Goals........

we all have them, some small, some big, some you know you can achieve, while others you know you are going to struggle with.

One of my goals for this year is to declutter the house of things on a weekly basis.  Some things I will donate, some will be thrown out and some will be sold.  I have made a start on cleaning out cupboards and so far it is proving to be a success.  If I can remove at least 7 things per week, it means there will be 365 less things in the house by the end of the year.  Now lets hope I don't bring 365 things into the house!!!

Do you have goals set that you know you can achieve?

Update on August goals......

hard to believe we are already a third of the way through August?  The month is flying by.  So I thought I'd do a quick up date on my August goals.

1. Read and review the two books from Graf Martin.  Read the books just need to post the reviews.

I read and reviewed those two books and read and reviewed another one.  All reviews posted on my reading blog here.  Plus I donated 6 books to our local community centre.


2. More painting in the basement, taking this slow and steady.  The closet needs to be painted, forgot to do it when painting the walls; then the rest is trim work.

Hope to get something done down there this coming weekend.


3. Keep the grocery budget under control, easier said than done.

Just over $100 spent this past week.  I was doing well only spending around $80, then dh ran out of deodorant, plus we had hardly any soap and I discovered I needed deodorant as well.  Three lots of deodorant and six bars of soap $18.25.  Now believe me when I say I did not buy the most expensive brands, nor did I buy the cheapest, but even I was shocked at the prices, plus I had no coupons.


4. Keep costs down and spending to a minimum.  Easier said than done.

No comment!


5. Buy myself a dress and dh pants for the wedding in January.  Needs to be beachy as the wedding is on a beach, so have to buy now, as there will be nothing in the stores beachy come December.

Got myself a dress the other day really nice and very happy with it.  Plus got it on sale, so bonus there!!  Still have to get dh's pants.


6. Only buy ONE magazine for the month and that will be Pretty Patches.

So far, so good!  Picked up Wal-Mart's free magazine the other day though, but as I said it was free.


7. Clean out pantry, fridge and freezer and make an inventory.  I have to stop cooking and buying for a crowd when there is only two of us...LOL

Still have to get too this job.


8. Menu Plan; I have no idea why I wrote this down as you all know as well as I do I will fail at this {{SIGH}}

I actually did do a menu plan this last week and more or less followed it.


9. Try and do more blog posts.........

Big fat fail on this one.


10. Knit some more hexagons and knit a couple of dishcloth's.

Nothing done with this.....
.
11. Try not to buy anything online.....

The Gap had a good sale the other day so I took advantage of it to buy little Sammy clothes for his 2nd birthday next month.  I have money put aside weekly to cover birthday's.  


12.  Most important, be more organized!!

Who knows with this one?

August Goals..........

Better later than never.

1. Read and review the two books from Graf Martin.  Read the books just need to post the reviews.

2. More painting in the basement, taking this slow and steady.  The closet needs to be painted, forgot to do it when painting the walls; then the rest is trim work.

3. Keep the grocery budget under control, easier said than done.

4. Keep costs down and spending to a minimum.  Easier said than done.

5. Buy myself a dress and dh pants for the wedding in January.  Needs to be beachy as the wedding is on a beach, so have to buy now, as there will be nothing in the stores beachy come December.

6. Only buy ONE magazine for the month and that will be Pretty Patches.

7. Clean out pantry, fridge and freezer and make an inventory.  I have to stop cooking and buying for a crowd when there is only two of us...LOL

8. Menu Plan; I have no idea why I wrote this down as you all know as well as I do I will fail at this {{SIGH}}

9. Try and do more blog posts.........

10. Knit some more hexagons and knit a couple of dishcloth's.

11. Try not to buy anything online.....

12.  Most important, be more organized!!

I think that is enough for one month.........how about you, have you posted your goals?

End of the month already?

Where did this month go too?  Do you remember at the beginning of the month I set out some goals for myself.  Well lets see how I did?

1. Paint ceilings and walls in basement.  Biggish job, but doable.  I hope to get a good start on the trim, but that all depends on dh, as it's all to put up.

Well did get the ceilings and walls done, but nothing as far as the trim is concerned.  

1. Knit 31 Hexagons for my beekeeper's quilt.  That's one per day and doable.

Managed three.........that's terrible......

1. Reduce spending.

Mixed bag here, but at least money went into the savings every week.

1. Have no MacDonald's coffee or muffins Monday through Friday.  It's getting an annoying habit popping out to WalMart to grab a coffee and muffin at MacDonald's.  We do have a gift card for there, so will use that if we go on a weekend.

Still have money on the gift card left, but overall a total failure!

1. Don't eat out more than twice this month.  To be fair, we don't actually eat out much at all.  We had our wedding anniversary last month and used a gift card we got at Christmas.  We still have one other gift card to use, but I was saving it for dh's birthday in September.

Probably more than twice, but wasn't too, to bad.

1. Try and keep a handle on the grocery spending......with the rising prices easier said that done.

I think this last week I ended up spending around $85 for the week.  It is truly hard to keep it under that per week nowadays.

1. NO buying magazines other than Pretty Patches at the end of the month......this is a hard one for me!

This I did manage to do and I did pick up my magazine yesterday.

1. No shopping online........even harder!!

Well I shopped online 3 times this month.  Twice at Land's End and once at Marks and Spencer.  Have to say though the Mark's purchase was some great deals.  I got three tops for myself, two new bath mats and a hand towel all for $50 CDN  That includes shipping, duties, taxes, everything.  They have a good sale on at the moment.

I will post August goals tomorrow.

How did you do?

Update on July goals, as it's the middle of the month.

1. Paint ceilings and walls in basement.  Biggish job, but doable.  I hope to get a good start on the trim, but that all depends on dh, as it's all to put up.  All the ceilings are painted.  Two of the rooms walls are painted and as soon as I feel better the rest will be done.
2. Knit 31 Hexagons for my beekeeper's quilt.  That's one per day and doable. NOT HAPPENING :0(
3. Reduce spending - NOT HAPPENING :0(
4. Have no MacDonald's coffee or muffins Monday through Friday.  It's getting an annoying habit popping out to WalMart to grab a coffee and muffin at MacDonald's.  We do have a gift card for there, so will use that if we go on a weekend. FAIL
5. Don't eat out more than twice this month.  To be fair, we don't actually eat out much at all.  We had our wedding anniversary last month and used a gift card we got at Christmas.  We still have one other gift card to use, but I was saving it for dh's birthday in September. FAIL
6. Try and keep a handle on the grocery spending......with the rising prices easier said that done. So far so good
7. NO buying magazines other than Pretty Patches at the end of the month......this is a hard one for me! So far so good.
8. No shopping online........even harder!! Fail, Land's End had a good sale...oops!

Bit of a mixed bag with a few fails it seems.  HOWEVER; we have finished purchasing all the light fixtures for the basement.  We have picked up the majority of the doors for the basement; which dh sourced and saved us a lot of money on them and on the trim when we pick that up.  I do see me getting all the walls painted and hopefully if dh has time to put them up, the doors as well.  That will leave only the rest of the trim.  Dh is coming up to a busy time of year work wise for him.

The Land's End online shopping is for a wedding we are going too in the new year.

We have ordered pizza a couple of times over the past two weeks.  It costs $11.50 with tax and we pick it up.  With me being sick and it being so hot it was something quick and easy.

How are you doing with your July goals?

Some goals for July:

Figured I would set some goals for July, can't hurt can it?

1. Paint ceilings and walls in basement.  Biggish job, but doable.  I hope to get a good start on the trim, but that all depends on dh, as it's all to put up.
2. Knit 31 Hexagons for my beekeeper's quilt.  That's one per day and doable.
3. Reduce spending.
4. Have no MacDonald's coffee or muffins Monday through Friday.  It's getting an annoying habit popping out to WalMart to grab a coffee and muffin at MacDonald's.  We do have a gift card for there, so will use that if we go on a weekend.
5. Don't eat out more than twice this month.  To be fair, we don't actually eat out much at all.  We had our wedding anniversary last month and used a gift card we got at Christmas.  We still have one other gift card to use, but I was saving it for dh's birthday in September.
6. Try and keep a handle on the grocery spending......with the rising prices easier said that done.
7. NO buying magazines other than Pretty Patches at the end of the month......this is a hard one for me!
8. No shopping online........even harder!!

Do you have any monthly goals, you would like to share with us all?

Goals and grocery budget

(photo credit)

A lot of people set goals for the year, month, week, day, I generally suck at this sort of thing.  I did though set one goal for this year and it was either learn to knit or crochet.  So I guess I have at least made headway on that goal.

I set a goal each month on how much I want to spend on groceries.   I barely ever succeed in this but I do find it helps me keep to a reasonable budget.

I do set myself a weekly challenge to to do a menu plan.  So far so good in that department.  Don't always follow it to the letter, but it does give me some sense of organization and as I am a lazy cook it keeps me motivated.

I guess I do set daily goals of making sure I get up, dressed, showered every day.  Make sure the house in order and meals on the table.

Are you a goal orientated person?

Did my first grocery shopping for the month of April.  Had a question.  I spent $100 this week.  I went and lost a receipt, so guessed what that would have been, so not overly concerned with the total........BUT.......in amongst the money I spent this week, I paid $24 for an ice cream cake for ds birthday tomorrow and picked up four plants as Easter gifts for a cost of $16.80.  Should I include them in my monthly total?  I think I should take out the plants, but not 100% sure about the ice cream cake?  What are your thoughts?