2012 |

At the beginning of the month, I shared some goals I have for this year, so I wanted to give an update on how those are going so far, and I wanted to invite other folks in the blogosphere to do the same. Check out the linky at the bottom if you set some goals in 2012 and would like to share how things are going, ask advice or just get a little accountability as the year progresses!

The great

Submit at least one freelance pitch per month – I submitted pitches to two different places in January. One was a local publication I have an existing freelance relationship with, and I’m currently working on four stories for it. The other was a national website/publication, and I am waiting to hear back if its editors are interested in my idea.

Try one new recipe per week – In four weeks of January, I cooked FIVE new recipes. That averages out to one per week with an extra thrown in for good measure (You can check out the two kale recipes here and the pasta e fagioli recipe here. I’ll be posting two more new recipes I tried later this week.).

Read two books per month – I read three in January … The Hunger Games trilogy. That definitely gets me off to a good start on my goal of 24 for the year!

The good

Develop and maintain a good budgeting and bill-paying system – It’s a bit of a work in progress, but I did manage to get everything for January on the calendar and make a note when I had paid it. I’ve also been working on a different style of budget that I think may work better for us, especially now that Bobby’s job situation has changed.

Blog at least 75% of days in 2012 (274 out of 365 days) – I’m currently at just over 74% on this, so I’m feeling good about it so far. I hit a lull about mid-January, but I’m recovering!

Spend 15 minutes per night cleaning before bed – Maybe this one is a stretch, but we have made progress on getting our house a little cleaner and keeping it that way. So I’m giving myself a pass, even though the “15 minutes before bed” part has been really hit or miss.

The Bad

Create and stick to a chore chart – Yeeeeeaaaaah. I really haven’t thought about this at all. Oops.

Pay off dentist bill by the end of the year – I made my normal January payment, but it won’t get paid off by the end of the year if I just continue making the minimum payment. Not really sure what I’m going to do to change that, except maybe just budget a little extra toward it when I can.

Finish strategic communication plan at my primary workplace – I felt really bad, actually, because my boss actually asked me about this the other day, and it’s sort of gotten lost in the shuffle since the beginning of the year. He wanted to know if I had something we could send out to some colleagues, and I had to tell him no. I’m planning to take a day later this week to focus solely on that.

Move blog to wordpress.org – I am telling myself this has to be done before Blissdom, but I am not making time to work on it. IT HAS TO BE DONE BEFORE BLISSDOM!

Design it using purchased framework so that I like the way it looks – See previous entry.

The Ugly

Save $1,000 by the end of the year – Ugh. Just ugh. January was not particularly friendly to our budget, and we are still working on being disciplined about it.

Submit at least one piece of work for a professional award – There are basically two sets of awards I would really want to apply for, and the deadline for one passed on Friday. Boo.

Lose 30 pounds – By far, the worst. I’ve gained weight since the beginning of the year. As I’m typing this, my work pants are cutting into my stomach, and I’m rapidly running out of stuff that fits well. So changes are really in order as far as diet and exercise, and I didn’t do anything in January.

Complete one homemade/craft project per month – Ha. Yeah. I was supposed to make pillows. Unless I can figure out how to do that by the end of the day tomorrow, this is not getting done in January, unfortunately.

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I’m feeling mostly OK about the way things have gone so far. I’m really pleased about the freelance stuff and the reading, but I’m pretty bummed about the weight gain and the budget stuff. I am glad, though, that I’ve taken time to look back at what I set out to do, because I’d honestly already forgotten some of these, and I have a really good idea of what to focus on in February.

Did you set goals or resolutions at the beginning of the year? Are you writing a monthly recap? I’d love for you to link up so I can read what you’ve been up to, and maybe it’ll help us be accountable, too!

Want the button? Just copy and paste the following code on your site: <p align=”center”><a title=”The Family Math” href=”https://thefamilymath.wordpress.com”><img src=”https://thefamilymath.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/month-in-review-button-3.jpg?w=300″></p></a>

Note: I had a linky here before, but it wasn’t working right, so if you want to link up, just add your link in the comments. Thanks!

Gratuitous family photo

I’m not big on resolutions, but I do like goals, so when I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2012, I immediately started making a list of goals.

Some people might say this is semantics, but mentally, I feel better just calling them goals! I think the difference is that I feel like resolutions sort of have to be confined to one calendar year, whereas goals that aren’t met can be extended into the next year. Hopefully that won’t have to happen, but it lessens the pressure for me!

I decided to take five areas that were important to me and establish three goals per area. I’m far too good at overwhelming myself, so setting some limits was a good idea.

Without further ado, my goals for 2012:

At Home
Try out at least one new recipe each week
Create and stick to a chore chart
Spend 15 minutes per night cleaning before bed

Money/budget
Save $1,000 by the end of the year
Pay off dentist bill by the end of the year (short version: I had to have some major dental work done a few years ago, and I’m still paying for it!)
Develop and maintain a good budgeting and bill-paying system

At Work
Submit at least one freelance pitch per month
Finish strategic communication plan at my primary workplace and begin implementation
Submit at least one piece of work for a professional award

For the Blog
Move to wordpress.org
Design it using purchased framework so that I like the way it looks
Blog at least 75% of days in 2012 (274 out of 365 days)

Personal
Lose 30 pounds
Read 2 books per month
Complete one homemade/craft project per month

I’m linking up this post with Liberating Working Moms‘ Working Mom Resolutions post. Stop by there to check out what other working mamas are going to be working on in 2012!