Jesse and I spent time really discussing what my focuses should be for 2014 and we nailed down four areas that are my priorities for this year:
Marriage: to continue to invest time and energy to strengthen and nurture our marriage and make it one of the greatest priorities
Mothering: to continue to invest in our children with the goal of teaching them character, life skills, and raising them to be responsible adults
Myself: to make my health a priority and to invest in my personal growth as a Christian, business owner, writer, speaker, and leader
MoneySavingMom.com: to invest time into blogging — not just overseeing the business and my team, but making writing content pieces one of my top blogging priorities
Having these specific areas determined at the beginning of the year is really helping me to prioritize and giving me much clearer direction on when, where, and what to say no to this year.
Here's my progress for my 12 goals for 2014:
Marriage Goals
1. Read 6 marriage books. (I've finished three marriage books so far.) 2. Write 50 love notes to Jesse. (I've written 20 love notes so far.)
Mothering Goals
3. Read 40 books aloud to the kids. (We've finished six books so far — I’m really hoping to catch up on this goal over the summer since we’re quite behind!) 4. Finish memorizing Romans 1 together. (We've been working on this!) 5. Go through a cooking course with the kids.
Personal Goals
6. Read through the Bible. (I'm on track with this.) 7. Memorize Romans 2. 8. Run a 5K race and go through P90X again. 9. Read 150 books/ebooks. (I've read 41 books so far this year.)
Blogging Goals
10. Write 150 substantive content pieces for the blog. (I've written 69 substantive content pieces so far this year.) 11. Write 50 DIY/Recipe posts for the blog. (I've written 18 DIY/Recipe post so far.) 12. Blog about/participate in the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge (I finished May's challenge.)
Did you set goals for 2014 yet?
If you've posted an update on how you're doing on your goals for 2014, I'd love for you to share your link in the comments. Or, if you don't have a blog, feel free to just leave a comment with an update on how you're doing on your goals. Let's encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!
So this may seem a little silly, but I practically floated home after my shopping trip tonight… because I stayed under budget and found some pretty good deals! Not anything downright and utterly amazing, but SOOO much better than my first TN shopping trip.
Whole Milk — $2.99 2 packages of Tyson Bacon — $2.99 — I was so excited about this price! 1.73 lbs. of Angus 93/7 ground beef — $9.50 1 lb. ground turkey — $3.99
Total with tax: $24.09
ALDI
6 cucumbers — $0.33 each 1 bag of potatoes — $2.99 1 bag of onions — $1.89 2 colored peppers — $1.99 Blueberries — $1.99 Cabbage — $1.29 3 garlic cloves — $0.99 2.73 lbs. of bananas — $1.20 {I will not covet my sister’s 43-lb. box of bananas for $5 find. ;)} 1 bag of tomatoes — $1.99 2 bags of baby carrots — $0.99 each
I promised you that I’d post my planned new morning routine for June this morning. And well, it’s not morning still, but I figured you all would understand that life just happens like that sometimes!
In between the busyness of the morning, Jesse and I had a chance to talk about our morning routine, though, and here’s what we came up with:
My Planned Morning Routine
5:30 a.m. — Up, read Bible, pray
6:00 a.m. — Run, shower, dress (start laundry)
7:15 a.m. — Breakfast, Family Bible Time, read 1-2 chapters aloud to kids
8:00 a.m. — Morning Cleaning Time — make bed, straighten room, switch laundry, help clean up kitchen, load dishwasher
8:30 a.m. — Computer Time
In an effort to be consistent and follow through with this plan, I’m going to be brave and post an update around noon each week day for the next week (and possibly longer if I’m still struggling with the routine after the first week!) to let you know how my morning routine went that day. I’d love to have you join me and let us know how you’re doing, too!
Today’s Project
Come up with a simple morning routine and post it in the comments below. Then, come back here every week day around noon for the next week to let us know how your morning routine is going. Let’s all encourage each other to be more intentional and make the most of our mornings!
