12 for '12 for 12

12 for '12 for 12

Edited: I love the categories My Freezer is Full came up with and changed a couple of mine and added descriptions to each of my goal categories.

I like goals. I like challenges. I am horrible at accomplishing either one. I am an over-achieving procrastinator. I put off what I find disagreeable. I find a lot to be disagreeable. I am often unhappy with my "now". I am highly unorganized. I have an eye for details. I am often lost in the details. I am a perfect self-imperfectionist. I can be slightly OCD about things.

Current obsession: I am ready for a change. I need to reduce my debt, lose weight and apathy, balance my work/life ratio, volunteer, eat healthier and more local, purge crap I have accumulated, Buy Nothing New, clean and renew my environment, be mindful of my carbon footprint, work better, prepare for a rapidly changing world, be kinder to others, live more simply, be more satisfied...yeah, yeah, it is on and on. I am simply overwhelmed by all I really need to think, act and corral in my life. The best cliché I can come up with is the forest and trees one. I've really let my proverbial forest go all wild and dark and scary with gnarly, smog-choked trees and I'm having trouble seeing either one. Or something like it.

This next year, a brand spanking new 2012 one, I resolve to stay focused. I am going to challenge myself to a set of 12 goals in 2012 in each of the 12 months-hence 12 for '12 for 12 Challenge. I am going to be talking a lot about these goals (thought I would warn you) and making myself think a lot about these goals. By writing out my accomplishments, I can hold myself accountable, push myself to achieve a higher quality of life. At least that is the undermining purpose of this challenge. At the end of each month, I plan to summarize the accomplishments.

All the goals are broadly defined categories for the flexibility of detail. Some will (hopefully) carry over into each of the months (like, for examples, the ones involving weight loss and debt reduction), others will sprout, bloom and seed all in the same 30 or so days. The fun is I get to create the details each month for the category. By the end of the year (and providing the Mayans weren't on to something about this 2012 calendar ending thingamadoodle), I hope I can end this challenge having actually completed a set of goals (and all the great things that will be part of the fall out of actually accomplishing something active in my life and creating healthy habits). To my abstract mind, um forest, it seems like a healthier means of finding one's trees.

Learn: This can be accomplished in many different ways: read, take a class, participate
Complete: Borrowing this one from Fullfreezer because I, too, have a million and one uncompleted projects
Move: Exercise, dance, hike. I need to lose weight. I need to refind my energy.
Sustain: The planet, my children, my job, my health, my life, myself
Plan: Plan for the future, plan for change, plan on doing things in ways that allow me to achieve a better quality of life and living...
Nourish: Also borrowed from Fullfreezer (used to be "Eat")-I like the idea of nourishment for the body vs. food. It also extends to mind and soul.
Create: Craft, relationships, ideas, gardens, etc.
Grow: gardens, food, children, myself
Observe: photograph, visit new places, watch for birds, see the changing seasons, etc.
Budget: mostly money, but other things can be placed here as well.
Play: Do something fun. Play soccer with my boys, go have a beer now and then, go to a concert.
Love: I really need improvement here. I need to allow myself to love unconditionally, let old grudges go, forgive, love myself.

And there you have it, simple and flexible, a goal plan even this challenge-challenged girly can achieve. Right? If not, even just sitting around watching The Graduate for the umpteenth time can fit in there somewhere. It's fool-proof, fail-safe!

Happy New Year!

(and THANKS for reading my blog this year!)

Goal Kick

Sorry to bore you with all this goal, goal, goal, blah stuff. I am not even going to bother with a photo tonight. So, it occured to me tonight that we seem to be at a very cherished part of the year: The New One! Many cultures celebrate New Year as strongly as the Christmas, etc. holidays this time of year. In many parts of the world, New Year means renewal, a time to cleanse our surroundings, both home and body, as well as our minds and souls. It includes feasts and oranges and settling the scores of old years and ringing in the new.

For the past 10 years or so I have created a list of goals for myself to achieve in the given New Year (like many). I am always so full of hope at this point. Then, life gets busy and messy and I fall back into bad habits and the goal list gets ignored (like many).

I've heard it takes 20 days to create a new habit. I need to test this theory, I really do!

So, I am still working on my goal list for 2012, but I have an idea to incorporate all my hodge-podge lists I've made this year into a neat "12 for '12 for the 12". Basically, I will make a broad set of 12 action goals: Play, Cook, Read, Learn, Save etc. and then I can focus on my 41 goals as they fit a category (or two). Fuzzy? I'll explain it better in a couple of days. Its part of the challenges I am setting for myself in 2012. Other than trying to continue on with Etsy and the occasional fix, thrifting is really not going to be much of a focus (as I am planning to do a "buy nothing" year to meet some financial goals). I hope you continue reading. I thought about making a new blog for my self-challenge (and may still), but for now it is not always easy to keep up with this one. As Van pointed out about gardening and too much too soon, I want to set steps I can actually achieve (not overwhelm myself further-2011 was the Year of Overwhelm) and realistically I am not the habitual blogger I was in my former years. However, I really want to record my progress, keep a diary of my steps towards my goals. I find that useful.

Until 1/1/12, I am checking in on my 12 before 12 progress. Um, I am trying...really, I am! :)
12 8 by 2012:

1. Finish all my case files (work thing) -in progress (please, please let me get them done this week!)

2. Bake Christmas cookies (hopefully this weekend)

3. File, shred, or recycle 2011 paperwork (at least Jan-Nov)-in progress (almost done)

4. Send package to friend in AU (hang head in shame-it's been months)-ei, ei, ei

5. Clean garage (and to borrow Van's word: BE BRUTAL)-no, too cold-what was I thinking? :( I think I will replace "garage" with "apartment" and I am making headway there! :)

6. Paint and decorate Lyndon's castle (this one better be crossed off by the 25th!) badly

7. File my piles of papers in my office (work thing)-in progress

8. Complete Individual Development Plan by due date (work thing)-must finish by Friday (it's due!)

9. List ten new items on the Etsy site. -probably not going to happen, but I will try Saturday.


OK, you made it to the end of my 12 before 12 before 12 for the '12 for the 12. Thank you for reading, My Friends!

12 X 12

I can so relate to this post and challenge started by Oh, Hello Friend (but found via Van's Thriftcore). I've posted my 41 goals a couple of times and have really been trying hard to accomplish them by next Oct, but I am only making slow progress. I need to jump start my goal list a bit. And, give myself a little morale booster as well.

The point of this challenge is to actually cross everything off a list (I think or at least this is what I am taking from this challenge. I, too, am a serial, procrastinating list maker). I have many, many items I need to get done before the end of the month (and New Year!) and, unfortunately, most them center around my ever-busy job.

On top of that, I actually made a sale on the Etsy site (and it made it safe and sound to its happy new home), so I guess I will stick with it a bit longer. I have been stockpiling junk for years anyway, no, let's be honest here, I am beginning to see signs of hoarding!*

*Inserting footnote in center: Not the icky kind anyway!

I need to purge, lighten my load a bit, clear the physical stuff, so the all the other stuff can calm the F down in my life. Plus, I really want to showcase my favorite finds, but I seem to have lost a direction in the chaos that has been 2011 (and the last part of 2010).

Sadly, I just discovered this challenge, so I am not going to disappoint myself by making a list of twelve I will in no way shape or form accomplish in 23 days. S0, I am making a list of 8. Seems like a nice, round number.

Speaking of numbers, and a bit of an aside, I have guessed the winning Powerball two weekends in a row! And, of course, I have never bought a ticket! :)

Ok, seems I am procrastinating again...

12 8 by 2012:

1. Finish all my case files (work thing)

2. Bake Christmas cookies (hopefully this weekend)

3. File, shred, or recycle 2011 paperwork (at least Jan-Nov)

4. Send package to friend in AU (hang head in shame-it's been months)

5. Clean garage (and to borrow Van's word: BE BRUTAL)

6. Paint and decorate Lyndon's castle (this one better be crossed off by the 25th!)

7. File my piles of papers in my office (work thing)

8. Complete Individual Development Plan by due date (work thing)

9. List ten new items on the Etsy site.

(Yep, I added a ninth goal! Work seemed too heavily represented as usual).

Wish me luck! (Thanks, Van, for helping me find this challenge!)

Goal Challenge

I have already listed my 2011 Goals in the below post, but I wanted to participate in the challenge on ThriftCore. I hope to accomplish these goals in the New Year and I think her challenge is a great way to stay focused on not just the listing of goals, but on the doing of goals. So, here are some thoughts on how I plan to pursue my 2011 goal list.

1. Do not start major new projects and keep the ones I do start (or finish) focused on the ultimate goal of selling property up north and moving the family to KY. This will mean researching new schools (Louisville has some great public charter schools with a Montessori concentration) and neighborhoods to live. Maybe looking at some homes to buy vs. rent when the big move happens in the spring/early summer.

2. In the process of packing up the house, I plan to purge outgrown/outdated clothing, shoes, accessories, knick knacks, etc. I will discard/recycle/donate the broken items, the unfinished projects (that will never be finished), outgrown collections and toys. I will resell/gift/donate read books.

3. This one goes with number 2, but I plan to pack seasonal items with labels and proper groupings. Pack things I plan on moving in sturdy boxes with like items. I want to inventory music, movie, etc, collections. Find a permanent storage location for items. Along with this goal, I plan to make lists to help focus and accomplish goals. I want to go through our paperwork and shred old documents. I hope to create a financial plan we can realistically follow in 2011 (with a major focus on debt reduction!)

OK, here it is in a nutshell. I actually love this time of the year. The light returns, spring is around the corner (seasons fly in a flash, it seems) and I feel refreshed and refocused on what is important in my life.

To Badly Quote a Legend

(Enesco 1978 bank found in Northern VA)

"Another year over and a new one just begun..."*

So, we managed to visit two family sides (his and mine), make cookies, open the kiddies presents (the Santa bubble is good for one more year) and that would be about it. The house is a mess of scattered toys and cardboard and all the waste I despise so much each year. I am sitting here sipping coffee (a locally roasted gift from a friend in ol' Louisville) and thinking about all I need to do today. I am too lazy to find my card reader and put up any photos of thrifty goodness**, but I have been totally digging all the lovely posts of folks' vintage holiday decor. I didn't decorate much this year (a tree with a scattering of ornaments, a few vintage santas here and there, a two nativity scenes). It was hard to get everything together with only the weekends home.

I have the next week off from work and I know it will fly by in a blink. I want to go thrifting with the Christmas money I get from DH's mom and may call my own mom to see if she wants to go too. I also need to return a double gift (yes, that would be me that bought two copies of the exact same toy for littlest-I didn't even notice when I wrapped them!) and I have Kohl's cash to blow before they expire (I really want one of those single cup coffee makers, but the K-cups are so expensive and wasteful. I can buy the reusable filter, but I use a thrifted percolator and it is not hard to use, so I keep thinking I don't want to spend the money on one. maybe I will thrift one!) Last, I really need to get my hair cut and painted.

Looking to the New Year, I need to get my family moved to KY. I miss them and want our life to be back to "normal" (oh, man, that is stretching it!) I need to get organized and our finances in order. The house is in need of repairs and cleaning (for the market) and I will have to purge some clutter (sniff, sniff). For the past few years, my main focus was on stockpiling for an emergency (the focus of my last blog was homesteading and hoarding emergency preparedness. I usually shop sales and such and put away things to a point we are set for 6 months to a year. Earlier this week, DH tells me we are down to two rolls of TP. What?! I looked all over (basement, closets, cupboards and, yes, we are out of TP). Because I am splitting time between two cities, I need to be better organized. I am the accountant of the family and it is up to me to make sure the boys and hubby are stocked with necessities.

On the old blog I always posted a list of New Year goals. I liked doing this (even though I rarely succeeded in meeting most of them! :), so I plan to do the same here. I also want to make a "Thrift Wish List" like I have seen on some favorite blogs. I need to focus (my theme for 2011 apparently) and realize the importance of necessity and change.


*John Lennon (of course!)
**OK, decided to put up one! :)

Thrifty Monday: Blue Christmas Rendition

(Complete and unused bridge set)

Sigh. It is 9:18 already and I feel like I have done nothing at all today. OK, so I went to work today, finished last minutes gift-buying at the Liquor Barn (can't go wrong with Kentucky bourbon), and spent way too much money at the Goodwill across from the L-Barn, but, really, where does the time go?

This time of year is so hard for me. I can't stand the race of Christmas and the darkness gets to me. It is one of the reasons I celebrate Winter Solstice is that I so welcome the return of the light and feeling like my day has some length to it. Yes, the hours are the same (and in fact we "Fall back" right?), but the darkness makes me yearn for my (thrifted) gnome pajama bottoms and a warm bed starting at 5:30 pm!

And, back to the holiday race, why do we not gift all year long? I can't sit on gifts and it is why I am never organized enough to space my Xmas shopping out all year long. It is always on the resolution list, but never happens. I was stressing because three stores were out of something that goes with a gift for my mother, but then I thought how ridiculous my panic was considering the piece is not a "sale" item and will be available in the weeks following the holiday.

Both my husband and I received work bonuses this year (something that has not happened in three years). We indulged partly because we had this unbudgeted money and partly because I feel so much guilt at being away from my boys during the week (I will be so happy when we are together this again...hopefully this spring/early summer). I miss my kids so much. It was stupid, I know, but the sad thing is I feel we got so much less than when we used a smaller budget (is it me or is everything more expensive this year???)

So, with the New Year goal list making season almost on top of us (suffocating us, no doubt), I plan to tighten the belt, be more organized and get my family moved down to KY as soon as humanly possible. I'll post the list next week with the specifics. Sadly, one of the items will be less thrifting for me (with a side goal of selling off lots of my "junk") at least until some of the bills are paid off. It will be good to purge since we plan to rent a smaller place while we try to sell the Northern house and land. We will buy a new house only when the bills are tidy and manageable.

OK, enough with the downer talk. Seems a lot of us out there are thinking about new years and new goals. Here is some thrifty fluff from tonight's scores:

(Cheese plate and dome)

(Set of 8 7 Tab glasses...dropped one in parking lot)

(Ok, so the Spotted Dick Pudding wasn't a thrifty find [container under it was], but I had to snatch it up for a friend last week at a Irish gift shop. It's a long story, but suffice to say it will have meaning to my dear friend...hopefully shared with a sense of humor! ;)