And suddenly it’s March! February was a wonderfully exciting month. I went through a breakup that only made me feel happiness and relief, and this steadfast assuredness that singleness is right where I want to be. I became an aunt for the second time, and my brand-new nephew is squishy and adorable. And I celebrated Valentine’s Day with one of my favorite gal pals, complete with DIY pizza, Clueless, and manicures. All in all, I can look back on February with lots of fondness.

Here’s a look back on the goals I set for last month and the progress I made with them:

> finances: start using a cash budget system for groceries and extra expenses

I attempted this but did not follow through as I should have. Early on in the month, I came to the conclusion that using a cash budget for my groceries just doesn’t work for me. But I really do want to get better at using cash for any extra purchases – toiletries, meals out, shopping, etc. I need to be stricter with myself and learn that when my cash is gone, I can’t just supplement with my debit or credit card. (Duh, Steph!)

> nagging task: clean out and declutter the screened-in patio

Success! Cleaning out the screened-in patio has been the epitome of a nagging task. My mom and I have been talking for months about how we need to clean it out, but we just… don’t. We set aside some time last weekend and cleaned it out. We got rid of so much stuff: two bikes, a heavy toolbox, three beach chairs, a painting that we never hung up, and tons of other odds and ends. I am so glad to cross this task off my list! Here is the before and after:

> health: start using a food journal to track what I’m eating and how I’m feeling

Yes! I originally started by using a paper journal and tracking down what I was eating and how it made me feel, but I quickly realized that method wasn’t working for me. I didn’t feel good about it. So I switched over to MyFitnessPal, which I know works better for me. Calorie counting isn’t ideal, but it does work and it helps me with portion control. I just gotta be consistent!

> exploration: visit the zoo

I didn’t get around to visiting the zoo this month. The day I had planned to go wound up being my nephew’s birthday! 🙂

> personal habit: turning off the computer and TV by 8:00 p.m.

I am not doing this all the time, but I am doing it more often than not. And I feel so good when I do shut everything down by 8pm, take a long and hot bubble bath, and settle into bed to read for 30-45 minutes. It’s the perfect way to end the day!

Three out of the five goals achieved! I am very happy about that because I crossed off some really big goals. Here are the goals I’ll be striving for in March:

> finances: utilize a cash budget system for toiletries, eating out, and other entertainment

> nagging task: launch a new blog theme

> health: eliminate soda completely from my diet 

> exploration: enjoy Savannah and eat at Olde Pink House

> personal habit: buy an alarm clock and stop using my phone right before bed and right as I wake up

What is one goal you’d like to accomplish in March?

Goal-setting is something that is always on my mind. I love to think about ways I can better myself and improve my life. That’s not to say I’m unhappy with who I am or where I am right now in my life. In fact, I am extremely happy with my life. I like who I am, I like where I’m headed, and it has taken a lot of work for me to get here. My life at 27 doesn’t look anything like I thought it would, but that’s okay. It’s my life. It’s my journey. And I’m really, really enjoying the process of discovering who I am, what I want, and what makes me abundantly happy.

But goal-setting. Back to the heart of this post. I love setting goals. I love big goals and small goals, scary goals and silly goals. But I want my goal-setting to be intentional. For the longest time, I’ve been setting very arbitrary goals. I haven’t really thought about why I’m setting the goals… they’re just based on a feeling. Or this idea that this is a goal I should be setting.

I’m so tired of the “should have’s.” I want to revoke that phrase from my vocabulary. There is no “should have,” there is only “I want to’s.”

Kathleen is someone I greatly admire and I have loved seeing her goal-setting process this year. One thing I really like is how she set aside five areas of her personal life to make improvements. These aren’t big areas like spirituality or finances, but smaller, “nonessential” (as she calls them) areas that tend to take a backseat to the bigger goals. I really like this idea. I like it so much that I decided to copy it and use it for myself.

So I had to come up with five areas of my life where I also wanted to see improvements throughout the year. I decided to make my areas a little more all-encompassing, though, because some of the personal areas I want to work on are big. Here’s what I decided on:

> finances (saving money, paying off debts, and spending my money more intentionally)

> health (losing weight, eating better, and working out on a consistent basis)

> nagging tasks (this one is stolen from Kathleen’s list – one task per month that I continually put off but will make me feel soooo much better once I finally get it done!)

> exploration (tackling items off my Tampa Bay to-do list, travel, putting myself out there)

> personal habits (adding one new habit to my life a month to improve my happiness, enhance my health, and/or get me on the path I want to be on)

Now, each month I will identify one goal that I want to tackle to address each area of personal growth. So, without further ado, here are my goals for February:

> finances: start using a cash budget system for groceries and extra expenses

> nagging task: clean out and declutter the screened-in patio

> health: start using a food journal to track what I’m eating and how I’m feeling

> exploration: visit the zoo

> personal habit: turning off the computer and TV by 8:00 p.m.

Do you have any goals for February?

Around September of last year, I took a break from setting monthly goals because I was feeling a bit burned out. I can admit to myself that I was in a funk for a few months toward the end of 2014, and I felt a bit like a duck – I looked cool, calm, and collected on the outside but inside, I was trying furiously to keep my head above water. I was just a bit mentally exhausted, so I did what I do best: I took a step back from the things causing me stress, settled inward, and focused on working through the funk. Which I did, and I’m in a better place (muuuuuch better) today than I was then.

And I’m so, so ready to bring back my monthly goals. I’m ready to take on some challenges, get back to my routine, and enjoy all January has to offer. Here are the goals I’m striving for this month:

1. Budget carefully, and only buy necessities. I’ve gone a wee bit off the deep end with my spending lately. There was Christmas, there were #treatyoself shopping adventures, and there was a St. Augustine getaway. I don’t regret a single penny spent, but it’s time to rein in the spending and get back to a strict budget. My goal for January (and probably longer, if I can manage it) is to not spend money on myself, only on necessities. I need to build my savings back up, as well as pay off my credit card that was swiped a little too frequently in December. (This does not include eating out. I’ve just accepted I like to eat out more than other people. Though I do hope to calm down how often I eat out. December was crazy, is what I’m saying.)

2. Get back to healthy eating. Well, the good news is that my appetite has come back. Though I will admit it wasn’t that bad to lose 10 lbs in 3 weeks without trying too hard. Now that my appetite is back, it’s time to get back to healthy eating. Meal planning, home-cooked meals, and choosing better foods when I eat out. I’m not setting any particular measurable goal for this… just to eat healthier as often as I can.

3. Start training for a 5k. Here’s some exciting news: I signed up to run a 5k at the end of March. Even better than that? It’s in Savannah! Yep – I’m going back. (And yep, I’m traveling six hours just to run a 5k because I love that city so gosh durned much!) But I am in no way ready to run a 5k. I can walk it, but I really want to push myself, train hard, and have a great race in my favorite city. I’m so excited!

4. Finish my Holiday Council work. Yes, yes, yes. I still have not finished the Holiday Council work. And I’ve only listened to the first call and one of the interviews. I love the Holiday Council so much, so it’s really bugging me that I put it aside in December. I want to spend some time in January going through the worksheets, the calls, and the interviews so I’m ready to attack 2015!

5. Declutter and organize. My bedroom, my bathroom, the kitchen, the closets, the patio… all of it needs to go through a massive decluttering spree. Deep breaths. I can do this!

Do you have any goals for January?

Complete honesty? I had no fricken idea what goals I set for myself in August. I knew I had challenged myself to work out 31 times, but my other four goals? No clue! So it’s not very surprising that I didn’t do too well this month. I’m going to try to be better at tracking my progress throughout the month and doing weekly check-ins with myself to hopefully stay on task! But, alas, let’s recap August goals and set new intentions for September, shall we?

Recapping August goals…

Purge my closet and come up with my capsule wardrobe. PASS. I went through a huge closet purge in early August, getting rid of almost half my clothes! It was so needed and I feel so much better with what’s left. Only the clothes I really love made the cut. I made a list of my ideal capsule wardrobe, and I’ll be slowly adding new items to my wardrobe that more closely fit my style.

Work out 31 times. FAIL. I worked out 25 times in August. That’s still pretty darn good, though!

Complete the 28-Day Food Change Challenge. FAIL. Oh, I wanted this program to be a success for me, but for some reason, I just couldn’t make it work in the way I needed it to. I’ve got all the paperwork, though, so maybe sometime in the future, I can try it again.

Leave my credit card at home. FAIL. Super fail. This was not a success at all.

Stay away from fast food. FAIL. I just couldn’t quit Chick-Fil-A this month, I ate it maybe four different times. Darn!

In September, I want to…

Start using MyFitnessPal again. I complain about the monotony of tracking what I eat, but it’s one of the best ways to keep me focused on healthy eating. If I want to lose weight, I need to track!

Save 20% of my income. September is going to be a rather spendy month since I have three birthdays to celebrate. But I’m going to try to be strict with saving 10% of each of my paychecks, so I can watch that savings account of mine grow.

Go to bed by 9:30. I’ve been very lax on my bedtime lately, and I’m only getting around 6 hours of sleep a night. That is not enough for me! I need to really make a 9:30 bedtime a priority because proper sleep is an important part of healthy living.

Write 10,000 words in my novel. That amounts to about 2,000 words per weekend. Doable! I really need to be more motivated with my fiction writing.

Visit two new-to-me restaurants. I’m in a food rut – especially when it comes to eating out – so I’d like to visit two new-to-me restaurants this month and stretch my food comfort zones a bit. This goal also goes hand-in-hand with my Tampa Bay Project, as one of my goals on that list is to visit 10 non-chain restaurants in the area. A win-win!

What is your biggest intention for September? Mine is eating healthy 80% of the time!