I did okay with my March goals – 6/10, and the ones I didn’t complete won’t be a huge surprise (walking, water, sigh). But I got the important goals done (like renewing my passport!) and I’m happy with how many goals I’ve been completing this year. I’m doing good! And I’m choosing to be proud of myself for what I have accomplished, not what I haven’t.
Here’s my report for March:
1) Renew my passport. Complete! There are so many steps to renewing a passport. I really wish I could just schedule an appointment and get it all done in one place! It’s nervewracking to have to mail it in and cross my fingers I did everything right. Anyway, the renewal has been mailed so now I just wait on pins and needles for it to go through!
2) Do a full-scale cleaning of my fridge and freezer. Complete! It felt so good to get this done. I was able to throw out so many expired condiments and freezer meals I have no intention of ever eating. (I was also very grateful that I didn’t find any troubling science experiments! Has that ever happened to you? I’ve had to throw out entire Tupperware containers of moldy food before. Ugh.) My fridge and freezer got a great wipe-down and everything is reorganized. It looks so much better!
3) Walk one mile every day (5/31). Oof.
4) Review 2014 and 2015 blog posts and list out the posts, categories, and tags. Complete! This is such a big goal, but I’m getting it done.
5) Track my time for a week. Complete! I enjoyed the experiment a lot. My thoughts here.
6) Fill up my water bottle every morning. Not complete. I am so bad at this.
7) Deal with my weird leg pain. Not complete. Most of you recommended that I see a PT about this leg pain. I meant to schedule a doctor’s appointment to get a referral, but just never got around to it.
8) Commit to a 10pm bedtime. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
9) Keep track of my phone usage throughout the month. Complete! It’s been very, very eye-opening to track my phone usage and see where I’ve been spending my time when I’m on my phone. A full report to come next week!
10) Start cutting down the girls’ treats. Complete! They are down to 22 calories/day in treatos, and I think that’s a good place for them to be. They haven’t been too annoyed with the reduced treats, so that’s a relief, ha.
April Goals
1) Have a no-spend month. I’ve decided that I want to challenge myself to a no-spend month once a quarter. I know some people don’t see the point in no-spend months because… when the challenge ends, won’t you just buy the things you put off buying? And maybe some people do, but that’s never something I’ve had to worry about for myself. A no-spend month for me is a lesson in discipline and not buying myself something I want just because I can. Plus, I am not a naturally frugal person and it’s good for me to give my bank account a break from the constant spending every now and then. My no-spend month means not spending money on frivolous purchases (toiletries and supplies are ok, nail polish and earrings are not) and I’m also going to challenge myself to abstain from takeout orders this month. Eeks!
2) Reorganize my Google Drive. I really wish there was a better way to organize my Google Drive. And maybe there is, but I just haven’t found it yet? (Please send me any links to beautifully organized Google Drives!) As it stands, I have a few color-coordinated folders that I forget to use. I have dozens and dozens and dozens of untitled documents and I have no idea what any of them are for. It’s time to dig in and figure out a better categorization system so that my Google Drive doesn’t feel like a digital wasteland anymore.
3) Move my body for 30 minutes every day. I am planning on alternating between Peloton workouts and long walks. I am committing to moving my body in some way every single day in April!
4) Review 2016 and 2017 blog posts and list out the posts, categories, and tags. Another month, another blog categorization goal.
5) Take the dogs to Salty Paws in Dunedin. I’ve been wanting to take Chip and Lucy to this adorable ice cream shop for dogs for a long time now. Making it a goal means I’m much more apt to make it happen!
6) Fill up my water bottle every morning. It’s going on the list until it becomes a habit.
7) Make a doctor’s appointment. I have a few concerns to address with my doctor: the weird leg pain as noted above, this lump on the arch of my foot (pretty sure it’s a fibroma, but my mom wants me to see my doc about it—in my 30s and still doing what my mom tells me to do!), and my hypoglycemia.
8) Eliminate red meat. One of the best ways to lower cholesterol is to eat less red meat and I tend to eat more of it than I should. I want to eliminate it fully from my diet in April and see how I feel.
9) Decide on my tattoo design. I have wanted to get a tattoo to commemorate my grandma for a while now but the pandemic put those plans on hold. I have a vague idea for my tattoo but I need to sketch it out so I at least have something to show the tattoo artist when it’s time to make the appointment.
10) Make an extra car payment. This will be a stretch goal, but I think I can get it done this month especially since it’s a three-paycheck month and I’m doing my no-spending, no-takeout challenge.
Do you have any goals this month?
I have been working on my quarter two goals and I definitely have a lot of rollover goals, too. I have a lot of goals inspired by you, including drinking more water and I’m going to do a week where I track my time at some point. I wonder if it will be good for me or just make me more neurotic about time passing on the planet than I normally am!
Way to go setting realistic goals for yourself! You can do it!
Oh, no! I hope time-logging doesn’t make you feel anxious about time passing. I definitely understand that feeling, though. That usually happens to me on Friday nights, lol. It’s fun to get existential on a Friday night!
Good luck on your no-spend month! A few years ago I did a “no new clothes for a year” thing and IT WAS HARD. I sometimes think I should do something like that again, but haven’t yet.
Ooh, no new clothes for a year! I feel like I did something similar at one point. That’s HARD! I like my little monthly no-spending goals because it really makes me stop and think why I think I *need* a certain item.
Ah yes. The fridge cleanout. Last time I did that, it was so bad that I did end up throwing out a bunch of containers that really should have been reused or recycled- I just couldn’t deal with cleaning out the mold. I felt REALLY BAD about that, so ever since then I’ve been much better about keeping it clean.
Your April goals sound good! Yes, keep putting the water goal on your list until it becomes a habit. i like how you’re not beating yourself up about not reaching all the goals- just try again this month.
Ever since your last monthly goals post I’ve also been cutting down on the cat treats a little- my black cat is definitely getting chubby. But I love giving them treats so much! : )
It’s so disappointing to throw out a perfectly good container because of moldy food. That’s happened to me so many times!
Beating myself up about not completing a goal just isn’t motivating for me. Giving myself grace to try again is much more useful. I’ll get there… someday!
Three paycheck months feel absurdly special!! WOO!
They are the best kinds of months! Woop!
The fridge clean out is so satisfying, isn’t it? I took before and after pics when I did that earlier this year! It’s nice to do something and really see the effects!
My goal for April is to start the 2023 calendar in shutterfly. I make one every year and gift one to my MIL. It’s an easy task if I do it in chunks throughout the year! I also need to start our 2022 photo book. I also try to do that in chunks while things are still fresh in my memory. I should have started it last month as it’s ideal to do 2 months at a time, but I am going to see how doing 3 months at a time goes this year. I just ordered our 2021 photobook when Shutterfly had a deal for unlimited pages in a photobook. It’s so much work to put these photobooks together but so worth it to have all our photos from a year in a book, plus I write comments about each month/what the boys were interested in/doing developmentally.
Those photobooks will be so much fun to look back on when the boys are older! It seems like a lot of work but also yields a lot of reward. It’s smart to do it in chunks at a time!
I love that you have goals on your monthly goals lists that will probably stay on there for a while as you build new habits. I feel these goals are so important to write down, even more than the “one and done” deals.
Organizing my Google Drive is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s gotten a bit out of hand, so I should tackle that sometime soon.
Yes, yes, yes! These are super important daily habits that I need to build into my life so I’ll keep striving for them, even if I keep failing.
It will feel so good to have your Google Drive organized. I have soooo many untitled documents/spreadsheets to delete, haha.
Just keep plugging away at the hard ones! Lifestyle change is so hard… and when it involves changing your habits, and things you’ve done for a long, long time (e.g., eating red meat, as it’s likely that’s something you’ve done for most if not all of your life?), it takes, well, time. 🙂 But you’ll get there! I like that you shifted your movement goal to moving *in some way* every day. You can pick and choose – you’re not stuck with a walk only. I suspect that might help. I hope. 🙂
Lifestyle changes are very hard! Even the ones that seem very easy to other people, like drinking water. But it’s just not a habit for me at this point in my life (and I know I’m not alone in this struggle). I just have to keep trying and if I get even a little bit better every month, that’s all I can ask of myself.