{"id":1939,"date":"2012-03-06T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/03\/06\/february-goals-checkup\/"},"modified":"2017-08-14T15:06:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T19:06:53","slug":"february-goals-checkup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/03\/06\/february-goals-checkup\/","title":{"rendered":"February Goals checkup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wlWriterHeaderFooter\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 4px 0px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 450px; height: 80px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/widgets\/like.php?href=http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/03\/06\/february-goals-checkup\/\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/2012-goals-monthly-checkup.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"2012 goals monthly checkup\" src=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/2012-goals-monthly-checkup_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"2012 goals monthly checkup\" width=\"235\" height=\"235\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I posted on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centsiblesavings\" target=\"_blank\">facebook<\/a> about a week ago that I could see the end of February looming and I had better really work hard on finishing up a few last goals.\u00a0 Well, I got a lot done that last week so ended with all but one of every-month goals done!<\/p>\n<p><em>You can read my <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/01\/02\/goals-for-2012\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>original goal post here<\/em><\/a><em> \u2013 this is a summarized version so I can so I can comment on which ones I still need to work on and which ones I have made progress on.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Goals are in bold<\/strong>, <em>progress is in italics\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'AR CENA'; font-size: large;\"><strong>2012 GOALS<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Grow in my relationship with the Lord<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>spend daily time in His word and in prayer &#8211;<\/strong><em>working on this<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>read through the Bible in a year \u2013 <\/strong><em>working on this<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>read devotional books \u2013<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">hmmm..need to work on this<\/span>\u00a0 still need to work on this!<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Nurture a loving relationship with my husband<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>date nights every other Friday night \u2013<\/strong> <em>did this!<\/em> <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>find ways to encourage him (notes, spoken words)- <\/strong><em>wrote 1 note, but still working on more that I can do<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>find ways I can make his life easier (pack his lunches, clothes ready for work) \u2013 <\/strong><em>working on this<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>make meaningful conversations a priority \u2013<\/strong> <em>had some good talks on our car trips to church but still need to work on \u201cnot working\u201d in the evenings as much.\u00a0 Going to make it a goal this month to have 1 evening each week (not counting a date night) that I don\u2019t work in the evening and we spend meaningful time together\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Challenge myself to become a better woman, wife, homemaker. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/01\/04\/books-i-plan-to-read-in-2012\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Read at least 12 books this year<\/strong><\/a><strong> \u2013<\/strong> <em>read <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1451646208\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=centssavin09-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1451646208\"><em>The Money Saving Mom\u2019s Budget<\/em><\/a><em> in January, but haven\u2019t finished my February book\u00a0 &#8211; gotta work on that<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Take better care of myself (exercise, eat healthy, go to bed earlier) \u2013<\/strong> this one was sort of a bust last month, BUT I have definite plans to work on this as a habit this month.\u00a0 Going to try to start an exercise routine and develop a daily schedule (set bed times\/wake up times)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Get my home organized and clean \u2013 <\/strong><em>did more of this in February!\u00a0 Just about done with my BIG purge (LOTS of boxes have been taken to the garage for a yard sale and even more trash thrown away,\u00a0 Planning on keeping on doing this on a smaller scale on a weekly\/monthly basis\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/category\/simplify-your-home-your-time-your-life\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Check out my before and after Simplify posts.<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Develop and maintain a weekly cleaning schedule in our home \u2013<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">I did <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">develop<\/span> a schedule, but <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">maintained<\/span> it ??\u2013 hmmm\u2026guess that is this month\u2019s project<\/span><\/em><\/span>\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #666666;\"> <em>still need to work on this\u00a0 &#8211; habit I hope to form this month (more below)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Keep the main living area of our home 30 min. to company clean \u2013<\/strong> have done better with this in February.\u00a0 Having company helped get it clean and then helped me KEEP it clean!<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Learn to LOVE where I live &#8211;<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">working on developing thankfulness in all areas of life.<\/span>\u00a0 (see below.)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Make homemade laundry soap \u2013<\/strong> <em>will work on this later this year\u2026<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Learn how to make Artisan bread in 5 minutes \u2013<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">plan to do this in the next couple weeks<\/span>\u00a0 didn\u2019t do this in February, so maybe this month?<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Menu plan, menu plan, menu plan \u2013 <\/strong><em>STILL got to get better with this!<\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Challenge myself to grow in the kitchen with new recipes, making things from scratch, etc. \u2013<\/strong> <em>made several new things this month <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Grow my blog and have FUN with it! <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>find balance in home life, home priorities, and computer time is my # 1 goal under this priority<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 <em><span style=\"color: #666666;\">work in progress<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fun things I have planned to do and share on <strong><em>The Frugal Homemaker<\/em><\/strong>in 2012 (and I am sure this list will grow as the year goes on.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Do and blog about a monthly Pinterest project \u2013<\/strong> yay, got this done!\u00a0 <em>January\u2019s project (<a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/02\/08\/pinterest-inspired-project-hanging-my-measuring-cups\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hang my measuring cups)<\/a><br \/>\nFebruary\u2019s project (<a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/02\/27\/pinterest-inspired-project-clothespin-wreath\/\" target=\"_blank\">Make a DIY Clothespin wreath)<\/a> <\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Make a DIY scarf \u2013<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">need to go buy some material<\/span><\/em><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">\u00a0<\/span> <em><span style=\"color: #666666;\">still need to do this, but it might be more of a spring scarf now<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Make pillows \u2013<\/strong> <em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">bought some fun material on Saturday for this!<\/span><\/em><\/span>\u00a0 <em><span style=\"color: #666666;\">now I just need to make them<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Write several series\u00a0 &#8211;<\/strong> <em><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/category\/simplify-your-home-your-time-your-life\/\" target=\"_blank\">wrote my \u201cSimplify\u201d series<\/a> and have a fun project coming up later this month with some other bloggers \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Continue to work on room re-dos in my house \u2013 Kitchen, Half bath, Guest bedroom, Master bedroom, Master bathroom as budget and time allow<\/strong>\u00a0<em>\u2013 some of these are in the beginning stages \u2013 hoping to have one close to done by end of April<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Work on re-doing several pieces of furniture in my garage \u2013<\/strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">will start this once it gets a little warmer outside<\/span>\u00a0 yay, it\u2019s getting warm so hoping to get some done this month!<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Learn how to use my camera better \u2013 work through several series on how to take better pictures \u2013<\/strong> <em>having fun with the <a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/category\/p52\/\" target=\"_blank\">P52 project!<\/a>\u00a0 Still need to get my camera OFF <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">auto<\/span>!<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Be a good steward of our finances.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>Save even more this year by managing our money better \u2013<\/strong> <em>amazed this month how keeping better track of our finances and spending has allowed us to save more!<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>One specific savings goal &#8211; save 75% towards the purchase of a new-to-us car (hoping to purchase in the fall\/end of next year) \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0<em>saved February\u2019s amount<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>Find ways to minister to those around me<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #666666;\">have guests in my home once a month<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 <em><span style=\"color: #666666;\">yay, accomplished this goal in February!\u00a0 Had a couple over for Sunday dinner and then spur of the moment invited another family over too!\u00a0 Plus co-hosted a game night at my brother\u2019s house.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>minister to others \u2013 <\/strong><em>found opportunities to reach out to our neighbors and a few others this month<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thenester.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Screen-Shot-2012-01-11-at-7.10.39-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"177\" height=\"127\" \/> <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>I also made <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/01\/12\/12-home-goals-for-2012\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>12 specific HOME goals:<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>1.\u00a0 Add a gallery wall in our entryway-<\/strong><em> maybe this month?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>2. Work on our kitchen \u2013<\/strong> <em>thank you so much for your <a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/02\/20\/kitchen-cabinets-design-dilemma\/\" target=\"_blank\">cabinet advice!<\/a>\u00a0 Working on finding a deal on <a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/02\/20\/kitchen-cabinets-design-dilemma\/\" target=\"_blank\">some cabinet doors<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>3. Re-do our 1\/2 bath \u2013<\/strong> <em>priced some options at Home Depot<\/em><\/span> \u2013 <em>trying to decide on beadboard or a board\/batten treatment<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>4. Continue to spruce up the outdoors (in the spring) \u2013<\/strong> <em>cleaned out the flower bed but planning on a lot of work this month<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>5. Make our bedroom a sanctuary \u2013<\/strong> <em>been <a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/frugalhomemaker\/master-bedroom\/\" target=\"_blank\">pinning some ideas,<\/a> thinking about a color scheme, and we went furniture browsing o Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 still deciding <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><em><strong>6<\/strong><\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>.\u00a0 Transform some furniture \u2013<\/strong> <em>should be warm enough this month \u2013 hoping to get at least one piece done!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>7.\u00a0 Paint \u2013<\/strong> <em><a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/2012\/01\/23\/fighting-the-winter-blues\/\" target=\"_blank\">repainted above the mantel<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>8. De-clutter and simplify \u2013<\/strong> <em>about 90% done with <a href=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/category\/simplify-your-home-your-time-your-life\/\" target=\"_blank\">the BIG Simplify project and cleanout<\/a> but plan to keep on doing this throughout the year<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>9.\u00a0 Make our home more \u201cus.\u201d \u2013<\/strong> <em>been doing this a little by getting rid of things we no longer love, need, or want<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 &#8211; got rid of lots more in February!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>10.\u00a0 Focus on making our home a place we can minister in the area of hospitality \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0<em>did better this month and had people over! <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>1<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>1. Keep our living space (downstairs) 30 minutes to company clean. \u2013<\/strong> <em>did better, but still need to be more consistent<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\"><strong>12. But most of all, learn to LOVE where we live \u2013<\/strong> <em>Really did well with this goal in February.\u00a0 Ended the month excited and content with where we are in life right now.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yay for progress.\u00a0 <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile\" style=\"border-style: none;\" src=\"http:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/wlEmoticon-smile5.png\" alt=\"Smile\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They say if you do something for 30 days it will become habit.\u00a0 A few days into February, I decided to work on developing a new habit in my life each month.\u00a0 <em><strong>February\u2019s habit \u2013develop a consistent attitude of thankfulness<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 (I was greatly convicted that if I was not being consciously thankful for the things I already had, why do I deserve more?)\u00a0 Although being thankful is a lifelong project, after consciously making this a daily goal in February it is much easier for me to have a thankful spirit.<\/p>\n<p>So my <strong><em>habit to work on in March:\u00a0 develop and practice a time schedule in my life.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Not sure if I have mentioned it or not, but I quit out of the house job right before Thanksgiving and now work strictly from home. \u00a0It has been hard to get in a routine since every day of my week is different &#8211; some days I am watching 3 kids, some days I work online\/around the house most of the day, etc. \u00a0BUT I need to develop a \u00a0bare bones type schedule. \u00a0 Go to bed at a set time (although as I type this post it is 12:10 am \u2013 that is why I need to work on this!), get up at a set time, and have a bare bones schedule\/blocks of time during my day set aside for certain tasks.\u00a0 (Whew\u2026this might be a 2 month project!) \u00a0Any suggestions from any stay at home\/work at home women or moms?<\/p>\n<p>I have also declared March <em><strong>\u201cThe month to get things DONE!\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 I have lots of little projects (some you see above and many more!) that I want to cross off the list this month.\u00a0 Most of these you will probably see here throughout the month. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading this book of a post!\u00a0 Hopefully it is an encouragement to you, but I know it is great accountability for me!<\/p>\n<p><em>How about you? Have you been working on your goals? <\/em><em>If you posted about your goals or a check-up post, share your link in the comments! <\/em><\/p>\n<p>{cj}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I posted on facebook about a week ago that I could see the end of February looming and I had better really work hard on finishing up a few last goals.\u00a0 Well, I got a lot done that last week so ended with all but one of every-month goals done! You can read my original [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[731],"class_list":{"0":"post-1939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-goals","8":"entry"},"mv":{"thumbnail_id":null,"thumbnail_uri":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10557,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions\/10557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefrugalhomemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}