This Talk Ain't Cheap!

A Personal Blog

Category 2 travel

Travel Bucket List

Do you have a travel bucket list?

Who hasn’t, at one time or another, sat daydreaming about all the wonderful places they would go if they only had a few extra bucks? I’ve been fortunate to have been able to travel when I was younger. I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Italy, England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Monaco, Lichtenstein, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Israel. Don’t get too excited, most of these were with a tour group after I graduated from college. Still, travel is something I always wanted to do more of. And then I had kids.

Kids aren’t a deal breaker when it comes to traveling, but they sure do make it a little harder financially speaking. Now that the kids are teenagers, I’m starting to rethink those places I always wanted to travel to. I have to admit, some of the places I dreamed about going aren’t on the top of my list anymore. And those places where I would have refused to go when I was younger… well, they slowly rose to the top of that list.

So here it is… my current travel bucket list.

(All photos courtesy of Pixabay.com)

Vietnam

Maldives

Peru

Ireland

Greece

Iceland

Hungary

Tahiti

 

What countries are on your travel bucket list?

family parenting

Don’t Blink – And Other Things I Wish I Had Known

 

I wish someone had told me, as I sat and watched my kindergartner walk down the aisle at her commencement, not to blink. Not for a moment. Because once you blink, all you remember is a flash. The years between 1st grade and senior year become a blur. And then you hyperventilate.

My oldest daughter just graduated from high school. I feel proud, excited, and nauseous all at once. I told myself for years that I wanted her to go live her life, experience all the wonders of the world. I wasn’t wrong… but I’m having a really hard time letting go.

She’s 18 but when I look in her eyes they are the same eyes she had when she was 5 and danced around the house. I look at the woman standing before me but all I see is the little blond-haired child she once was. What I wouldn’t give for a moment in the past.

I’d like to say she grew up fabulous in spite of me, but I also like to think maybe I had some small hand in the accomplished person she’s become. There is a reason parents gush over their kids… because we are just so darn proud of them.

I wish I had known that by doing my job as a parent meant that my child would be completely self-sufficient. She technically doesn’t need me anymore… for emotional support, yes, but she doesn’t need me. She can pump her own gas and make her own meals and do her own laundry and handle her own bank account. She can fill out paperwork and apply for a job and read a map. She knows how to call AAA or 911 in case of an emergency. I’ve done my job too well.

That’s what you get for being a parent.

No one tells you that it feels like you’ve had your heart ripped out of you. No one tells you that you’ll feel like you are losing your best friend. No one tells you that the amount of love you have for your child can grow even more than you thought possible.

I wish I knew that the first few bars of “Pomp and Circumstance” would release a flood of tears.

I wish I knew that as I lay in bed at night, my arms would ache for that baby she once was.

I wish I knew that the day after diplomas are handed out, I’d wake to feel like I was hit by a truck.

And now the preparation for college sets in and it’s all at once an ending and a beginning and almost too much emotion to handle.

In 3 months she’ll be starting a new part of her life far away from home. But I’ve still got 3 months to hug her tight and relish in the wondrous person she is right now.

 

 

family

Making Better Choices with Weight Watchers®

This post was sponsored by Weight Watchers International, Inc. as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

After my third daughter was born I knew I needed some help getting back into my pre-baby body. Weight Watchers® was the only program that worked for me back then. I think I managed to do okay with my eating until recently when I found myself working several different jobs from home AND still trying to parent three teenagers and take care of a house, husband, and two dogs. When you work from home, you tend to do either of two things:

  1. You nosh on anything and everything all day long
  2. You eat nothing because you are so busy you forget it’s lunchtime.

Either way, you lose because eating nothing is just as bad as eating too much. And suddenly, my clothes don’t fit. I think I’ve reached the end of my rope because with all the stuff going on in my life right now, I can’t handle gaining weight too. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was complaining about the very same thing and she suggested we both do Weight Watchers together. Yep… that sounds like a plan!

I know that Weight Watchers has changed their plan over the years and now they have a new Freestyle™ program with zero Points® foods. It’s pretty awesome, actually, since there are tons of choices you can add to your meal planning that don’t eat up all your points. I love that since the one thing I hate is to be restricted in the amounts of foods I can eat. With zero Points® foods you know you’ll be able to fill yourself up. I set about working on a meal plan that my whole family would be happy with.

Meal planning has never really been my thing, however, so I had to get pretty creative and know that in order for this to work I had to actually STICK to the plan. At the beginning of the week, I come up with all my meals since having food available in the house is the biggest problem for me. Although I’m home all day, I AM working and that doesn’t give me a lot of time to prep meals. If I can do things in the morning or throw stuff in the slow cooker, it saves me a ton of time. What has been a lifesaver is the selection of products I can purchase at Walmart during regular shopping trips that have been endorsed/licensed by Weight Watchers. The best part is all these clearly show you how many points they are. What could be easier than that?

What has really been a lifesaver for me are the Oroweat® Sandwich Thins rolls endorsed by Weight Watchers® and the Flatout® Flatbread endorsed by Weight Watchers®. Lunch is always a big disappointment because I never have anything interesting in the house and I can’t afford time-wise (or money-wise) to run out to pick up something outside the house. Sandwiches are easy to make with these sandwich thins and flatbreads. I usually have some kind of leftover chicken at home and it’s so easy to whip up some chicken salad for lunches.

My daughter loves the Oroweat® Sandwich Thins. They are an excellent source of fiber and are only 3 SmartPoints® per roll. They also come in Whole Wheat, Honey Wheat, and Flax & Fiber.

I am a big fan of the Flatout® Flatbread. I love the Light Original variety that is also high in protein and fiber. These also are fabulous for making breakfast burritos when you are short on time and need to take something on the go.

Lunches have definitely become easier (and better tasting) since I’ve been stocking up on these.

And as a treat, Weight Watchers also endorses some of my favorite snacks.

I admit it… I’m a snacker. I love that I can grab a 100 calorie bag of JOLLY TIME® Healthy Pop® Popcorn endorsed by Weight Watchers®. Only 3 SmartPoints® and it’s also Non-GMO and gluten-free. Each bag is just the right amount for a healthier snack… and you won’t over-eat since you aren’t making one of those huge bags that feed an entire family.

And after dinner, we all grab Giant Fudge Weight Watchers® Ice Cream Novelties. They are made from low-fat milk and are lower SmartPoints® value per serving than regular ice cream.

I’m so glad Weight Watchers is making it easy for me to lead a balanced lifestyle. With products, support, and amazing recipe ideas, there really is no excuse to not look and feel your best. Have you tried Weight Watchers products lately? What is your favorite?

Follow Weight Watchers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to learn more about their program and products.

family parenting

The GenZ Social Summit is Coming!

I am so proud to announce that the GenZ Social Summit is coming to Great Wolf Lodge on May 6, 2018. This has been a long time coming and the brainchild of my business partner, Laura Filipowicz. We both have children who fall right in with Generation Z and it’s about time they had an event (what we’re calling the un-conference) just for them to learn about social media and entrepreneurship.

We live in a world where our kids are growing up with technology. It’s second nature to them. There are too many reports out there on the dangers of playing video games, watching too much YouTube, and cyberbullying. We are aiming to show our new generation that social media and technology can be used safely and prominently for great things: amplifying your voice on the causes important to you, creating your own business, learning from others, and teaching others. Social media isn’t going away so it’s time to start empowering our kids with all the positive possibilities of the medium.

We are so fortunate that Great Wolf Lodge saw the benefit in this as well and have come on as our Title Sponsor. If you haven’t been to Great Wolf Lodge yet, this is a great opportunity to experience the property. The event is open to tweens and teens (ages 8 – 16) and their parents. The kids will be able to learn from social media experts as well as their entrepreneurial peers. If your child is interested in building their own business, or just using social media for creating positive connections, you’ll want to grab your ticket before we are sold out.

Please let me know if you are coming and need further information.

parenting

The Big College Decision

The emotional roller coaster that has been known in our house as the “Big College Decision” has been going on for quite some time. I’ve tried to keep things under wraps as much as possible since this is really my daughter’s story to tell. But, since she isn’t online much and doesn’t have a blog or Facebook account, she’s graciously allowed me to share some tidbits of what we’ve all been going through the past 6 months.

Temera was one of the lucky ones – she’s known what she wanted to major in for a long time. For teens who really don’t have any idea of what type of career they want, I can image this is an incredibly difficult decision. Having a direction has made things a bit easier, for sure.

The Process

Knowing what you want to study and looking around at different school options early was the key for her. I think she started researching schools when she was a sophomore. Why so early? For one very specific reason: she needed to know what the high school requirements were for getting into each school. I honestly think this is a step that a lot of kids (and parents) miss. For instance, some colleges she applied to required 2 years of a language. Other schools required 3 years. Some schools required 2 years of science, others required 3. When it comes to creating your high school schedule, you don’t want to be caught off-guard not having taken the required courses to even be able to apply to a college.

Applications

Temera started a spreadsheet for all the schools she was interested in (okay, maybe I helped a little with that). She entered information like application deadline, required high school courses, tuition and total fees including room & board, acceptance rate, etc. Being able to compare everything at once was invaluable. We all looked at it often.

The other thing that helped her was applying early. As soon as the applications were released, she applied. This gave her a huge jump on not having to stress over filling out applications during her senior year. She applied for most of them before she even started school, and maybe a few in early September. By that time, all she had to do was wait and she wasn’t stressing out over having to do applications in December like so many of her friends.

The College Tour

It’s kind of a right of passage, but I know there are a lot of families who just can’t afford traveling all over the country to check out colleges. If you can swing it, it is really important. For us, we started early (junior year) and made a plan for when we would go to each school. For Amanda (a sophomore this year) we are already taking her to one of her college choices this year because we’ll be nearby and it makes sense not to have to spend the money for another trip there next year. If you are near a school that your student might be interested in… go visit. Doesn’t matter if they are only a freshman.

Sign up for an official tour through the college. That way, they will have your name on record. I am convinced that the only way I got into my first choice school back when I was applying was because I visited the school, met with an advisor, and took a tour. If it comes down to you and another student who didn’t visit the school… you want to have that advantage.

The Big Decision

This was NOT an easy decision for Temera. She genuinely liked all the schools she applied to. I tried to help her go through her list of pros and cons but I also suggested she just close her eyes and picture herself living on each campus. I gave her some suggestions on what to consider when making her selection.

  • Location – would she be happy with the distance from home, weather, big city vs. small city
  • Coursework – take a look at the actual class schedule for all 4 years and make sure the classes align with your desired career field
  • Transportation – might not be a deciding factor, but know if you’ll be able to have a car on campus, where the airport and train stations are, is there a bus system, how far is the walk to classes from the dorms
  • What will you do when you have free time – is there a shopping center, mall, movie theater, local restaurants nearby
  • What does the job placement center look like – do they actually help place graduates in your specific major with good jobs
  • Does the school have features you want – study abroad opportunities, on-campus jobs, ability to take some “fun” classes
  • Cost! – will this be an affordable choice and were you offered scholarships, grants, student loans

She ended up narrowing her choices down a little bit and FINALLY made her decision. I know it wasn’t easy for her but she is excited… we are excited… her sisters are excited. I know she made the right choice for HER.

TIPS:

  • Don’t leave it up to your school counselor to send your transcripts. Check with them on a regular basis to make sure they do it! And check with the college to make sure they received it. I’ve seen too many kids whose first choice of college never got the transcript. It is your child’s responsibility to check.
  • When it comes to recommendation letters… ask early! You want to get a jump on that before every kid in the class asks.
  • Apply early – get the applications out of the way so you don’t have to stress during your senior year.
  • Visit the schools if at all possible.
  • Weight your pros and cons and take your time.
  • After you make your decision, sit with it over a weekend and if you still think you made the right choice, go and shout it from the rooftops.

parenting

Girls Who Inspire

I spent the last weekend in Spokane, Washington at a robotics tournament. It was not the kind of thing I would have ever expected I would be doing, much less enjoying. Relishing, actually. After a lifetime focusing on anything NOT having to do with STEM, I have a daughter who lives for it. Her all-girl robotics team just won the top competition award, the Inspire Award, at the Western Regional Championship. That promotes them to the World Championship in Houston next month.

This was the 2nd year in a row that they won this award. Inconceivable. It was a first for the competition that the same team won twice in a row. It just doesn’t happen.

What IS the Inspire Award?

From firstinspires.org:

This judged award is given to the Team that embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The Team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST Team. This Team is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor. The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other Teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the Playing Field. This Team shares their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other Teams, sponsors, their community, and the Judges. Working as a unit, this Team will have showed success in performing the task of designing and building a Robot.

Required criteria for the Inspire Award: 

  • Team shows respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event. 
  • Team is a strong contender for several other Judged awards. The Inspire Award celebrates the strongest qualities of all the Judged Awards.  
  • The Team is an ambassador for FIRST programs. They demonstrate and document their work in their community. 
  • Team is positive and inclusive, and each Team member contributes to the success of the Team. 
  • Team must submit an Engineering Notebook. The Engineering notebook must include an Engineering section, a Team section and a Business or Strategic Plan. The entire Engineering Notebook must be high quality, thoughtful, thorough, detailed and well organized. 
  • Robot design is creative and innovative, and the Robot performs reliably on the field. Team communicates clearly about their Robot design and strategy to the judges. 
  • Team presentation is professional and engaging.

These girls are the best of the best – they embody all that FIRST stands for. We’ll be up against some of the best teams in the world in Houston, but it doesn’t matter. They’ve already won just by winning a spot at the championship for the 2nd year in a row.

Help me cheer them on – in the competition and in their paths in life. I can’t wait to see where these girls will be in 10 years.

 

family parenting

FIRST Robotics and Girls in STEM

I never thought I’d be an advocate for girls in STEM, but here I am.

On Saturday, February 24, this all-girl team won the FIRST Tech Challenge Los Angeles Regional Championship out of 50 of the best teams this division has to offer. And Los Angeles has a pretty stellar pool of robotics teams.

This isn’t something I ever would have thought a child of mine would be involved in but it has completely changed Amanda’s life.

A little about FIRST Robotics

  • There are 4 different programs
    • FIRST Lego League Jr. (for kids 6 – 10)
    • FIRST Lego League (for grades 4 – 8)
    • FIRST Tech Challenge (for grades 7 – 12)
    • FIRST Robotics Competition (for grades 9 – 12)
  • The difference between the FIRST Tech Challenge (that Amanda is in) and FIRST Robotics is the size of the robot. FIRST Tech builds smaller-scale robots, usually 18″ x 18″, and FIRST Robotics builds industrial size robots.
  • There are teams all over the world. Amanda’s team mentors several foreign teams.
  • There are division competitions and Inter-League competitions. If you make it past the Inter-League competition, you compete in the Regional Championship. Those that promote from the Regional Championship head to the Western Regional (this year in Spokane, WA). From the Western Regional, the winners will go on to the World Championship. The World Championship gets divided into different regions so you aren’t actually competing against the entire World. Our region will be held in Houston, Texas and will have teams from the United States and many foreign countries.

Each year there is a challenge that is created by the FIRST Tech Challenge Committee and each team is required to build their robot to perform certain tasks in the challenge. It takes design skills, mechanical skills, and programming skills to follow the robotic rules as well as be able to actually perform the tasks. The teams don’t have a lot of time either. They get their challenge for the new season in September and first competitions begin in November.

So, how did we get here?

Two years ago, we took Amanda to a presentation at a local high school given by several women who worked at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory – NASA). The talk was interesting as we learned what each woman’s position was in the company and what their background was. But the talk wasn’t nearly as eye-opening as when Amanda saw a small team of girls demonstrating their robot. She was hooked. She said to us, “That’s what I want to do.” And we signed her up.

Her first year being involved, the team went all the way to the World Championship. We are hoping for the same this year. It’s been such an incredible opportunity for her and it’s a program that teaches life skills, not just robotics skills. She is hoping to major in mechanical engineering in college and work in the animatronics field.

The beauty of this program is that there are so many areas you can explore. You don’t have to want to be an engineer, or even want to study robotics, to get something valuable out of being a part of FIRST. Just like we learned from the JPL event, there is a need for women in all aspects of STEM – sure, science and math are important, but JPL, for instance, needs graphic designers and video experts and lawyers and human resource experts.

Why you should be involved in FIRST Robotics

  • You learn skills that might not be taught in school such as
    • Speaking skills
    • Design and building
    • Coding and CAD
    • Engineering
  • Gracious Professionalism
  • Access to FIRST scholarships for college
  • Opportunity to meet other kids from all over the world
  • The ability to meet engineering professionals

If you think your daughter, or a young girl you know, would be interested in learning more (and possiblity joining a local team), I’d be happy to put you in touch with someone who can provide more information. There are existing teams all over the country and many more new teams forming. I’d also encourage you to come out to one of the competitions and experience the program for yourself. It could be a turning point in your child’s life.

 

family

The Answer to Your Laundry Problems

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

Anybody with kids knows that laundry problems are the one constant that will drive you crazy until you have an empty nest. As many clothes that my husband and I go through, it’s nothing compared to my 3 little angels. We’ve got school clothes, weekend clothes, sports clothes, robotics clothes, not to mention 3 sets of towels and bed sheets. It’s almost impossible to keep up with the piles that fill my house. What REALLY makes my blood boil is when I go to do a load of my own clothes and find that someone only put in a few items instead of a full load. Seriously? Everyone knows that you don’t waste water and energy by only washing a few things at a time!

Look familiar?

Now, I have to say that I have been an LG fan for a long time already. When we were ready to buy a new washer and dryer a few years ago, we chose LG appliances and I am so happy with them! I would purchase LG over and over again (no lie). So I was pretty stoked when I discovered the new LG TwinWash system. This system, which you can pick up at Best Buy, includes the LG Front Load laundry paired with LG’s SideKick Pedestal Washer. 

This is the coolest thing ever! LG’s TwinWash system comes with the regular LG front load washer (I have this and it’s amazing) AND the LG SideKick pedestal washer – this is for those small loads that you sometimes really need to do but aren’t ready to do a full load of clothes. Take a look at the photo above and you can see that you can do a smaller load either on its own OR as a separate small load when you are using your front loader for other things. Like, you can do a separate small load for the stinky sports uniform. I think this would make doing laundry SO much easier. And then I wouldn’t have to get on my kids about just washing a few things. And then maybe they would actually WANT to wash just a few things. Or anything. That would be helpful.

Energy efficient and awesome cleaning performance.  No wonder more households have chosen LG laundry over any other brand! I already have.

What is your favorite LG Twin Wash feature?  How would you use it in your household?

Between January 11 and April 25, you can receive up to $500 off any LG laundry solution for your home. Go grab one now and kick your laundry problems to the curb.

Decor DIY

My Kitchen Remodel

This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve been in my house for over 18 years and every few months or so since we moved in, I’ve told myself that I needed to remodel the kitchen. It never happened. I had it in my mind that I needed to gut the entire room and start from scratch. My cabinets were horrible and I hated the layout. I don’t have a pantry and my countertop space is so limited it’s hard to actually prepare an entire dinner without having to use my dining table as extra space.

After adding up the numbers for a brand spanking new kitchen, my cheap self decided that I really didn’t want to spend the money. My only other option was to paint the cabinets. Not really an idea I found appealing, but I knew that if I wanted a new look to the kitchen, it was my only real option.

So I went on a serious Google search to find out the best way to paint. I read blog posts galore and watched YouTube videos and I decided that I could do this!

Of course, I got ahead of myself and started taking off the cabinet doors before I even took a full kitchen photo of the “before”. So here’s what I got anyway.

Pretty horrible, isn’t it?

I used the Sherwin Williams Pro Classic in white. It’s pricey but they are always having sales on it and I only needed one gallon to cover everything (I have a really small kitchen space).

I was hoping not to have to sand everything down, but after cleaning and degreasing about a dozen times (yes, they were that disgusting), I decided I needed to do the sanding anyway. Which I did.

The people at the paint store also said that I wouldn’t need primer. I primed anyway. And glad I did. So, I cleaned, degreased, sanded, primed, and then I was ready to paint. I painted one coat and hated the way they looked. The roller that was suggested by everyone didn’t work for me. They looked like crap.

Temera helping me paint.

So I ended up using an angled paintbrush and even after two coats I wasn’t totally happy with the results. The paint was supposed to be self-leveling but it didn’t look like it was working. Until the next day.

The cabinet doors and drawers were left to dry in my garage overnight and when I looked at them the next morning, I LOVED them! The paint was clean and smooth. It leveled out so that you didn’t see any of the brush strokes. Awesome!

Painting the base cabinets was the easy part, but then it was time to hang the doors.

The original hinges weren’t an option since when I took them off, they basically crumbled. The springs were like dust. Who knew it would be so difficult to find replacement hinges? Well, it was a nightmare. Turns out, the exact size hinges were impossible to find. Pretty sure they aren’t even made anymore. Luckily, the holes that were already in the cabinet faces were the same size as the new ones, but we (and by WE, I mean DAVID) had to drill new holes in the backs of the cabinet doors. What a pain! This slowed down the entire kitchen remodel process. Not happy!

I’m not sure I would have been able to do this without David. Okay, I probably would have figure it out but it would have taken me an extra few months. Nice to have a handy husband… I highly recommend it.

So, it took longer than I wanted, but my kitchen remodel was almost done. We added a few cabinet pulls and I did some repair to my tile countertop grout.

Am I happy with the kitchen? Yes. I still need to add the drawer pulls because it’s not that easy to drill double holes and make them even. I wasn’t happy with the way they looked so I’m on the hunt for an alternative solution.

So, what have I learned from this process? I would definitely consider doing this again. I think it’s a pain in the *ss but for the price of the remodel (less than $200), it’s so worth it. The kitchen may not be exactly like I want it (the footprint is still the same and I still don’t have a pantry) but for what it is, it’s pretty gorgeous.

And because it made such a huge change in my house, I decided I really needed to repaint my kitchen island too. So I did.

We purchased this as a floor model from Orchard Hardware many moons ago. Since my kitchen didn’t have a built-in island, we needed something to add for extra storage and counter space. It came looking like this – a little antiqued – but the cream color wasn’t cutting it in my new all-white kitchen. So I painted it.

This time, I decided to try chalk paint. I purchased the Rust-oleum Chalked Paint from Amazon, along with the Rust-oleum Chalked Matte Clear Protective Topcoat. I didn’t have to sand the piece before I used the paint and it came out awesome! I love it! I gave it two coats of the paint and one coat of the topcoat… and I still had a ton of paint leftover for other projects around the house.

The knobs are vintage-inspired and came from Hobby Lobby. I am in love with them!

So here is the finished room. It’s so much brighter, and looks so much bigger, than it was before. I love the new look so much that I now have to sweep through the rest of the house and make it all fit in with this look.

More to come…

 

family

Keeping Our Goals and Improving Our Lives

Goals are awesome to have… especially ones that are going to improve your life. But we all know that within a few weeks, those goals start to dissipate into thin air. It isn’t easy keeping new habits even when we start with the best intentions. I thought I’d share some simple (and I mean… really simple) ways to improve your workflow, your home flow, and your personal flow so you can claim success with your New Years goals.

WORK

For those of us who work from home, the holidays are a perfect time to re-evaluate what is and isn’t working for us. We usually have some downtime with the kids home from school and even though we’re busy with family and celebrations, we can usually find some time to prepare for the new year. If you took the month of December off from doing anything, it’s not too late.

Calendar
Whether you use a paper calendar or a digital calendar (or use some other workflow system), you should start using it if you haven’t already. I use a combination of a lot of things to keep myself organized. I have a wall calendar in my kitchen that is a must for our family. We are pretty visual people and with three teenagers, our days get pretty busy. We ALL are responsible for posting our schedules on the kitchen calendar so we know what is coming up and can make sure we don’t overschedule each other. I also have a desk calendar where I write down more personal things. I use it for personal goals and inspiration, to remind myself of when I have to buy gifts, wish people a happy birthday, and run my errands. The third thing I use is my workflow notebook. That is mostly for all my work responsibilities and keeps me on task. I also use that for new business ideas and to keep a running track of what I need to accomplish.

Organize
It’s time to sort through all those papers that have piled up during the holidays. I have been filing away the ones I need to keep and tossing the ones I’ve finished. I also have a pile of things that I still need to go through… because we ALL have a pile of things we need to go through. I also make sure to go through my emails and desktop files because when you start with a clean inbox and computer screen, it makes everything so much calmer and peaceful.

Planning/Vision/Goals
If I don’t write down what I want to do, there is basically no chance in hell that anything will get done. Even if you just make a simple goal list and then hide it away in the back of a notebook or desk, the words down on paper are magical and you’ll be surprised at what you can check off that list when it comes to the end of the year. Which reminds me… go get your list from last year and see what you’ve accomplished. Re-evaluate the list and keep those goals that you still have… delete the ones that no longer mean anything to you. If you are into vision boards, now is the time to update. And make sure you work on the next few months of planning out what you’ll be focusing on for work. Things like blog posts, social media promotions, events, updates, finances, etc. should be entered into your schedule.

HOME

Work is great but it isn’t everything. Your home and family are what is most important and you can’t overlook getting your home in order for the new year. I’m not talking about a complete home makeover or anything drastic (unless that’s a big goal of yours). I’m talking about making your home work for you. Cluttered home, cluttered mind.

Closets/Storage
Not at the top of the fun list but remember the last time you cleaned out your closet and how awesome it felt? Do it! Grab a garbage bag and a donate bag and get the kids involved. Do the same with your dresser drawers, kitchen cabinets and drawers, and all those coat closets and junk drawers around your house. If you are really ambitious, you can go through the garage… but wow, that would really be a feat. My biggest problem is the kitchen junk drawers that I throw everything from coupons to old birthday candles in. Love getting that stuff in the garbage.

Medical/School/Bill Files
If you don’t have a filing system (and I know some people really don’t), it’s time to get yourself one. It doesn’t have to be fancy…  just a plastic bin with some file folders will do. Have a file for each topic: medical insurance, home insurance, elementary school, home repairs, pest control, etc. You get the point. Then start going through your stacks of papers and file the ones that are important to keep. The other stuff… toss it. If you won’t need it in the future don’t bother saving it. Bank statements can be found online these days so no need to keep those. Any contract that you’ve signed… keep it. When you start out on January 1 with everything in order, you will feel like you’re on top of the world.

Design & Organize
If you are like me, you might want to take stock of what is in your house. This is a perfect time to do that since you’re probably decorating for the holidays and are finding things you haven’t seen since last year. I love rearranging things and even though we all can’t afford to go out and buy new furnishings, we can certainly redo our floorplan: move the couches around, add a new tablecloth, or change out the everyday dishes. Sometimes it’s the simple touches that reinvigorate us and make our home a little fresher.

PERSONAL

If you set one goal this year, make it something for yourself. You’ll thank yourself for it later.

Joy
What makes you happy? Really think about it for a while. Obviously, our kids and families… but besides that, what do you DO that brings you joy? Is it traveling? Is it writing? Is it skydiving? Whatever you take great joy in, write in on your calendar the time when you will focus solely on making yourself happy doing what you love.

Quiet Time
Yep, sometimes you really do have to schedule in time to do nothing. To just be quiet. To go to the beach or the park and sit quietly with yourself. To think. To be still. To reflect. All of my kids are in school but even still, I need to make sure I have some time every week where I can just lay in bed and read a good book. In a quiet house. With my favorite drink by my side. The trick is to do it and not feel guilty about it. You are nourishing your soul… and that is never a waste of time.

Be a Rebel
Do something you have always wanted to do but never had the time (or money) to do it. Take guitar lessons. Join a book club. Color your hair purple. We spend so much time working and taking care of everyone else that we forget that it’s okay for us to want to try new things. We thrive when we are learning and accomplishing things… and even when we are scared of what people will think of us we have to prove to ourselves that we are strong and special.

Remember, just because it’s January doesn’t mean that you’ve missed the boat on setting your new years goals.