I love having goals. And to-do lists. It just makes me happy to have something to strive for and then to accomplish it. I’m one of those crazy people who has about 6 to-do lists running at any time and if I do something that isn’t on my to-do list, I’ll write it on there and then cross it off. There is such a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment to strike through an items that has taken a long time to complete or was harder than expected (I’m looking at you half bath redo of 2017!).
My husbands goal is “to never have goals”. So when we headed to the mountains last week to celebrate Brooks’ 6th birthday with some time on the tubing hills, I had him confined in a small space for about 5 hours – plenty of time to push him to set our goals for the year!
And so I have something to check throughout the year, I’m going to share them today:
FAMILY:
- Complete 6 one-on-one dates with our kids – 6 for me and 6 for Dean. I feel like we do a decent job of doing these now and want to continue it. I think it’s important for our kids to get special, individual time with us.
- Start a non-sports activity for each kid. Whether it is music, dance, theatre, martial arts, boy scouts, chess – I’d love for my kids do some individual activity that is more than be on a sports team. Expand their interests and hobbies.
- Take some vacations –
- An international trip with our kiddos. We went and got their passports ordered this month, so we’ll be ready to go somewhere fun. And I really enjoy traveling, so this is something I want to start doing for my kids so they have tons of cool adventures in their childhood.
- 10 year anniversary trip. We will hit the decade mark in October and I’d love to do a bigger trip to commemorate with my favorite husband. Hawaii is a top contender on our list right now, but we’re still very early in the planning process.
- Vacation with Dean’s family – My family tends to do a pretty good job of trips together (we’re headed to Maine this year and we also received an amazing Christmas gift from our parents – a siblings/spouses weekend away/no kids), but this is something that my husband’s family doesn’t do as often. I’d love to make sure we see his brother and their family – maybe meet at a beach for a long weekend together. And also to make a better effort to see Dean’s dad when he comes down to his Carolinas condo. I know the kids grow so fast and soon enough they’ll be teenagers who have no interest in family trips together, so let’s take advantage while we can!
HOUSE:
- Get a couch for our living room. Our couches have been around for about 20 years, they were passed from my parents to me when I bought my first house about 10 years ago. I’ve been waiting for my kids to be old enough to let me have a nicer couch 🙂 It’s time.
- Get rid of our playset. When we bought our house in 2013, our kids were the perfect age (1 and 3) for the big playset in the backyard. Now, they’d rather spend their time playing sports in the front yard, not sliding and swinging. I think it will free up a lot of space in the backyard for extra play area.
- Furnish our living room. First up, curtains! Second, there is a really large blank wall in our living room and it just needs something on it. I’ve been waiting until I bought a couch to decide how to decorate (should it have a little sitting area in front of it, or just artwork?) All that will depend on the size and layout of our couch. Since we’re planning to do that this year (see house goal #1), I should be able to finish off this room.
- Hang a light fixture over our kitchen table. We have a few “builder” looking chandelier light fixtures in our house and this is one of them. It just doesn’t go with the rest of the house and the changes we’ve made. I’d love to find something that fits our style a little more. (And as my husband has requested – not from World Market – I’ve bought two chandeliers from them and both times we had a heck of a time installing it.)
- BONUS GOAL (this one is of course contingent upon having a solid year financially): Do a large project. A master bath upgrade (I want a bigger shower and smaller tub!) and an outdoor pergola/dining area have been on our house wish list for the past few years. Either of these projects would cost $5,000-10,000 so we’d have to make sure it made sense in the bank account.
FINANCIAL:
- We always like to stretch ourselves on saving, tithing, college funds and retirement contributions so we’ve earmarked some goals here.
- Is 2018 the year of the car? My car is 11 years old and while the mileage is good (only 85k miles!), I don’t want to get stuck with a car that starts having problems and it seems this is around the time they start to happen.
- BONUS GOAL: Pay down mortgage principal. I’d love to be completely debt-free in the next 10 years and our mortgage is standing in the way.
PERSONAL:
- Dean’s goals:
- A full knee recovery. He’s looking at another possible knee surgery (we’re at the point where he needs some “buy two, get one free” surgery coupons!) and so he’ll need to work hard to rehab and get himself walking without a peg leg.
- His workout goal is 225×5 on the incline press. Whatever that means!
- Plan 3 entire date nights this year (picking the activity – can’t be just dinner (that’s our default), coordinating the date and babysitting, etc.)
- Ginger’s goals:
- Read 25 books. I’ve been on a reading kick for about the past year, so I think this should be do-able.
- My workout goal – do PiYo 2-3 times per week for the next 3 months so I can get more flexible and stronger. Also to be able to do 15 good push-ups. I am upper body weak!
- Go to counseling 3x this year. I feel this one has been on my list for several years, but I need to do it. I guess I’m just afraid of what will come up when I start. I don’t like feeling that vulnerable and open. Being a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend – there are so many things I worry about and that stress causes friction in my closest relationships (Dean and the boys). I want to do better about this.
Well, I can’t wait to get to work and start crossing some of these things off my list! It will be a challenging year, but I know we can hit every single one of these. And now that I’ve put them out there, it makes me feel a little more pressure to get them done 🙂 #accountability
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We love this! Thanks for sharing