It’s been a while since I set some goals. I had a small list of September goals, which did not go well, and then I didn’t have the headspace for October goals. And now we only have two months left of 2024, so I decided I’d take a good, long look at what I want to accomplish by the end of the year and write out some goals.
1) Hang my floating shelves + some other bookish prints in my room. I bought floating shelves last month and have bookish prints just waiting to be framed and hung up, so it’s time to finally finish this little bookish area of my bedroom.
2) Make and adhere to a cleaning schedule. I struggle with cleaning chores. My apartment is not a pig sty. It is clean and neat, but there are just some cleaning tasks I put off until things get dire and then I go on a cleaning rampage. What I’d like to do is make a doable cleaning schedule that includes maybe 2-3 tasks every day so that things get done in a more orderly fashion. Making this cleaning schedule will be the easy part; adhering to it is another story.
3) Declutter my kitchen cabinets. I really want to do one of those crazy decluttering challenges where I take everything out of my kitchen cabinets, assess what I have and what I need, and then rearrange everything to better suit my needs. My kitchen cabinets are the bane of my existence right now.
4) Create a recipe spreadsheet. How does everyone keep track of recipes? I just have a mental file folder but nothing concrete, which leads me to eating the same things over and over again. I want to create a spreadsheet of recipe ideas so I can get out of my food rut.
5) Get two more tattoos. I’m going to get two small one-line tattoos, a tulip and an anchor, on the inside of my ankles. These are tattoos I’m getting for my mom, as tulips are her favorite flower and she’s my anchor in this crazy world (the anchor also symbolizes our love of cruise vacations).
6) Work through two more sections of “I’m Dead, Now What?” planner. I put this planner at the top of my closet and promptly forgot about it. I’d like to continue filling out this planner so I can have some of it done by the end of the year. It’s not a fun thing to work through, but it is a necessary thing.
7) Restart therapy. It’s time to get back to therapy. I took some time off when I felt like I had reached the end of my therapist’s capacity to help me and felt like I had “graduated” from needing it for the time being. But I feel the desire to be in therapy again, so back I go!
8) Get into a playtime routine with the cats. If you’ve been following my blog, then you know I am not great at having concentrated playtime with my cats. They have plenty of toys and scratchers and fun things to play with on their own (and get plenty of snuggles and pets from me!), but I’d also like to sit down with them for 10 minutes or so on a regular basis for playtime. We have some fun electronic toys and lots of teasers that I rarely bring out, and that’s just a travesty for them!
9) Get 10 minutes of sunshine every morning. My psychiatrist is always telling me how getting sunshine on my eyeballs first thing in the morning is crucial to my circadian rhythm and my mental health as a whole. Some days, I don’t even go outside! It would be different if I had a great porch to sit on or a nice backyard, but I have neither of those things, which means I have to actually put on real clothes and shoes to go outside. (And sometimes interact with people, ack!) But I would like to make this a habit. This is a very easy thing I can do before I get my workday started.
10) Finish the revamp of my “Book List” page. I’ve been working on this page for quite a while now behind the scenes. Originally, my book list was just a long list of books I’ve read (with ratings) dating all the way back to 2011. But I had an idea to separate each year of reading into its own page (here’s an example). Each year will include my favorite books of the year, a few reading states, and then a list of the books I read separated by rating. It’s been so much fun to make these pages, but I still have six years to document so I need to get going!
Is there anything you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year?
Love reading through your goals.
I want to finish my picture wall. I have started but ran out of artwork to hang.
Also want to continue the 10 minute walks. I often fit them in when I are done from work but then it’s dar. Maybe I should take your approach and do the morning walk because my sleep is a joke right now.
As for recipes I am using a digital database an app called Paprika Recipe Manager. I love it. Holds all my recipes segmented into courses and what ever I come up with and I can add my own images and notes what I would tweak next Tim and stuff. my big bucket list as one item on there that also includes recipe organization – I have two binders full of recipes I have not yet digitalized.
As for the cleaning routine.. I with you sister. I struggle. And I actually have been writing a post already on how I will go forward. It’s one of the few pre-planned posts for NabloPo. So stay tuned for my version.
Thanks for the rec, Tobia! I’ll check out Paprika – that sounds like something that I absolutely need.
I’m glad I’m not the only one struggling with a cleaning routine. Why is this so hard?!
Because it is no fun and you have to repeat constantly.
I keep all of my recipes in a big binder. So it’s just sheets of paper, but then I slip them inside those plastic sheet covers so they don’t get all dirty (if I spill anything, it just wipes off)! Years ago it meant I did type up all my favourite family recipes, but I love that now they’re all in one place. It’s definitely nothing fancy, but I’ve loved having my recipes organized this way.
A big binder of recipes is so smart! I don’t have a printer at home, otherwise this is probably what I would do as well!
My recipe system is so similar to Elisabeth’s! I have a binder with plastic sheets. I’ve typed out some recipes, while others are magazine clippings or cards people have given me.
The binder idea is a great one! And omg, magazine recipes!! What a blast from the past, haha.
I’m laughing at the question on how everyone keeps track of recipes. In my head!!!! For some reason I think that if I make something good that the recipe will always be in my internet history or that I wrote about it on my blog in a way that makes it easy for me to find it – NOT!
Anyway, this is a good list of stuff to get done before year end so yay!
I feel you, Birchie! I am the same way. I’m always like, “If it was memorable, I will remember it!!” And yet… I never do. I’m hoping the recipe spreadsheet does the trick!
I also keep my recipes in a binder organized by type (soup/chili, main course, salads, desserts, breakfast, etc). I am a tactile person and need to work off an actual piece of paper, not a website. My recipes are in plastic protector sheets so they stay clean while cooking!
I want to organize and declutter the shelves of our window seat. I will start this project this week when I have some days off from work. Beyond that I want to enjoy this season of the year. It’s my fave time of year and feels extra special and exciting with little kids as they are so excited about Christmas!
The binder is such a great idea! I wish I had a printer at home so I could do this, too, because I much prefer working off something printed rather than my phone.
Having young kids who are excited about the holidays is the BEST.
It sounds like a lot of your things involve habits, like setting up a system so that the thing gets done a certain way or a certain amount of time. I find that these kind of goals have a heavy front end but usually pay off in spades in the back end. Kind of like what Elisabeth said, you have to type out all of the recipes, but once you do all the heavy lifting you have such a much easier time later on.
For recipes, I keep a lot of them in my head, and they are not really “recipes,” they are more like suggestions. For example, chili often is whatever bean and meat and veggie I have on hand with a few spices thrown in, and is often a tiny bit different each time. However, I do also bookmark (online) a few recipes that are tried and true. Also, even though I got rid of everything, I did keep my Joy of Cooking book, which is what we always used to cook with when I was a kid!
Yes, habit formation is the bane of my existence, haha. But I know it will be worth it in the end.
I am SUCH a rule follower when it comes to recipes, lol. I have a hard time playing around and being creative, even though I know that’s what I should be doing!
I have a big binder full of recipes. I haven’t written any of them out, these are recipes that I printed off of the computer. I try to put recipes on my blog, so I can find them when I want to. I have a lot of cookbooks, which I use less and less and should probably get rid of.
When I was growing up, my mom had chore binders for us. There were daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks. She was the queen of being organized. I have no such system, and some things (cleaning the bathtub) don’t happen as often as they should. I’m trying to be better about it.
I had the same type of chore chart! How did my mom keep it all organized while working full-time and being a single mom? It’s astonishing.
Okay, I’m stealing your goal to play with the cats for 10 minutes a day- we’ll see how much I actually do it. Why is this so hard? I love my cats!!!
I have a couple different ways of keeping track of recipes- my most recent one is Pinterest. I have Pinterest only so that I can save recipes- if I come across an interesting looking recipe (usually from Birchie or Suzanne’s blog) I’ll make it, and if I like it I’ll go ahead and pin it, so I know where to find it again.
Your goals are good! Getting 10 minutes of sunshine in the morning would probably help you a lot- but I can see how it’s a little daunting if you have to actually get dressed and interact with people to do it (as opposed to just stepping out into a backyard or something.). Good luck with them!
Honestly, I find playing with the cats kind of… boring… after a few minutes, lol. I think that’s why I don’t do it as much as I should, even though I know they love it!
Pinterest! Why do I always forget about Pinterest?!
I think you read “Atomic Habits” and had mixed feelings about it, but I think there are some good wisdom of nuggets in there to establish better habits (like habit stacking and making small changes at a time).
I have a recipe binder, but also save recipes that I find online in the Pocket app and I also have a recipe board in Feedly.
I did glean some good advice from Atomic Habits – especially the two you mentioned.
Ohhh… a recipe board on Feedly! Now, that’s genius!
Great list! I want to write a similar list so I should get on that! Have you ever tried Notion? It would be perfect for a recipe database! If you want any help or suggestions about Notion let me know, I’m a huge fan and keep my have-read-list and want-to-read list in it just to give a few examples. 🙂
I haven’t heard of Notion – that sounds like something fun to play around with. I’ll give it a try!
These seem like very doable goals. I think the outside goal would be an awesome one that would probably have positive effects on the rest of your day. Maybe a strategy of pairing situation? A book or podcast that you only listen to when you go outside every morning? want to play with/train my puppy for 10 minutes a day. I think I am just going to set a timer and do it until the timer goes off. I might need a sticker chart.
A sticker chart would be helpful! I need to figure out what I can do that will make this goal more exciting for me to accomplish. Incentives work very well for me!
A recipe spreadsheet is a great idea! We have a lot of ours in a folder in google docs, and some are printed. They are all over the place though. LOL.
That new tattoo is going to be so cool! I love the meaning behind it.
I need to get back into my cleaning schedule after my holiday. UUGGH! Recipes I want to try go on a Pinterest board. If they turn out to be keepers they go in an Evernote notebook called “Our Family Recipes” to go into regular rotation.