2025 Goals: February and March

  As inspired by Ashley, over at The Big White Farmhouse, I would like to try to collect my yearly and monthly goals to keep me accountable and to keep a record. This is my first month trying it in this format, so who knows what I will be able to keep track of lol.  Check out Ashley's blog to see her monthly goals and if you want to try to keep a record of your goals this way, just leave a link to your blog for others to visit. 

First, let us look at my Jan 2025 goals and updates.   

FIVE TOP PRIORITIES

1.  family: make and purchase the items needed for my sister's baby shower this Saturday. We are having a brunch theme so I need to make a breakfast casserole and hard boil some eggs. (The shower was a success!)

2. :financial: try not to make any other purchases this month other than groceries and necessary house items 

3. creative: keep stitching on my embroidery projects (something I do when watching tv, sitting as a car passenger, or in a waiting room)

4. prayer: my daily Rosary (going well!)

5. clean baseboards, bathrooms, vacuum, and cabinet fronts

FIVE "WOULD BE GREAT TO DO" TASKS

1. meal plan weekly with 3 main meals, 1-2 lighter items and 2 leftover nights. (meals a little different over the past few weeks, but due to a injury, we have had 5 meals dropped off from friends and my husband made several batches of soups, casseroles, and egg bakes.)

2. follow along with a daily declutter plan to thin some spaces and make the house feel a little lighter. (It is hard, but this week I found 22 items to trash or donate. Trying to get to 100 this week.)

3. look through seed catalogues for this year's garden

4. clean up the filing cabinet and closet -- it is a bit of a mess. I had started to thin files a few months ago, and got sidetracked. There are piles but nothing much was done with anything. I need to find a shred event somewhere for the spring. 

5. creative: cut more small scrap fabric into 'precut' pieces --  I made some decent progress on this last week. My goal is to take fabric that is a fat quarter or less (occasionally a half yard) and cut down to a variety of these sizes: 3" strips, 10" blocks, 5" blocks, 4" blocks. I do keep 1-2" pieces in a different container for crumb quilts but not odd sizes or shapes. (did LOTS of cutting til I also cut two of my fingertips...ouch. On pause currently.)

FIVE LITTLE STEPS TO GET AHEAD

1. financial and home decluttering: sell books via Pango (I have sold several since January)

2. financial: pay a little extra each month on the mortgage. For the past 6 months, we have been able to pay an extra $200/month on the mortgage principle. (still able to do this thankfully!)

3. mother academia: read a little each day -- even if that is just a few pages. I have a 5x5 book challenge this year which consists of mostly books I own and some library borrows. I hope to buy a few, but very little new to me books this year.  (currently reading several from the library and some from my shelves)

4. health: make a list of things to replace that are plastic with healthier alternatives (any leads on a wooden or metal pasta fork/scoop?) (I found some!)

5. garden: buy some bags of soil this month to improve small sections of garden each month or season. We don't have one large garden, but several smaller garden beds around the house. Most of the beds are just flowers, not herbs or food crops, but 2 beds host garlic and herbs. (on hiatus currently)

February and March Goals (combined due to late start after my finger injury)

FIVE TOP PRIORITIES

1.  family and financial: gather tax information and drop off at accountant 

2. :financial: try not to make any other purchases this month other than groceries and necessary house items

3. creative: do 3 watercolor sketches in journal (especially if my son is painting)

4. prayer: my daily Rosary

5. clean out drawers slowly

FIVE "WOULD BE GREAT TO DO" TASKS

1. meal plan weekly with 3 main meals, 1-2 lighter items and 2 leftover nights.

2. follow along with a daily declutter plan to thin some spaces and make the house feel a little lighter

3. look through seed catalogues for this year's garden and make an ordering list from each place

4. clean up the filing cabinet and closet -- it is a bit of a mess. I had started to thin files a few months ago, and got sidetracked. There are piles but nothing much was done with anything. I need to find a shred event somewhere for the spring. 

5. creative: gather inspiration from precut patterns

FIVE LITTLE STEPS TO GET AHEAD

1. financial and home decluttering: sell books via Pango

2. financial: pay a little extra each month on the mortgage. For the past 8 months, we have been able to pay an extra $200/month on the mortgage principle.

3. mother academia: read a little each day -- even if that is just a few pages. I have a 5x5 book challenge this year which consists of mostly books I own and some library borrows. I hope to buy a few, but very little new to me books this year.

4. health: learn about extra supplement suggested (iodine) and if I should take it or not

5. garden: buy some bags of soil in March to improve small sections of garden each month or season. We don't have one large garden, but several smaller garden beds around the house. Most of the beds are just flowers, not herbs or food crops, but 2 beds host garlic and herbs.