April Goals Update

This past month flew by for me. I'm happy to report some good progress on my goals for this year, but I'm also starting to get that burned out, disorganized feeling. I'm going to have some time to plan over the weekend and I'm really looking forward to that. Here's the down and dirty report on my goals from April.

Read 48 books. I'm right on goal with 16 books read through April! I slowed things down a bit this month after last month's reading frenzy, only reading Swiss Courier, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, and listening to The Two Towers. I also three books aloud to Emma, The Boxcar Children, and the first two Magic Tree House books.  I have plans for a fun read aloud project that I hope you'll join with me...more details coming soon!

Memorize 52 Scripture verses. My husband and I are working on these together using the Fighter Verses app. I am 3 behind where I wanted to be right now, and I also haven't done a lot of review, so some of the early verses are not very solid anymore.

Work toward becoming foster parents. This is the biggest change from the last month. We originally thought we would go right to an adoption, but are now planning to become foster parents and would still be open to adoption. We have the earliest paperwork and now are ready to take our first steps...exciting!

Organize and Declutter. Yay for lots of progress here! We finished our foyer project (though that baseboard still need to be nailed down) and absolutely love it. I also worked on decluttering a number of different things and did some large seasonal cleaning. We still need to put the garage back in order from this project so the car can have its home back!

Record highlights from each week. I had fallen quite behind on this last month and now am almost completely caught up! I still need to record write down some of what we did last week. Its great even just 4 months into the year to be able to look back and remember some of the fun little things that we did, things I would have likely forgotten if they were not written down. I'm seeing first hand that it's not all about the big milestones. The little things make life interesting. :-)

Here's a look back at my previous goal posts. Are you keeping track of monthly goals? I've really enjoyed this routine and I think that it is helping me to stay on purpose and see the big picture, even while I'm wading through the day to day details.

March goal update

February goal update
January goal update
Original goal post

March Goals Update

Here is my goal update for March. I was pretty sure that I didn't meet any of my goals this month, but as I went through I was encouraged to see just where I am. If I was not keeping track of my goals this detailed I probably would have given up several after this past month. But now I'm excited to see what else I can knock out in the coming weeks!

The goals:

Read 48 books. I read some great books this month: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Still Alice, A Conspiracy of Paper, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Mr. Popper's Penguins was my read aloud to Emma, and Martin and I listened to The Fellowship of the Ring. This was our audio book for February, but it took us a while because of having to share the CDs. I'm hoping we can plan a little better for the Two Towers this month. As always, I keep track of my books with Goodreads - a fabulous (and free!) website.


Memorize 52 Scripture Verses. My husband and I are going through the Fighter Verses program together. I have 11 of 13 verses memorized for the year, though March had several that were review....so actually I didn't make a lot of progress this month. Emma is working through the Foundation Verses and has 6 memorized.


Work on our Adoption. Some progress! I contacted one of the foster care agencies in Delaware and did not hear back, which means I need to get on the phone this week. We are moving forward planning to be foster parents with the hope that we can adopt along the way. We are excited and nervous, and are thankful to have several friends with adoption experience to encourage us.


Organize and Declutter. I didn't do any of the specific tasks for the 52 weeks to an organized home challenge in March. We had a number of different illnesses and I felt like keeping up on meals, laundry, and regular house cleaning was enough! However, I did participate in a consignment sale through my MOMS club. Over half my items sold! And I was able to list several additional items on eBay. I call that a productive month even though it was different than I originally planned.


I fell behind on my highlights from 2012 in March also. Thankfully it has only been a few weeks, so I need to go back and write those down. I've kept our family blog much more up to date lately, so that will help me remember specific activities. I love that we will have a way to review the best and most important parts of our year when 2013 gets here.


February goal update
January goal update
Original goal post

Making Time to Read

I love reading. It's been one of my favorite ways to spend my time since I first learned how to read. I was one of those bookworms that never spoke on car rides, disappeared for hours (only appearing for meals), and measured time by the books I had recently read. 

By the time I got to college, leisure reading was pushed aside for hundreds of pages of textbooks and hours of studying, not to mention club meetings, group projects, and softball practice. As I emerged from each semester, I took full advantage of the time off to catch up on a few good books.

Martin and I were married the summer after I graduated college, and one of our favorite pastimes together has always been reading. We'll have two different books, each read a chapter, then switch and read the chapter the other just read. And we've enjoyed reading books aloud to each other, or listening to audiobooks together.

Having young children has definitely cut down on my time to read, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way! So, I'm going to share a few ways that I make time to read.

Read less news/blogs/facebook and more books. The Internet has a wealth of knowledge, but it's hard for me to find a cut off. There's always another article, another post, another status update. But books have pages and chapters and good stopping points (sometimes!).

Avoid relaxing with the TV or a movie. Oh, I'm so guilty of this. When naptime hits, I often find myself wanting to veg in front of the computer or a movie. But grabbing a book instead (or even just first!) is so much more rewarding.

Redeeming the time. When I'm waiting for water to boil, I'll grab a book and read a few pages. I've been known to read and blow dry my hair at the same time (granted, I don't blow dry often, but multi-tasking by reading gives me a nice excuse!). I found that the greater my desire to read, the more creative I am about snatching those few minutes here and there to get through an exciting book.

Listen to audiobooks. I love that I can be deep in a book while I'm washing the dishes or folding laundry. And Martin and I often listen to the same audiobook -- me at home and him on the commute to work. Usually I prefer my audiobooks to be great fiction, but I know some people that like listening to books on history, current events, or biographies too.


Keep a list: recent reads and to-reads. Goodreads is great for this. I try to write down a few sentences about each book I read within a few hours of finishing. I love being able to look back at my thoughts on each book, and often its interesting to see that what I remember 3 or 6 months after reading a book is slightly different than my initial opinion.


Let your children see you read. They model our examples, so make sure you model what you want imitated. I'm so grateful to have children who love books too, and I know that in large part that is because we place such a high priority on reading as a family.


Side by side reading. This requires training for both you and your kids, but I've found that its great for all of us. I sit on the couch next to one or both kids, set them up with a book (or basket of books!). The instructions are that they are going to read their books and I am going to read my book. I set a timer and we aren't going to talk to each other while we read. When the timer goes off, I usually read a number of books aloud to them.

I started small, just 5 minutes of side by side reading. It's really good for my kids to be able to focus on one task without skipping around, and to be self-sufficient even though I am right next to them. I don't usually set a timer anymore, but I'll tell them that I'm going to read a chapter in my book while they look through theirs. And now that my daughter is a little older, she often asks me about the book I'm reading too!

What is important to you? Most of these tips could apply to whatever activity is important to you. For me it's reading, but maybe for you it's sewing, or a home-based business, or something else. My house isn't neat as a pin, though it probably could be if I spent my reading time tidying up instead. But reading is more important to me than having everything perfectly put away. And I'm happy with that, and I'm so thankful that my husband is too! Of course, there's a point when the bathroom has to be clean and the clothes folded...and thankfully then I have audiobooks!

Is reading a favorite activity for you? I'd love to hear other creative ways you make time to read. And if its not reading but something else that you want to make time to do, I encourage you to set some big goals and break it down into small goals today!

February Goals Update

I'm keeping track of my goals this year through monthly updates. View my original goals post and my January update.

Read 48 books. If this was my only goal, I'd be golden! I'm right on track with 8 books read through February, 10 if I count 2 books read aloud to my daughter. I'm loving reading classic children's books to her; so far we've read Beatrix Potter The Complete Tales and Winnie the Pooh. I keep track of my books with Goodreads - a fabulous (and free!) website.

Memorize 52 Scripture Verses. My husband and I are going through the Fighter Verses program together. I have 7 out of 9 verses memorized right now. I would like to do better with making this a priority. Even though reading requires quite a bit of mental focus, memorizing takes so much more, and I'm seeing that I can be pretty lazy sometimes! Emma is working through the Foundation Verses and has 6 memorized.

Work on our Adoption. I was hoping to have some big news to share at the end of February, but things are still mostly the same. We are reading and taking in information right now, as well as talking with friends who have experience adopting. While I'd love to have some big progress to show, I also know that rushing into something just to mark it off a list is foolish. We are trusting that God is still calling us to adopt, and so we'll continue to take steps to make that happen!

Organize and Declutter. I cheated a bit on the 52 weeks to an organized home challenge in February. I already had a good recycling system as well as an adress book with everything in one place. I make a menu plan ahead of time most weeks, and when I don't I still have a plan a day or two ahead. And we are working on a HUGE home improvement project right now (well, huge for us, its actually little compared to most I expect!) that will be a great help towards organizing and decluttering. We are hoping to finish up this week and I can't wait to share it with you!

I'm also keeping my highlights from 2012 updated so that we have a way to review the best and most important parts of our year when 2013 gets here.

I'm so glad I'm keeping track of goals monthly; its a great "mile marker" through the year, and it's helping me to see that big things are manageable in small bites!

January Goals Update

We are just over a month into 2012 which is a great mile marker to evaluate how I'm doing on my year-long goals. Here is a look at how I am doing on my big goals:

Read 48 books. I read 6 in January (that's 2 ahead of my pace for the year) - 4 were "normal" reads, one audio book, and one read aloud to my daughter. I use Goodreads to keep track of what I read.

Memorize 52 Scripture verses. My husband and I are working the Fighter Verses together. We have 4 out of 5 weeks memorized right now, so that's a solid start! Also, we are working with our 3-year-old on memorizing the "Foundation verses" - these are shorter and have a visual aid to help them remember the passage. She has 3 of 5 memorized, and then yesterday came out with our whole week one verse, which is much longer!

Work on our Adoption. We have made only a little progress here. We are looking at different agencies right now and talking with friends who have experience with foster care adoptions. Hoping for some real news to report at the end of February!

Organize and Declutter. I'm loosely using Home Storage Solutions 52 weeks to a more organized home as a guide. I worked on the kitchen in weeks 1-3, thanks to my ongoing battle against food waste, I have very little to do in the fridge and freezer, and I'm hoping to get a shelf up in my kitchen this week to store my cookbooks in a location that makes more sense. I'm happy with this progress!

I have new motivation for making our home more organized thanks to Organized Simplicity. As I'm going through old papers, trinkets, and a few boxes that have yet to be unpacked from our move (3 years ago!) I am asking "is it beautiful? is it useful?" If the answer is no, I'm getting rid of it! I highly recommend Organized Simplicity; its an easy read with tons of practical advice.

Lastly, I have a fun ongoing project for this year. Every weekend I'm writing down one or two highlights from our week - favorite family activities, important things that happened, or special memories. Sometimes these are big, but sometimes just a little thing that I know would be forgotten even a few weeks from now. We're planning to read through them at the end of 2012. If you would like to join me, now is the time! You could probably come up with something from each week so far in the year by looking back at your calendar. But I know that if I don't write things down, they will be gone from my memory way too soon!

Do you have long term goals set for the next several months? If not, I cannot recommend it enough. Making a goal and breaking it down into manageable smaller goals has been so helpful for our family. Its great to be able to look back and see that we are making progress, even if it is not always quite as much as I had hoped!

Here is my original goals post.

Keeping things real

Last week I wrote about my goals for this year, including staying organized around the house. While organization is not something that happens over night, sometimes it seems like the messes and disorganization can happen in just a few hours!

Thanks to a busy day and evening yesterday, this morning I had my work cut out for me. Living room...

Kitchen table...

  Counter and sink...

Talk about a daunting task. I had some time this morning to devote to getting things under control, so while I'm not done yet, here's a look at the progress.

Table...

And living room...

I actually enjoy (or at least somewhat enjoy) cleaning up when I've got a good audio book to listen to at the same time. This morning's companion, The Hobbit!

Have you tried listening to audio books while doing household chores? Its a great way for me to use my time wisely to make my goals happen!

Get Organized!

One thing our family has been trying to do better at over the last few months is keeping things more organized around the house. I've read several things lately that encouraged me to make this a priority. I'm not calling organization a "new years resolution"; I want organization to be a habit that stays with me for the rest of my life. Building on the ways I improved last year, and looking ahead to where I want to be in another year...that's a practical application of Thrifty Living for me!

Are you looking for some encouragement to get organized too? Check out a few of my favorite resources:

The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine. She has a lot of good ideas about de-cluttering. Her "time budget" has changed the way I think about how I spend time on specific tasks. I can certainly carve out just 15 minutes a day to spend on organizing or de-cluttering. And that time adds up - over an hour a week and 65 hours in a year (that's a ton of time!). Check out my in depth review of the book here also.

Right now, I'm reading Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider. This is a fantastic book about the joys of living simply and purposefully. I've waited 6 months or more to get this book from the library because of the number of holds...I totally should have just bought a copy of my own!

If you benefit from having a very detailed schedule, you may want to check out Home Storage Solutions' series, 52 weeks to a more organized home. This blog has 52 areas to de-clutter and organize with a lot of practical tips for each specific area. You can take the 52 weeks challenge and stay accountable with others who are looking to get their homes in order this year also.

Being organized is about way more than file folders and to-do lists, though they surely have their places. Living organized allows you to do the things that matter most, to accomplish your goals, and to be purposeful with your time

Last year I set a goal to read 48 books (4 books a month), and I read 53! This isn't something that just happened, I had to be intentional. I started using Goodreads to track the books I read, as well as any good books I wanted to check out in the future. I had to give up some things to make time to read. I watch very little TV, I read less articles on the internet, and I read instead of folding laundry and filing papers. (Well, sometimes I folded laundry and filed papers while listening to an audiobook, but not always!) I feel more organized this year because I made time for something I love (reading). I feel more organized even though everything is not perfect.

My 3 Big Goals:

Read 48 books. I think this is a manageable goal that will challenge me and be fun again this year. This also includes audio books.

Memorize 52 Scripture verses. My husband and I are working on these together using the Fighter Verses app. There are 5 sets of verses (its a 5-year plan) and we are starting with set one. If memorization is something you want to grow in, check out the Fighter Verses site, there are a lot of great resources (the app is $3, but comes with quizes and many other aids).

Work on our Adoption. We want to adopt a child through the Delaware Foster Care System. Our goal for the month of January is to finalize our adoption agency and begin the necessary paperwork. The timetable for an adoption is not set in stone, so it is likely that the adoption will not take place this year, but it would be a blessing if things moved quickly too!

My smaller organizational goals will help me to meet these big goals...cleaning closets, shredding old papers, going through clothes and toys to have a yard sale, and being proactive about going through the mail day as soon as it comes into the house.

Do you have any goals for this year? Tell me in the comments or link up with Money Saving Mom!