not have to go back to work and be able to just stay home with my kids every day. I hated waking Princess up so early to just drop her off at daycare for 10 hours every day. Most days she just wanted to stay home, too.

When I first thought about staying home with my kids, I thought it would be so great. It is, really, but it’s also a lot more difficult than I had ever thought. You don’t really think about it, but when you have to go to work you develop a routine and a schedule to get everything done. But when you aren’t required to be up at a certain time it’s difficult to get dressed before noon. Then comes all of the chores and responsibilities. You keep telling yourself it will get done, but unless you set a specific day and time to get it done, it probably won’t get done.

So the key to being a stay at home mom and not just sitting around in your PJ’s all day and eating junk is to have a routine and a schedule. I failed at this. It’s been almost 7 months since our Big Boy was born, and I have yet to develop a routine of any kind.

I have let a lot of things go, like cleaning, bills, spending one on one time with my husband and my daughter, and most of all myself. So to fix this, I have come up with 5 goals that will help fix these problems and hopefully make me and my family happier in the New Year.

Goal #1:               MONTHLY DATE NIGHTS WITH THE HUSBAND

 It is so important for couples with children to make time to be together without the children. It becomes extremely difficult when I am always home with the kids. So making time to have a date night at least once a month, completely away from the children, is very important. It will not only strengthen our relationship but will also help stabilize our family. Our kids will grow up seeing that we will always make time to be together. I plan to set one day every month and make plans to go out. It doesn’t always have to be extravagant or anything. Just having a couple hours to go to dinner or something will be enough. Occasionally, if the finances allow, we will do something extra special. I plan to use some ideas that I find here at The Dating Divas.

Goal #2:               ONE ON ONE TIME WITH MY DAUGHTER

This is so important to me because I don’t do this enough. Since the baby came, I have noticed my daughter and I have not been getting along very well. Every day we fight. She is constantly pushing the boundaries with me and I have lost my patience with her. She is not nicknamed Princess for no reason. She definitely requires a lot of patience. So, I am hoping that by spending at least 30 minutes of one on one time with her every day it will help us to get along better. This time can be spent dong anything other than watching T.V. We could play barbies, or work on her letters, or paint. Just so that it’s about me and her. No little brother or even Dad. I have a ton a ideas on my Pinterest board for Educational Activities. As well as just some fun arts and crafts activities that will help keep these fun for her and easy for me!

Goal #3:                               LOSE 30 LBS BY JUNE 1^ST

So I had lost most of the weight I had gained with baby #2 by just a few weeks postpartum. I was pretty proud of myself for it, too. But as the time has gone by, I have gained almost all of it back. I am so mad at myself for letting this happen. Especially that since I am always home, using the, I don’t have time excuse, doesn’t work. I have no excuse but pure laziness. So I have decided that if I lose 5 lbs a month, starting in January, I will be back down to a good healthy weight. Once I reach that goal I will set another goal depending on how much I still need to lose. But, I think that 5lbs a month is pretty doable.

Goal #4:               GET INTO A ROUTINE AND CLEANING SCHEDULE

I never thought it would be so difficult to keep up on the daily responsibilities when you’re home every day. But it is very difficult when you don’t have a boss telling what needs to be done and when. It’s especially difficult because there isn't really a start and end time for this “job”. It’s a 24/7 job, so it is easy to just say I’ll do it later or tomorrow. It’s a bad habit and I need to break it. So I am hoping that by setting up a scheduled routine, I can break out of this vicious cycle I am in. I have tried this many times already and I think the reason I keep giving up on it is because I’m trying to do too much in the beginning. I think that if I start small with just doing a few things every day, then slowly working up to a bit more, I will be able to stick to it. My plan is to have some daily chores that have to be done every day, like the dishes and picking up toys and clutter. Once I get good at keeping up on the day to day stuff, I will start adding in weekly chores. But I need to make sure to give myself a couple days to have a free day. That way I can have a “day off” if I want or catch up if I missed a chore on another day. This is my favorite example of a cleaning schedule that I found on Pinterest.

Goal #5:               PAY EVERY BILLS ON TIME EVERY MONTH

Now, for some, this may seem like no problem and you’re probably thinking why this would be on my top 5 goals. Well anyone that knows me, knows I am probably the most forgetful person ever! I have always struggled with remembering to do things. I used to get into so much trouble as a kid because of this problem. My parents never believed when I told them I had forgotten. But I think now they know, it was pretty true. I think I can incorporate this goal in with my routine. If I set times every week to take care of the finances, I think I can get it under control. This is the Bill Binder that I use to help keep my bills organized.

So, there you have it. My five goals that I hope will make my life easier, make my family and me happier, and maybe even teach my kids a thing or two about responsibilities and motivation.

What goals are you setting for yourselves for the New Year? 

And, no, I am not going to call them New Year’s Resolutions, because I plan to continue these well after the year 2014.