Thursday, April 28, 2016

New Year’s Resolution Check-In – How I’m Doing So Far…

If you read my New Year's Resolution post back in December then you know that this is a big year for me.  I’m currently in the process of purging and simplifying my life so I can get rid of all of the clutter (mental and physical) that hinders me from enjoying the better things in life.  My word for 2016 is LESS. 

I thought that I would do a couple of updates throughout the year to hold myself accountable, because as always, I was gung-ho at the beginning of the year, but things have sort of tapered off here lately.  So let’s see how I’m doing…

Purging and Simplifying

1. Living Spaces: Purge and simplify our entire house, my car, and my cube at work and donate everything that we don’t need or want, and also start putting things back where they belong immediately after use. 

Progress: So far I have cleaned out and simplified our master bedroom, master closet, master bath, Jacob’s room, Olivia’s room, linen closet, pantry, playroom, and I’ve just started working on my office.  I also cleaned out my entire cube at work top to bottom and I cleaned out my car as well.  Both are junk free and nice and tidy.

The thing that has made the biggest difference to me so far is my closet.  I got rid of a heap of old shoe boxes and five trash bags full of clothes from my closet.  Five.  I feel so much lighter!!  The purge included 26 dresses, 58 shirts, 17 pairs of pants, 13 scarves, 11 pairs of shoes, 13 purses/bags, and various other shorts, skirts, and jewelry.  




In addition to purging, I also arranged my clothes by category, and then I put everything in ROYGBIV order within the categories.  If you don’t know what ROYGBIV is, then we can’t be friends.  Anyway, all tops are now arranged by sleeve length – strapless, spaghetti straps, sleeveless, short sleeves, cardigans, sweaters, etc.  Then each category is arranged by color.  This is fantastic!  It makes it so easy to see what I can wear based on the weather any given day, and the color arrangement makes it easy to see what pairs with all of my different bottoms.

The second thing that made a huge difference was cleaning out our bathroom.  We have a cabinet that holds all of our toiletries and it was stuffed to the gills with old shampoos, medicine, and lotion.  Y’all, I still had an old bottle of Cool Water perfume from high school in there.  What?!  Needless to say it’s gone, along with a huge pile of other crap, and now I can finally find what I’m looking for in my cabinets.  I even got this nail polish organizer to organize my polishes and I am L-O-V-I-N-G being able to see all of my shades at a glance!

#ByeFelicia

You will not be missed.
Nice and organized.  :o)


Aaaand my heart just skipped a beat!  ;o)
As far as putting stuff away after using it goes, I have been doing way better with this.  I’m happy to say that our kitchen island has had many junk free days since the beginning of the year. 

I still have some purging to do in the kitchen and a couple of closets downstairs, but I feel good about the progress I’ve made so far!  My biggest challenge is going to be my office because I have soooo much stuff in it, most of which is sentimental.

2. Computer: Delete programs that I no longer use and clean out old files.

Progress: Big fat nothing.  I haven’t even started this yet.  <Cringe>

3. Phone: Delete apps and contacts that I no longer need.

Progress: I deleted a handful of apps that I don’t use anymore and I put up a simpler wallpaper so the phone doesn’t look cluttered every time I look at it.  I still need to go through and clean out my contacts, though, because if I’ve ever had your phone number during the last 20 years, chances are, you’re still in my cell phone.  Ex boyfriends, friends I haven’t talked to in 15 years, a couple of people who are no longer with us… yeah, really weird.  Time to purge.

4. Photos: Take fewer pictures, delete the ones I don’t need, and implement a new way of organizing and backing them up. 

Progress: I am taking fewer pictures for sure, and I have implemented my new way of backing them up which is working out beautifully!  However, I have not been deleting the blurry big foot pictures that I don’t need… I need to work on this.  I hope to get a post up about backing up photos in the future.

5. Emails: Unsubscribe to all emails that are no longer relevant. 

Progress: This is done and, man, have I noticed a difference in the quantity of emails that I get every day.  I used to go to sleep at night with a completely cleaned out inbox, only to wake up to 40-50 new emails in the morning.  Now I wake up to less than 10 emails most mornings.  It’s glorious!

6. Social Media: Unfollow accounts that no longer pique my interest so I don’t waste time scrolling through photos that I’m not interested in. 

Progress: Done.  I unfollowed over 100 accounts on Instagram a couple of months ago.  However, I am constantly meeting new amazing ladies with whom I love networking, so I’ve probably followed 30-40 new accounts in recent weeks as well.   

7. Keepsakes: Be ruthless, clean out everything we don’t need, and organize everything that I do decide to keep.

Progress: Whew, this one is hard, but I’m very proud to announce that I cleaned out the kids’ artwork and I have gotten rid of most of it.  I photographed each piece before purging, and my file cabinet is looking great!  I have about 2 extra feet in the top drawer now.  However, I haven’t started on keepsake items like old clothes and toys yet so I still have a very long way to go!


Adios!  You will probably be missed.  :o(


8. Paperwork: Clean out file cabinet, unsubscribe to catalogs I’m no longer interested in, put a stop to junk mail, and file only the things that we need right when I get them so they don’t pile up.

Progress:  As I just mentioned above, I have cleaned out all of the kids’ old artwork, and I have also cleaned out a bunch of other old files as well – medical bills, old pager bills from 1998 (why for heaven’s sake do I still have those?!), old paystubs, etc.  I still have a couple more drawers to go, so this isn’t quite done yet either.  I also haven’t put a stop to the junk mail.

9. To Do List: I have a “Master To Do List” and I would like to accomplish as many of these things as I can this year so I can cross them right off!

Progress: Yes, several things have been crossed off, but let’s be realistic folks, the list is like 5 pages long, so this is going to take forever.

Personal Resolutions

1. Be the best wife and mommy that I can be. 

Progress: I’m definitely yelling less than I used to (at the kids, not Brian… I’ve never had to yell at him.  Hehe.)  I’ve been acutely aware of this since I set my goals for the year and I’ve been practicing some serious patience with the babies.  I still slip every now and then, but I’m only human and I have bad days just like everyone else once in a while.

2. Be positive.

Progress: Nope, still worrying a lot about things I can’t control and still seeing the negative in a lot of circumstances.  It’s a constant struggle.  Why can’t I just train myself to see the positive in things?!  Man, it’s hard!

3. Complain less.

Progress: I think I’m doing slightly better with this.  I do know that I am very aware when I’m doing it now, and the first step to correcting it is knowing when you’re doing it, right?

4. Be more spontaneous.

Progress: I honestly don’t think I’ve had many opportunities to be spontaneous, so I can’t really answer this one.

5. Make bed.

Progress: My goal was to just make the bed on the weekends and I’m so happy to say that this has happened almost every single day that we’ve been off!  Woo hoo! 



Health

1. Improve water intake. 

Progress: During the winter months I was only drinking about 4-5 servings of water/day and since it has gotten warmer I have increased to about 6-7 most days.  I still want to get back up to the 8-10 that I used to do, though.

2. Tone up.

Progress: Yes!  I have been working out every single evening while watching TV… I still haven’t started my Jillian Michael’s DVDs but I can definitely tell a difference in muscle tone in my legs and butt.

3. Vitamins – find a good daily vitamin. 

Progress: Nope.  At the beginning of the year I was at least still taking prenatal vitamins, but I ran out and am now taking no vitamins.  #Fail.

For Fun

1. One date night sans kids each month.

Progress: We are going above and beyond with this one, friends!  Above and beyond!  In January we attended a ball, in March we went to see Elton John, and so far this month we have gone on a dinner date alone, a dinner date with our couple friends, and we are heading to a fundraiser this coming Saturday night.  So even though we missed February, we more than made up for it in April.  We also have some exciting dates coming up this summer as well – a Dave Matthews Band concert, a 311 concert, and hopefully a few more dinners out, just the two of us!




2. Find a white wine that I like.

Progress: Haven’t even started on this one.  I’ve been too busy drinking Moscow Mules, Vodka Strawberry Lemonade, and Best Damn Cherry Cola.

3. Try out new outfit combos and try to wear a different combo every day.

Progress: So far, so good.  I haven’t repeated an entire outfit all year.  Craziness!  It’s taking some serious creativity and a really good memory to pull it off, though!  You can see my recaps here, here, and here.

4. Try something new as often as possible.

Progress: We have tried a couple of new restaurants (and loved them) and we have taken a couple of day trips with the kiddos to see and do new things.  Check!

Goals for the Kids

1. Get the kids to clean up after themselves daily.

Progress: Nope.  Not happening daily.  More like once a week, if that.  Something to work on…

2. Help Jacob become more independent.

Progress: Yes!  He’s doing much better about getting dressed on his own for school and after his bath, he’s bathing himself pretty well (although he still struggles with his hair washing), he's carrying his own book bag and lunch box into school (he used to always want me to carry them for him), and he’s learning how to help me cook some, even though it will be a long time before he can do it on his own.

3. Get Jacob to poop on the toilet.

Progress:  Cue the music – can I get a hallelujah, can I get an amen!  Yessss, he’s finally doing it all the time now.  Thank the good Lord above.

4. Give Jacob a “big boy” room.

Progress: Haven’t started on the actual room itself yet, but we have made the first steps to getting there… we purchased a new comforter for his bed as well as some décor for the walls.  Now I’m just trying to decide what color to paint the walls so we can put it altogether, get a new mattress, and convert the bed!

Overall not too shabby if I do say so myself.  There's still a lot of work to be done, but I'm getting there!

Whew, this was wordy.  Are you still here?  

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.

 


22 comments:

  1. You are making great progress on your goals! We had some similar ones. I did a major purge of my closet and cabinets in my bathroom. It feels so good to get rid of things!! The whole making the bed thing was also a goal of mine... I've successfully done it most week days too! I like the idea of going through apps and contacts in the phone. I'm going to have to get on that!

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  2. You are doing fabulous!!! You have made so much progress and you will have more than half a year left - that is just great! I am super impressed with all the clothes/shoes you got rid of. That is awesome. Keep it up!

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  3. I'd say you are doing great! Way to go with purging. I did that before we moved and after we moved and it felt so good. I'm impressed lady!

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  4. Look at you go, girl! Awesome job!

    I have my closet & the boys' closets in ROYGBIV order. I like how you organize by sleeve length. I do something similar. I organize by color first, then each color group it goes: tank, tee, long sleeve. I've tried with Luke & he just messes it up, so I don't look at his side of the closet. hahaha!

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  5. Wow, you are doing awesome!!! I have my part of our closet in ROYGBIV order and tried to do the same for the hubby but he hangs his clothes up after I wash them because I can't reach that, so yeah, he hasn't maintained it! I laughed out loud at the cool water comment! That is sooo high school for me too! YAYYYYYYYY for Jacob pooping on the toilet! That is AWESOME!!

    Oh and you should check out Kim Crawford's Sauvignon Blanc, it's sooo good!

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  6. I am so glad you've been able to purge! I do a decent clean around the house once every three months, but I guess that's not enough. Your post has given me a whole lot of things to add to my to-do list, so thank you for that.

    And we have something in common! I do my clothes and even my bookshelf by colour, only mine is VIBGYOR :)

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    1. You're very welcome! And that's so interesting that you do it backwards! I've never thought of doing that before!

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  7. Still here! Haha! You have done a good job at keeping up with your goals! This year I set a few health goals and blog goals. I didn't want to overwhelm myself. So far by blogging goals are going well...and well my weight loss goals...still trying. I've lost 11 pounds but definitely have a ways to go. Good job girl, organizing and purging feels SO good! I need to organize my bathroom and linen closest ASAP!
    xo, Lily
    Beauty With Lily

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    1. That's awesome, Lily! Congratulations on your weight loss! And yes, purging feels amazing... it's just a matter of me getting in the right mindset to do it!

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  8. You are making awesome progress, especially on the decluttering! Love the idea of a check - in on goals, I think I may do one sometime next month to see where I am!

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  9. I just love you... I want to hang out, drink wine and organize closets!!!! I LOVE purging.. except I can be an over-purger, get rid of clothes I think I'll never wear and then go "ooh I want to wear that yellow sweater!!" and no longer have it. I actually need to work on keeping some things longer!!! I can't wait to hear about your photo back up system. I need one too!!!

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  10. You are on a roll, lady! I'm impressed!
    I love the nail polish organizer. I could definitely use one of those!

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  11. Okay, I can't even tell you how jealous I am of you closet clean up!!! I keep trying to tackle this project and am going little by little. I keep a trash bag around, so I can always throw something in it when I come across something I know I don't wear or try on and don't like the way it fits. It really takes a huge weight off!

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    1. That's a great idea to keep a bag in the closet! I've never thought of that before!! Thanks for the idea!

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  12. Still here, and super impressed. This was like inspiration for me. I need to do the exact same thing. Especially with the clothes/toiletries part ;) Nice job on all fronts!

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  13. I like the goal to make the bed at least on the weekends- that would be a start for me! Seems like you've been doing a great job simplifying and purging.. I struggle with that SO much

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  14. I love that nail polish idea- I must do that! Where did you find it ?

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    1. Thanks, Gina! The nail polish organizer is on Amazon.com... the link to the exact one that I bought is in my post if you want to check it out!

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  15. I love how you're making progress on most of your goals!! Go you!!!
    I LOVE my Jillian Michael's videos!!
    Simply Shaunacey

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  16. Seriously, you are rocking in the progresses you have made so far. Do you like sweeter, fruity, crisp, dry or what aspects to a wine? I love both red and white and might be able to send you some recommendations. Love all the nail polishes on that clear stand. I need one.

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  17. It looks and sounds like you've gotten a lot done! Way to go! I cleaned my closet out a few weekends ago and it is so much better now! ...now to get to the rest of my house :)

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