Is it wrong to be entering the new year a little afraid of what’s to come? I can’t even begin to predict where I will be this time next year, and that is scary. Will the self-employment work? Will I have survived the 3pm – 6pm daily Oliver scream-fests? Will Isabel have driven me to an early grave with her regular meltdowns? Will I ever decide what I want to do with my damn hair?!!
Anyway, how best to kick things off than with a little todo list… 13 things for 2013, to make sure I get something done.
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Finish at least 1 personal web project
Converting rev.iew.me to WordPress, finish re-coding the theme for this blog (porting to Genesis), finish relaunching GirlsWhoGeek, get Jem On WordPress properly / regularly updated, finish the breastfeeding group / location review project I started eons ago. Any one of these things will do (and countless others I’m forgetting no doubt).
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Take up an outdoor activity
I need to get out of the house more — for both my sanity and fitness — even if that just means going for a long walk every week. I could do with shifting about 10-12lbs but that’s secondary to just not being stuck on my arse all day to be honest.
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Go one month without using a supermarket / chain store
Tesco and stores of that ilk have started to creep back into my every-day life. This is costly, and ridiculous considering I have a baker, butcher, greengrocer etc all on my doorstep. I want to see if I can avoid all supermarkets and chain stores (Co-op, Spar etc) for a month. If it works I might make it a more permanent thing. Not sure which month? January perhaps…
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Take more pictures
I bought a new camera so that it could easily fit in my pocket allowing me to take more pictures, spontaneous pictures, pictures at the park or of my surroundings. I’ve mostly not done this yet, it needs to be remedied.
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Put up my prices
Nobody has turned me down yet when pitching for work. This tells me I’m not pricing myself high enough. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want people to start turning me down, but if everyone is happy to pay my rates that’s a sign that I’m on the wrong side of cheap. (Hand in hand with this, I also need to stop doing ‘mates rates’ because it’s not going to pay my mortgage.)
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Acknowledge one positive from every day
I’ve had a tough few months which has seen me mostly whining on facebook & twitter about how crap things are. It’s not ‘bad’ 24/7, so I need to start focussing on what’s going right instead of what’s going wrong.
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Get my budgeting back on track
I don’t know if it’s the recent stress or a lack of inspiration but the hardcore budgeting bits have dwindled to nothing-ness. I’m back to taking ages in the shower, overfilling the kettle, forgetting to water down the milk, over-buying food etc.
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Reach ‘inbox zero’ on my personal email
I can’t remember the last time I had an empty inbox. I think we’re talking 8-9 years (in fact, some of the mails in my inbox at the moment are near that old!) I need to reply to the things that need replying to and ditch the rest.
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Finish a job to a deadline
Self-explanatory, see ‘The Ugly’
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Give up sugar for a month
This is probably the biggest challenge in my list. I consume quite a lot of sugar: in my coffee, my baking, in chocolates and other sweeties. I think I’m getting the sweats just thinking about this, actually. Ergh.
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Finish a project around the house
The living room is still half-decorated, the bedrooms need finishing, the hall needs another coat of paint, there are curtains to sew for the hatch between the living room & kitchen, and the gardens are both still a bit of a mess.
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Sort out my junk & sell it off
I’ve got a shit ton of maternity clothes (some in packaging still), books, DVDs etc that can be sorted and sold on ebay etc and it’s all sat around gathering dust. I have a feeling I can combine this with some renewed budgeting vigour to get some pennies back in my rather empty bank account.
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Think of a 13 – and do it!
:)
Happy new year folks!
31 Dec at 8:03 pm
Happy New Year, lady! Good luck on all your goals. :D
31 Dec at 9:30 pm
I love your list! It is actually a do-a-ble list! Nothing on there seem like something yuou can’t do. I hope you accomplish most of them in the year 2013!
01 Jan at 5:11 am
Happy New Year
01 Jan at 6:35 am
Good luck on getting all of that done! As someone who has cut sugar from my diet before, I can say that it’s difficult at first, but after the first two weeks or so, you will no longer desire sugar. After that, your worst enemy will be other people trying to feed you sugar.
01 Jan at 12:34 pm
Good luck with your goals and Happy New Year! I hope that they don’t add stress and that you’re able to accomplish all of them in a reasonable amount of time. :)
01 Jan at 2:52 pm
That’s a great list, and some of them I need to set as my own goals too. Good luck and Happy New Year!
01 Jan at 7:02 pm
10 (and possibly 3?) needs to be timed to avoid #cakefest!
02 Jan at 4:12 pm
Good luck with all that, I have managed to avoid having ever made any New Year resolutions so that I didn’t have to feel guilty about failing miserably due to breaking my own promises. Maybe number 13 should be “I vow to stick with all my resolutions” or something similar.
02 Jan at 5:49 pm
Resolutions are like Lent; neither are part of my religion but I wish you the best in your endeavors! I think numbers two (the loosing weight bit) and ten will go hand-in-hand. Cutting carbohydrates (sugar and heavy starches) to less than 100g per day offers many health benefits, including loosing weight.
03 Jan at 2:39 pm
Cutting out sugar will be super hard but it’s so rewarding. You’ll notice a huge difference!
(I am a huge hypocrite because I am typing this while eating a candy cane, but do as I say and not as I do, mk?)
09 Jan at 8:43 pm
Sugar – you’ll never regret quitting it!