New Plans for a New Year!

As we begin a new year, I have been thinking about some of my goals for this year.

I never make "New Year's resolutions." In fact, I never know what my resolutions should be! Instead of resolutions, I would like to set some goals for 2011. I want these goals to be specific - and tangible. If my goals are tangible, I'll be much more likely to achieve them!

I have been working on streamlining and organizing the many different aspects of my life. I often feel pulled in far too many directions and feel like I can never finish everything. I put together a "Daily Plans" sheet at work that will help me organize each day. This gives me a place to keep track of what I need to do. I have found that I do much better if my tasks are written down.

I still need to work streamlining and organizing the "home" aspect of my life. Because I work part-time, I find that I need to be organized with my household responsibilities. If I'm not organized, they won't get done! Right now, I plan out my week on Saturday or Sunday and create a Weekly To Do list on my blog. I assign certain tasks, like cleaning the bathroom or sweeping or required phone calls, to a specific day of the week. Then, as the week progresses, I cross off the tasks as I complete them. I have also been using Google Calendar, but I think that I'm really more of a paper calendar-kind-of-girl. I am still in search of the ideal planner for me! (Any suggestions?!)

I have established a basic weekly blogging schedule and do a fairly good job of staying on top of that. I outline my blogging plan for the week on my Weekly To Do list as well. I hope to continue to expand my blog during 2011, but this will certainly take effort and work!

Most importantly, I need to make sure that the many aspects of my life are balanced. I know that if I'm not balanced and organized, my life will come crashing down! With all of this in mind, here are some of my goals for 2011:

Personal goals:

• Love the Lord! My relationship with the Lord is my top priority! We will be reading through the Bible in two years (2011-2012). I will stay involved at church (in some capacity) and will continue to work on way to minister to our members and our community.
• Love my husband! Our marriage means the world to me! In this new season of our life, we are working hard to find ways to stay connected. We need to continue to be intentional about our relationship and our time together as husband and wife.
• Find a planner that works for me. I need a planner that:
• helps me plan the whole month.
• helps me organize each day of the week.
• gives me a place to list daily tasks.
• gives me a place to identify planned meals.
• Continue to fine tune our budget. Since starting our first call, we have put a strict budget in place. (I am in charge of the budget.) We have done well sticking to it. We want to be able to put as much income in savings as possible.
• Continue to plan meals monthly. Honestly, this is the only way we can eat. If I don't plan meals one month at a time, life is not pretty here!
• Continue learning to make more foods from scratch. I have learned to make several staples (like chicken broth, pizza sauce, taco seasoning, plus more!) from scratch in 2010 and want to continue this trend.
• Experiment with more gluten free baking.
• Experiment with making bread for my husband.

Blogging goals:

• Establish and maintain a weekly schedule. Along with this schedule, I also want to focus more on posting current, "hot" deals, new coupons and the like.
• Sunday:
• Dollar General deals.
• Walmart deals.
• Kmart deals.
• Weekly To Do list.
• Menu plan for the week.
• Monday:
• Topical post or series.
• Tuesday:
• Burnstad's deals.
• Wednesday:
• Aldi Special Buys.
• Thursday:
• Copps deals.
• Festival deals.
• Friday:
• Walgreens deals.
• Saturday:
• Super Saving Saturday.
• Include more topical posts. Currently, I am working on:
• a two-part series about the "Benefits of Small Town Life."
• a series about my "buy prices."

These are just a handful of goals, ones which I have in mind right now. As the year progresses, I am certain that I will add more to this list. For me right now, one of my biggest priorities (outside of relationships) is getting organized in the many different aspects of my life. I want to establish a "household management system" before we have children, since I know life will get...um, disorganized...when kids enter the picture!