New year- Same me

I love the start of a new year. It seems so fresh and without mistakes, but I feel like I need to apply that perspective to each new day! It's one of my goals for this year, to be more mindful about my life. Wherever I am, that's where I am.

1. My home is usually a mess. I know that part of it is that we live busy lives and sometimes have "drop and go" days. I also know that part of that is an excuse because I put off the little things until they are big things, and then feel overwhelmed by it all. I'm not happy when my home is a mess and since it bothers me, I want to fix it. It won't be perfect, but it'll be better.

2. This one is a usual goal, but I know how I can reach it. I work out often and intensely, but you can out eat any workout plan, and that's what I've been doing. I will control my portions, and practice the 80/20 approach to eating. I'm human and won't pass up a treat, but I know that overindulging isn't worth it.

3. Mindfulness can feel like a buzz word, but for someone with anxiety I feel like it's something I need to practice more. So often I have my lists going on and am planning the next thing I need to do while I'm spending time with my family, friends, or even having a moment of peace. This needs to stop.

4. This is a fun goal. My goal for 2017 was to squat 125 and I blew that away by squatting 155. I just think it would be fun to see that number grow. I love the feeling of getting stronger each day!

5. My marriage is important to me, but usually it gets the backburner due to kids, my job, and everything else that I feel responsible for. Usually I feel like my husband would just understand, but I don't feel like that's fair to him, or to us, at all. I want to spend more time with him and make our relationship a priority.

6. We racked up some debt this year and have some big expenses coming up. Some fun (like vacations) and some not-so-fun (plumbing repairs- ugh), but important to us and things we can afford if we spend responsibly. I would feel so much better without this debt hanging over my head.


SO those are my goals for this year! What do you hope to accomplish this year?

New Year- New Blog

Well, kinda.

I've already made some changes to the appearance of Frugal Teacher Mama (so if you haven't looked around lately- you should! :) ). I'm also linking to more social outlets (you can use the red buttons on the side of the page to follow me in various places!).

This goes along with my "be a better blogger" goal for this year. I love blogging, I love connecting to people, and I love that I have this space to do so. Only, it feels like I've been using this space for reviews only and that's not why I started this blog. I still plan to do reviews and giveaways (and am excited for more opportunities this year!), but I want to add more to this blog.

I felt like the best way for me to keep to a posting schedule as well as hit the different aspects that make up this blog would be to follow a weekly schedule:

Menu Monday: Find out what is on our Menu for the week, a new (or old) favorite recipe, or what went into the freezer for later.

Troop Tuesday: I am a Girl Scout leader and I love what they scouts do for girls and their involvement in their communities. You will learn more about Girl Scouts or see a fun activity we did as a troop.

Wisdom Wednesday: This is where I can share a lesson plan, an educational resource, a book, or anything else that fits my "teacher" hat.

Thankful Thursday: This is pretty self-explanatory but I want to be sure to think of something to be thankful for each week.

Fashion Friday: I love clothes (though my tastes tend to be more fashionable than my budget), so I want to share my favorite outfits, different ways to wear the same article of clothing, or share about cosmetics.

Save it Saturday: Frugal is the first word in this blog, so I want to be sure to focus on ways to save (and that will help with my yearly goals!).

Fun Sunday: This will be a fun post. This can be a movie I saw, song I liked, activity we did, craft the kids, did, or more. This is a more relaxed day where anything goes :)

I'm so excited to get started, so expect the first Troop Tuesday post today! :D

My Goals for 2013

I talked yesterday about how to set goals, so here are mine for the year :)

The first doesn't fit the categories I talked about, but I felt like it was important:

Be a better blogger.

I have a lot of plans for the new year and I am working now to see them through. This doesn't really fit with my SMART goals, but I do have little goals that fulfill this. I just don't want to give it all away just yet ;)

My other goals for 2013:

Health

Work out 3x a week.

Eat Breakfast.

Find and utilize relaxation techniques to cut stress.

Career

Take the Praxis II.

Apply for my Teaching License.

Apply for Teaching positions.

Financial

Pay off the van.

Build a savings account ($X at the start of 2014).

Use budget software to track bills and spending.

Marriage

Have a date night out 6 times.

Have 1 overnight trip without the kids.

Write "love notes" and fill a notebook.

Home & Organization

Create and use an office workspace.

Control 3 clutter areas: Kitchen Counter, Foyer, Laundry room.

Paint my bedroom.

Philanthropy

Donate (time, money, or goods) to a charity each month.

Do 52 acts of kindness (at least 1 per week).

Pick up trash 4 times a year.

Fun

See a musical AND a concert.

Attend the taping of a show.

Visit a new state.

If you have a goal post, link it! :) 

Setting Goals for 2013

I like the word "goals" better than resolutions. I'm not sure why. Maybe for me a goal is a long term thing and resolutions seem to expect perfection right away. At least to me. If anything, I'm a work in progress so I don't think that any change will make me perfect overnight. Even if I wish it would.

If you plan to set goals this year, make sure they are SMART ones. That word brings me back to one of my college classes {hahaha, like I didn't just graduate in May}. If you don't already know, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. So make sure your goals are clear, you can track the progress made, you actually can do it, you actually WILL do it, and you have a time frame to complete it.

So a goal of "Be more organized" wouldn't cut it. It isn't specific enough {do you need to organize your stuff, time, all of the above?}. It isn't measurable {how do you know if you're done?}. It really isn't attainable {there's no plan to make sure you're able to accomplish it}. It isn't realistic {if you can't even organize your goal, your life is going to be rough}. Where's the timeframe? I can easily organize a room for a day, but how do I know if that is enough?

So yeah. This has left me thinking of goals to accomplish this year. I've decided to focus on a few categories:
Home & Organization, Health, Financial, Career, Marriage, Philanthropy, and Fun.

Tomorrow I'll post the goals I've set and I plan to revisit them monthly to be sure that I am making progress. The good thing about goals is that they can evolve to reflect your needs, so I can change them if needed.

Do you set goals each year? How do you plan them out? How do you know when you're done?

Your Life Plan

Do you have a life plan? I was inspired to start thinking about the future because so many of my previous goals have been met. I like to have an idea of where my life is heading, so this is my chance to see where I want to be and start getting plans into actions.

Of course it's fitting that my plan is written in crayon ;)

Do you have a life plan? What are some of your goals?