It’s the beginning of the month, which means it’s time to discuss my monthly goals. I’m pretty happy with how I did, with the exception of not successfully completing a no-spend month. Argh! I am pretty upset with myself for not getting it done, but it is what it is. Here’s how my monthly goals went for March:

1) Accomplish my first no-spend month of the year.

Unfortunately, I did not accomplish this. March ended up being a really crazy month for me with lots of plans, some of which came up last minute. I should have been better at telling friends that I was doing a no-spend month, but I wasn’t. I was doing well up until the 22nd when things just fell apart for me. So, my plan is to do a 60-day no-spend challenge from June 1 – July 30 and do weekly updates on the blog because I need that kind of accountability.

2) Reorganize and redecorate my bathroom.

Complete! I reorganized my under-sink cabinets, removing all of the baskets I had and replacing them with a pull-out drawer system that is working a million times better. I also redecorated with a new shower curtain, new rugs, new towels, and a new shower caddy. After four-ish years with the same pink-and-white shower curtain, my bathroom feels so different with a teal one!

3) Watch the first six episodes of Game of Thrones.

Oof, not complete. Honestly, I’m okay with not making this goal. I don’t really think GoT is for me. Not because it’s fantasy or anything like that… I just don’t do well with intense, dramatic shows. They affect me way more than the average person. Maybe one day I’ll watch the entire series, but it’s not something I care about doing right now.

4) Drink less soda.

Complete! I am averaging around 3-4 sodas a week, which is much better than my habit of drinking 1-2 sodas every day. I recently discovered that if I drink too many sodas in a row, I get weirdly light-headed. I couldn’t figure out what was causing this symptom until I stopped drinking soda and then would have 2-3 sodas in a row. I’m fine if I have one soda and then wait a day or two before having another one, so that’s what I’ve been trying to do. It’s not ideal to have this symptom, but it does help me drink less soda!

5) Hang my jewelry organizer.

Nope – I kept forgetting to ask my brother if I could borrow his drill to hang up my jewelry organizer. I’m also slightly intimidated about hanging it since I have to use a drill, so I keep putting this off and my necklaces remain in a clump on my bathroom counter.

6) Make a writing portfolio.

Not complete. I recently learned that I’m not allowed to use the writing I do for work on a writing portfolio, sooo I guess there’s really no need for me to have a fancy-schmancy writing portfolio. The portfolio page on my blog will have to suffice.

So, only two of the six goals I set were completed in March, but I’m still happy with my progress since two of the four uncompleted goals weren’t done on purpose. And now, onto my April/May goals. I’m combining these two months together since I won’t have space in my blog schedule to report on my progress until early June. Here they are:

1) Drink at least 16 oz of water every day.

As is well documented on this blog, drinking water is one of my biggest struggles. One of my yearly goals for 2019 is to develop a daily water-drinking habit, and I really want to focus on this intention over these next two months. My goal is small at 16 oz but that feels very doable for me.

2) Be present in Ireland.

On my cruise last year (which came right as a major depressive episode hit), I had a real hard time being present. I was in a state of intense anxiety for the whole trip and all I wanted was for the cruise to be over so I could be home in my own bed. It’s an awful feeling to be on a fun vacation, one you’ve paid good money for, and not enjoy it at all. I am hoping the same doesn’t happen while I’m in Ireland. I hope I can be present and enjoy each day as it comes, and I’m going to work real hard to make that possible.

3) Hang my jewelry organizer.

It didn’t get done in March, so it’s back on the list. Hopefully, over these next two months, I can finally get it done!

4) Rejoin WW when I’m back from my trip.

I’m planning to use the online-only version of WW because I’ve never found the meetings to be very helpful. I do like the accountability of being weighed in front of someone, but I’m going to try it on my own for a while and see how it goes.

5) Go to Panera once a week to write.

April is going to be a very busy month, especially on the weekends, so it’s going to be a struggle to meet my weekly writing goal. I’ve been wanting to add in a midweek writing session to my schedule, and the easiest way to do that is to head to Panera right after work, laptop in tow, to knock out a few hours of writing. April is a good month to start this!

6) Check my bank account every morning.

I’ve fallen into a bad habit of not checking my bank account for… weeks, sometimes. I just get worried about what my balance will look like, so I just don’t check it. Which is terrible because what if there’s some charge on there that shouldn’t be there?! Ack. I want to get in the habit of checking it every morning so I’m not surprised by any crazy charges and can feel more in-the-know about where I stand financially.

And just like that – we’re in March! I am excited about this month because it should be a fun one and it should be a frugal one, as I am taking on my first of four no-spend months (more on that below). However, in February, my goals did not go as planned. I definitely did not have a 100% success rate like I did in January. It happens! Here’s how I did:

1) Organize all my files.

Complete! I shredded some older documents, switched over my 2018 files into my bigger filing box, and made file folders for 2019 documents. It feels good to have this done!

2) Give up candy.

Complete! I successfully resisted it and I think I may keep going with this goal because it was pretty easy.

3) Track my food.

Nope. I did not even attempt to track my food this month, heh. I am trying to eat healthier, of course, but I just don’t like the way I feel when I track what I eat. It makes me feel a little crazy, honestly.

4) Spend 10 minutes stretching every morning.

Oof. I did this maybe a few times but definitely not consistently. It just never became a habit for me (I should have put a reminder in my phone) so I kept forgetting to do it in the morning. My back still doesn’t feel great, so I may try visiting a chiropractor again.

5) Start my nighttime routine by 8 p.m. on weeknights.

Lol, no. I usually get home around six and if I start my nighttime routine at eight, that gives me exactly two hours to myself at night and that’s just not enough time to make dinner, play with the cats, watch a show, clean up, etc. Maybe starting my nighttime routine by 9 p.m. is a more reasonable time.

6) Work out every day in February.

Nope. I was doing well until I had a six-day slump in which I didn’t work out once. I got back on track after that slump and was doing good. But then, everything got totally derailed when I got all bit up while at an outdoor bar at the end of the month (mosquito bites in February – what?!) I ended up with allergic reactions to three of the bites that were on my feet. It made my feet swell up and the skin get very hot and tight, which meant going on long walks and wearing sneakers was not an option. What a weird reason to not hit my goal, but alas! I am only three days behind, though, on my goal of working out 150 times this year so I’ll definitely be able to get back on track in March.

Okay, so two out of six goals complete isn’t my best but it’s better than zero, right?! And I am happy that I abstained from candy for all of February. Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in March:

1) Accomplish my first no-spend month of the year.

One of my goals for 2019 is to do a no-spend month once a quarter, and March is the month I’ve decided to do it for Q1. A no-spend month means only spending money on essentials, so I won’t be eating out or doing any shopping or spending money on experiences this month. I do have a few things already planned: lunch with my work book club, an author event, dinner with a friend, a waxing appointment, and my local book club’s monthly outing, but that’s it. I won’t be making new plans or saying yes to spontaneous dinners out. It won’t be easy but will totally be worth it.

2) Reorganize and redecorate my bathroom.

This is another item on my 2019 goals list, so it will feel good to mark this complete! I have been slowly accumulating items to redecorate my bathroom (new towels, a new shower curtain, a new shower caddy, etc.) and I’ll finally be able to switch everything out this month. I’m also planning to reorganize the cabinet under my bathroom sink because it is a mess right now. After seeing this photo from The Home Edit on Instagram, I decided this was exactly what I needed – drawers! I purchased a set from Target and I’m excited to pull everything out and reorganize this cabinet so it works better for my needs.

3) Watch the first six episodes of Game of Thrones.

I have had so many people tell me I need to watch Game of Thrones, but I’ve never seen a single episode and I’m not sure if the show is right for me. As a highly sensitive person, I can’t watch a lot of scary or gory or intense TV shows or movies. I’ve never had the inclination to watch Game of Thrones but recently promised one of my coworkers that I would watch the first six episodes and give it a fair shot before writing off the show as something not for me. (Apparently, it took him six episodes to truly get hooked, which is why he wants me to watch six episodes.) I’m going to give it a fair shot, but if the first episode messes me up, I won’t be continuing.

4) Drink less soda.

I know, I know. Having goals that can’t be measured is a no-no! But I know what this means for me. It means not buying soda to keep at home (which I’ve already started doing and now keep Polar seltzer on hand for when I need the carbonation), opting for water when I’m at a restaurant, and not succumbing to the vending machine at work. It should be an attainable goal!

5) Hang my jewelry organizer.

I got a jewelry organizer for Christmas and I have yet to hang it because I need to borrow a drill to do so. I’m going to try to borrow a drill from my brother so I can finally get this done.

6) Make a writing portfolio.

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, and it’s finally time to make it happen. I have a portfolio page on this blog, but I want something a bit more professional, so I’m researching options and then hoping to spend a few hours building it out.

Happy February, my friends! January always seems to feel like a long month, but I didn’t mind it being that way honestly. It was nice to have nearly five whole weeks to ease into the year. I am really happy with January – it was a productive month and a happy one. Can’t get better than that!

Here’s how I did with my goals for January:

1) Get blood work done.

Complete! I took care of this on the first Saturday in January, and I’m actually meeting with my doctor this afternoon to discuss the results. I was able to look at my results already, and some of my numbers were a little concerning. She’s a proactive doctor but not an alarmist, so I’m interested in how she interprets my results.

2) Set Eloise up with a new vet and sign up for pet insurance.

Complete! I took Eloise to the vet in early January and she had some tests done to make sure she was fully healthy, and everything came back normal. She’s also at a healthy weight, which meant I was able to ditch the wet cat food and put her on a dry food only diet. Woo! I also set her up with Banfield’s wellness plan but after much discussion with other pet owners on Instagram, I think I’m going to end up canceling the plan and start a savings account for her pet expenses instead of forking over $40-$50 a month for pet insurance.

3) Get new tires and a wheel alignment.

Complete! This whole process wound up costing much less than I expected ($166 for two tires and an alignment!) I am so glad I found this mechanic. His prices are so reasonable and he can usually get me in for an appointment quickly. His shop is also within walking distance of my apartment, which meant I dropped my car off in the morning on a day I worked from home and picked her up in the afternoon – easy as that!

4) Try out a meal delivery system.

Complete! For three weeks, I subscribed to Catered Fit’s meal delivery service where they delivered two pre-made meals right to my door. All I had to do was heat them up and enjoy! However, I canceled the service this week because the expense was a little too much to justify. Back to cooking I go!

5) Schedule a dermatology appointment.

Complete! Fun fact: my appointment was already scheduled and I had it in my calendar. I completely forgot that I had booked this appointment last year! I honestly couldn’t remember if I had gone for my annual skin check in 2018 but apparently not only did I go to this appointment – I also scheduled a new appointment. Oy.

6) Sign up for Mint and organize my budget.

Complete! This one almost didn’t get done because I was having the hardest time connecting my bank with Mint. Originally, I wasn’t using the correct login info so I kept changing my bank password and Mint still wasn’t accepting it. I finally gave up after a few tries, nervous about my bank locking me out of my account. Finally, I went back to Mint this week and was able to get my bank connected and spent some time organizing my budget categories. I’m still not exactly sure how I want to use Mint but I think I just need to spend more time on the app to figure it out.

How’s that for productive? Six out of six goals complete! WOO! I can’t remember the last time I went 100% on my goals, so I’m really happy with that.

Here’s what I want to accomplish in February:

1) Organize all my files.

I keep a lot of files. I keep files I probably don’t even need to keep (like all of my pay stubs, which can be accessed online). And I have two filing systems: one for files for the current year and one for files for past years/important documents. At the beginning of every year, I like to spend a little time reorganizing my files. I take the files in my “current year” filing system and move them into my “past year” filing system. And then I also look at all of my other files and see if there is anything I can shred (especially anything that is more than seven years old). It’s a nerdy little exercise and I’m excited to tackle it in February!

2) Give up candy.

You guys. I feel like a child making this a goal for February but it needs to be done. I have fallen into a habit of picking up a bag of candy during my normal grocery shopping routine and eating a few pieces every day. And no, that’s not a problem in and of itself but I feel slightly out of control around candy, and those few pieces are usually combined with an ice cream bar or cookies after dinner or snacks from the work break room during that inevitable 3pm slump. So, I’m cutting candy out of my life for the next 28 days. It must be done.

3) Track my food.

This is one of those goals I seem to always come back to, even though I realllllly hate tracking my food. But I’m doing it as an experiment and I’m going to track it in a journal, not on My Fitness Pal, to get in the habit of writing down what I’m eating and how it makes me feel. I just want to spend the month analyzing what I’m eating, how hungry I get between meals, how I feel after I eat certain foods, and how I can build myself a diet that makes me feel good and also helps me to lose weight.

4) Spend 10 minutes stretching every morning.

I wake up every morning with lower back pain and I’m really just tired of it. I may end up going back to a chiropractor about it, but first I’m going to experiment with stretching. I want to spend the first 10 minutes of every morning doing a few lower back and morning stretches to loosen my muscles and see if it makes me feel better.

5) Start my nighttime routine by 8 p.m. on weeknights.

This is another goal I seem to consistently put on my goals list. I used to be so good about getting to bed by 9 p.m., but lately, I find myself either trying to finish up a blog post or scrolling through Instagram late in the evening so that I’m not getting to bed until 10 or 11 p.m. As mentioned during my posts about sleep, I require a lot of sleep (more than the average person) and I need to make sure I’m getting that. This goal is as much about self-care as my nightly bubble bath ritual, and I need to treat it as such.

6) Work out every day in February.

I only worked out seven times in January, which puts me behind in my goal of working out 150 times this year. I’m just not in the habit of working out regularly right now but I think that challenging myself to get in a workout every day in February (even if it’s just a walk!) will help me gain some traction on my workout goal and get me back in that workout routine.

What’s something you want to do or accomplish in February?

Ah, it’s time to get back to my monthly goals! I took the latter part of the year off because, well, goal setting wasn’t top of my priority list while grieving the loss of my beloved grandpa. But it’s a new year and hopefully a new me, and I’ve got some great goals to start off the year with:

1) Get blood work done.

It’s been years since I’ve had my blood work done. I need to go to an actual diagnostic center for blood work because my veins are notoriously hard to get a needle into, but I have the paperwork and this is an easy task I can cross off in January. I may even just go to my local Quest location first thing tomorrow to get it done!

2) Set up Eloise with a new vet and sign up for pet insurance.

I’m sort of cheating with this goal because Eloise has an appointment today with the vet. 🙂 But it has been my goal for January since I adopted her, so I’m still counting it! I just want to get her in their system and also check in on some issues she had prior to me getting her and make sure she’s healthy. I’m also going to talk to them about her feeding schedule because she’s been on a “put on all the weight” diet since she was rescued and was skin and bones. I leave out dry food for her at all times and also give her a can of wet food twice a day. I’m hoping I can stop with the wet food soon because that ish is expensive. And, I also need to sign up for pet insurance! Whew. A big month for little Ellie.

3) Get new tires for my car and a wheel alignment.

I’ve been putting this off for far longer than I should, and the anxiety I experience every time I drive my car on the highway means I need to get this taken care of ASAP, if only for my mental health. I replaced two of my tires last year (thanks to two tire blowouts on the highway, hence the anxiety), so I only need to replace the other two and I also need a wheel alignment, which is always a costly maintenance fix. I’ve gotten estimates from a few companies, so now I just need to get a few more estimates and then schedule the appointment.

4) Try out a meal delivery system.

So, I hate to cook. I do not find cutting vegetables relaxing and nothing I make ever seems worth the amount of work it takes. Plus, as a single gal, a lot of my meals end up providing way too many leftovers than are good. But I can’t keep eating out – I want to lose 40 lbs this year! So, I’ve decided to test out a meal delivery service. It’s expensive, but I already spend an astronomical money on food when I account for eating out, Starbucks, and grocery store runs. I’ll probably end up spending the same amount of money, honestly! I’m a little apprehensive, though, because I am a very picky eater but I’m willing to give it a try.

5) Schedule a dermatology appointment.

I usually go for my annual skin check in January or February, and this time, I’m going to talk to my derm about getting all my skin tags removed and what that process entails. Gosh, it will feel so good to have them removed! They annoy me so much and some of them can even be painful.

6) Sign up for Mint and organize my budget.

I am so intimidated by the process of getting my budget organized on Mint, but it needs to be done. Maybe I’ll make this special and take myself to Starbucks while I do it! (Does that defeat the purpose of using a budgeting system to be better at money? Hmm.)

What’s something you want to accomplish in January?