My goals for 2017
Get 7- 8 Hours of Sleep Each Night
This week? Not so much. Lucy stole a piece of homemade bread off the table while I was photographing it and then the next two nights she was up at 1 am throwing up on the hardwood floor. I pretend to be asleep during both the episodes {BAD Mavis!} and so the HH had to deal with it. Pretty rotten don’t you think? Hey man, it’s payback for all those late nights and diapers I had to deal with when the kids were little. But don’t tell my husband that. 😉
Make Saving a Priority, Not an Idea
- This month we paid an extra 4 {really, closer to 5} principal payments towards paying off our house.
- I called Comcast out on overcharging me on my internet bill and ended up getting my bill reduced by $15 a month.
- I had the HH trim my hair {he can cut a straight line, and hey, he’s free!}.
- Ate yummy stuff out of the garden instead of buying produce at the grocery store.
- I redeemed 2200 Swagbucks for a $25 gift card to Amazon. {I have redeemed over $2,500+ in gift cards over the past 7 years that I’ve been playing the whole Swagbucks game. So seriously, it does add up.
- Stayed home all but 1 day last week and only made one small purchase {bread} and that was only because I was near the bakery outlet.
- Managed to only have the a/c on for a total of 7 hours last week despite temps being in the 90’s.
Live a little
Eh… It was a pretty boring week around here. I did blow dry my hair out once though so it was nice and straight.
Visit 52 REAL Bakeries
My parents found a new bakery up in Crossroads that we are going to check out in a few weeks. I forgot to ask my mom if they sell lemon tarts… Also, I am compiling a list of new bakeries to check out for our next trip to the east coast.
Have 1 “no spend” week each month
I’m thinking the third week in August might be good. Our rations are pretty low so I should probably go to the store this week and pick up a few things. Personally, I could live off of beans, rice and soup for the next 7 days but I don’t think the boys would be too amused.
Start a Line of Rug Hooking Patterns
I have 8 rug hooking patterns listed in my Etsy shop, 5 more completed rugs that I need to get patterns printed up for so I can get them listed, and 3 more drawn out but not completed. So really, I juts need to get with it. 😉
Turn My Wool Stash into $2,500
This past week I sold a whopping $638.91 worth of goodness in my my Etsy shop and Ebay store which brings my total to $5546.62 for the year. Yee-Haw! That’s more than double of what I was hoping to make this year. Maybe I can make it to $7,500? Wouldn’t that be cool? I know I need to get busy and finish a few more fall items but it’s been hard with all this hot weather we’ve been having.
Purge 250 Items Including Selling Larger Items We No Longer Feel We Need
I got rid of another 3 items this past week which brings my total to 230 items purged for the year. I also stopped by my parents to put something in their storage room and my mother could barely open the door {again!}. It looks like The Girl and I need to go over there and organize it again for her. Good times.
Learn to Crochet Mission Accomplished
Dote on My Husband Even More Than I Do Now.
This whole “Dote on my husband even more than I do now” goal, is really about doing the small, everyday things.
Last week my husband wanted a big plate of nachos for dinner and since we haven’t gone out much this year I suggested we hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant {they make the best nachos!} My husband totally balked at the idea and suggested we just make nachos at home instead. So we did, and they were delicious.
Last year one of my goals was to go on a bunch of “dates” with my husband, and the first half of the year was great, but as the months went on going out started to really seem like a chore to us {and a waste of money too}. As we get older, we are becoming more homebodies, and you know what? I really kind of like it. We are so over that whole going out phase, or feeling like we are missing out on some great thing because we’d rather spend time at home instead.
Lose the Muffin Top. {again} Mission Accomplished
Wear out {most of} the clothing I already own.
Working on it.
Try 52 New Recipes
Oh my word. My daughter. She has turned into a baking fiend. It seems like very other day last week she was trying to recreate one of the recipes from the Great British Baking Show. The most recent have been soda bread and Victoria sponge. And the funny thing is, the HH and I have been critiquing her efforts. Kinda funny if you ask me.
Read 52 Books
I meant to start Mother Daughter Me last week but had so much going on I didn’t get the chance. It’s on my list for this week though.
Give Back to 12 Different Organizations in My Community
January – Donated to Quilts from the Heart in Memory of my brother.
February – Donated to Empty Bowls Fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club.
March – Donated to my daughter’s mentor who was in a horrible car accident.
April – Donated again to my daughter’s mentor who was in a horrible car accident.
May – $100 Tip to a waitress on Mother’s day.
June – Started collecting men’s shirts to donate this winter.
July – Chew Dog Rescue
And then, there’s those top secret goals we’re not talking about yet.
Secret Goal #1Sell East Coast House Mission AccomplishedSecret Goal #2Chickens! Mission Accomplished- Secret Goal #3
- Secret Goal #4
How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2017? How are they coming along?
~Mavis
Read About My 2017 Goals HERE.
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Schyler says
Do you mean a baking fiend, not feen? 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
I was just making sure you were paying attention. 😉
Paula says
About that throwing up….we have a frenchie and when we switched to adult (Taste of the Wild) dogwood she didn’t want to eat it. She was throwing up quite a bit which I thought maybe was a dog thing. But leave it to Martha Stewart… she posted her dog’s food recipe that she (?) makes in bulk once a month. Search for it on her blog. There’s a bit of controversy with it but I figure she is a bajillionaire that can afford a full-time vet on her property. Plus Martha is pretty smart. So I am making this food. I freeze it and our dog loves it. Plus no throwing up. It’s a bit of work but I feel very good about it. Plus it doesn’t have that awful dog food smell. My favorite post of the week is today…I look forward to it on Sunday morning….have a great day.
Mel says
One of my goals was to grow all of our vegetable starts from seed. I did that in the spring, and I’ve been working on the fall veggies. I have snow peas, green and white cauliflower, broccoli, rapini, Brussels sprouts, celery, lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, and collards under grow lights for fall. I started a bunch of extra plants for some friends so that they can have free fall veggie gardens.
Mavis Butterfield says
I LOVE that goal Mel!
Mel says
Thanks! I’ve really enjoyed it. It saves us loads of money on shipping and individual plants, but it also lets me be more generous with friends. They were wary of investing in gardening, so this lets them try risk free. I wish there were a way to donate seedlings to families in need. I’m sure many people have access to land but can’t spare money for seeds.
Kim O. says
My husband and I stay home a lot. Sometimes I think we’re super boring but I love my house (we are blessed to live on the water) in Massachusetts, and we work hard inside and outside our home to make it comfortable and nice. We love sitting on our porch on a Saturday night, cooking a delicious, healthy meal with food from my garden and enjoying our home! So many of our friends go out and spend hundreds of dollars over the course of a weekend, I’m glad I’m not the only one! I
Stacey says
Often people will ask what we do for fun, and I have to reply that we enjoy living the quiet life now. We don’t feel the need to go out on dates, but we will do something if we want to. We save the money for vacations to visit our children and grandchildren! I call it the freedom to do what we want to, and our relationship is better than ever.
Michelle says
I have always lived on the west coast but my husband and I are very interested in retirement on the east coast with cheaper housing and a little more weather then abundant sunshine . Any place you would recommend. We are from Central Valley Ca where it’s hot 9 months out of the year.
Mavis Butterfield says
I am partial to the Northeast. But I like the idea of having 4 real seasons and I am not afraid of snow. Lot’s and lot’s of snow. 🙂 Honestly, I think a good place to start is to Google The Best Places to Retire on the East Coast and start weeding out places you wouldn’t want to live. Some states are better/worse for taxes. Do you want to be in the city or the country? Once you get a few possibilities narrowed down, take a week off, hop on a plane and rent a car and drive though the towns and neighborhoods you think you’d like to live in. I also recommend going into the local shops {ones you could see yourself doing business at} to get an idea of what the people are like. There is a big difference {in my opinion} in West Coast vs East Coast attitudes/lifestyles once you get out of the big city areas.
I don’t know, it’s a process. A long, long process to see where you think you’d fit in. 😉
Michelle says
Thank you for the info. We are looking at North Carolina. In the middle of the east coast so that we can explore easily north and south. Prices are really good there too. A little worried about attitudes like you mentioned.