I’ve written about 2012, though didn’t specifically update on the goals for the year (with monthly goals often being accomplished, but not blogged about). This was partly because my focus was on connecting and building our family and partly because most of my goals were ticked off on a sheet of A4 in the kitchen and I never really transfered it properly to the blog, or at least not the updates. This year I want to blog about them; mostly for accountability sakes. What I’ve learned about goals is unless they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive) then they are a bit like asking how long is a piece of string. The other thing I’ve learned about goals (mostly because of the Christmas we were able to have on a shoe-string), is planning ahead and doing most things yourself, make almost anything possible.
Here are the 2013 Goals for the Frugal Trenches Family:
Family Goals
- Complete a 31 days of nothing experiment in January and blog about it (for the month of January my family will be purchasing nothing but basic food and petrol and I’ll be blogging about the journey!)
- Begin home educating my children (yes, really – more to follow!)
- Go on a family vacation
- Visit our family in Pennsylvania
- Have a walk/hike as a family weekly
- Have at least one educational outing per month
- Visit the Art Gallery 2x (we have a family pass)
- Read at least 24 Chapter books as a family (0/24)
- Volunteer as a family at a local farm at least 6 x
- Take a family yoga class
- Have a weekly family games night (0/52)
- Read the Bible at least 2x a week as a family (0/52)
- Visit with bio sibling at least 2 x
- Teach both children to knit properly
- Do OT exercises with children at least three x weekly
- Do Physio with daughter twice weekly
- Have a weekly baking day (0/52)
- Make all our own bread
- Find a specific tree in our city each month from our tree calendar
- Have our family portrait taken
- Find a “foster a senior” sort of program where we can visit a senior who is shut in at least 2x a month
Personal Goals for Me
- Read the New Testament
- Read 24 other books
- Attend my book group at least 6 x (it meets monthly but is quite far away so attendance depends not only on the typical “who is sick” but also how much is left in the petrol budget)
- Take a knitting class
- Complete a 1st Year Together family album/scrapbook
- Find a Church and prioritize attending
- Unpack whole house (nary a box left by the end of 2013, I hope!)
- Begin writting a book
- Start a small business
- Join a food co-op
- Grow at least 10 different kinds of veggies in our community garden or back garden
- Be in touch with friends in a meaningful way at least monthly (a letter, a personal (not 1 paragraph) email, a phone call or visit)
- Lose 30 lbs
- Make all handmade gifts
- Stick to a weekly menu plan
- Can and preserve at least 6 veggies/fruit this year
- Hold a garage sale to boost the money we give and saving for the emergency fund & psycho educational assessments (see below).
- Taxes (complicated due to adoption)
- Aim to sleep at least 7.5 hrs per night
- Print all photographs taken since my children arrived
Goals for my daughter
- Finish level A in kumon
- Finish level B in kumon
- Finish level C in kumon
- Finish level D in kumon
- Read 52 Chapter books
- Complete a dancing exam
- Volunteer for 20 hours +
- Save $100 through completing extra chores
- Complete level 4 swimming
- Complete level 5 swimming
- Complete level 6 swimming
- Write a paragraph weekly
- Write an essay monthly
- Finish the Grade 3 curriculum
- Start Grade 4 curriculum
- Learn the Lord’s Prayer
- Write monthly to a pen-friend
- Write monthly to her godmother in England
- Knit a cowl and scarf
- Complete a typing program
- Attend a chess club
- Learn how to make two simple meals
Goals for my son
- Finish level 2A in kumon
- Finish level A in kumon
- Finish level B in kumon
- Finish level C in kumon
- Read 20 Chapter books
- Finish level 2 swimming
- Finish level 3 swimming
- Finish level 4 swimming
- Volunteer for 20 hours +
- Save $100 through extra chores
- Write a paragraph weekly
- Finish Grade 1 curriculum
- Start Grade 2 curriculum
- Write monthly to a pen-friend
- Write monthly to his godmother in England
- Learn the Lord’s prayer
- Complete a typing program
- Attend a chess club and accept instruction (ahem!)
- Learn how to rhyme
- Learn how to make two simple meals
Giving Goals
- Continue sponsoring a child through Butterfly Children’s Hospices
- Give a Keva loan
- Make a meal for someone in need once a month (0/12)
- Volunteer as a family monthly (0/12)
- Give food to the food bank monthly (0/12)
- Begin sponsoring/supporting a family in Ethiopia
- Have close friends in my life receive a card and handmade birthday gift in time for their birthday (Kathleen in Texas, Judy in Oz, Rachel the librarian, can you send me your Birthdays?)
- Visit a homeless shelter or people who are homeless and provide care packages (knitted scarves, hats and gloves, toothpaste and toothbrushes, coffee cards etc.) monthly (0/12)
Blogging Goals
- Accept sponsorship on the blog
- Blog at least 4x weekly
- Update yearly goals monthly
- Raise money to support a crib at Butterfly Children’s Hospices through this blog
Financial Goals
- Open bank accounts for each of the children
- Save for psycho-educational assessments for both children
- Save $1000 for emergency fund for the car
- Save enough to pay for 3 weeks summer camp for each child (hard, hard, hard goal – and we are talking daycamp here!!!)
- Pay to update my homestudy for adoption
- Begin paying into retirement fund (even if it is only $25 a month!)
- Track ALL spending for 2013
- Four no-spending days per week
- Eat out no more than 6 x in 2013 (that would include having a soup or sandwich out). (FYI – I am tempted to say no eating out at all in 2013, however, I am a single parent with two children with special needs, we spend hours at hospital appointments each week and the reality is, despite my continually packing snacks etc, we sometimes run short! A trick I have learned is to only have appetizers when out at a real restaurant!)
I plan to post monthly updates, mainly to encourage myself.
Looking at this list, I feel remarkably positive about the new year. Yes, I have a lot ahead of me. I will begin home educating my children which means adding another dimension to our lives. But I look ahead and see so many positive things, good memories and time together and how can I not feel great about that? Though I have to say, I what I would most like for 2013 is for my 5 week croup and bronchitis to go away! : )
What are your 2013 goals?
I’m tired just looking at this!! ha ha. Happy New Year, and by the looks of it, it will be a great one!
Wow! That’s a great list, FT!
I have given some thoughts to health and hobby related goals.. but so far have identified only one for family related goal – becoming scream free and working on my responses and becoming a gentler parent. I also like the idea of reading so many books in a month and going on atleast 1 hike! Mind if I borrow these?
Of course you can Kay! I didn’t set a reading goal last year but did in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and it really helped. Of course I used to have a lot more time to read! And the hiking goal really works – basically it makes you prioritize the most important thing: time with family, nature, relaxed and peaceful activities.
Happy New Year!
These all sound like great goals, FT. I have been busily mentally planning next Christmas (I would say 60%+ of my gifts this year were homemade, and that only happens when you plan early), and will be sitting down with my planner to flesh out all of my thoughts and ideas. I need to have more overall gifts homemade this year, as we are planning on tackling some serious debt. Hubby and I are sitting down this weekend to put our big, hairy, bodacious plans on paper and set deadlines. I’m so excited, and after reading your lists I’m inspired to reach for the stars and block out all of the nay-sayers (why are there ever so many more of them than of the encouragers?). Good luck, and I will keep you in my prayers! Feel better, too – my hubby has something bronchitis/croup/pneumonia related, and he’s miserable as well. I’ve been dosing him (and the rest of us) with excellent essential oil blends, and they seem to be helping. Of course, a good night’s sleep without coughing would probably help you both tremendously. Take care of yourself!
xxx
great inspiring list
This is such a great goal plan…and just the reminder I needed that it’s time to be thinking about my own plan for the coming year and to post it. I do so much better when I have a plan, and especially one that I always know where to find it AND have to be somewhat publicly accountable for regularly!
My two major goals for 2012 are within four days of being completed! I will have completed knitting my Sky Scarf (two rows a day knit in the color of the sky for that day) a handknit record of the year’s weather…and a Genesis to Revelations complete read through the Bible. I am ecstatic with my feeling of accomplishment at having stuck with them! My goals for 2013 will include: hand quilting and binding a quilt top that was pieced by my oldest and dearest friend’s grandmother…delving into a more focused Bible study…mailing 52 letters in 52 weeks again (I completed successfully in 2010, but fell a little short this year…unless I write ten letters in the next four days!)…and moving more and eating healthier!
I do so hope your lungs are healing. When I was in my late twenties / early thirties I would suffer the same anually after we moved to a new area. After a few years I stopped having those horrible bouts…guess I adjusted to my environment or something.
Big hugs to you and yours! May the coming year be FILLED with blessings and happiness.
(oh, and it’s 10/24…to me. I suppose it would be 24/10 to you.)
That’s an incredible list of goals – good luck with all of them, and with having a wonderful 2013 in general!
I’m still working on my specific goals for the coming year, but the big ones are health and happiness. I have a lot of work to do in terms of getting healthy again – I could use more exercise and some better eating habits, so I’m setting out some specific aims around that. Beyond that, I’m also working on setting some goals that I hope will help me feel happier, especially in terms of strategies to help me worry less and do things that I enjoy more (reading is big on that list). I also have a few financial goals, especially with regards to retirement, but the big things are more exercise, good food, and happiness.
I hope you feel better soon!
I am so happy you are planning to home school. The thought went through my head when you wrote about your daughter’s teacher and her problems in school. My son is ADD and benefited greatly from home schooling. Your goals are amazingly long and detailed but they are wonderful goals, nothing out of reach if you really want it. Good luck with your hopes to adopt again soon.
What amazing goals!
It makes me realize how much more I could do and that if it gets written down it is more likely to happen.
My general goals are a reduction in spending for groceries roughly 25%, losing 20 lbs, and spending more time with the grandchildren. All are easily attainable and I do believe I need to sit down and truly think of where I would like to be next year at this time.
Homeschooling for your little ones sounds like a wonderful idea. With the issue that they have already confronted in their little lives it will provide them with a profound sense of security.
Never doubt, you are their mother and know what is best for each child!
May 2013 be a year of many blessings!!!!
I have not been feeling motivated to do a year end review or goals for 2013, but all your plans may inspire me to do so!
Pingback: 31 Days Of Nothing (Excess) | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Good for you on the home educating front. We started home educating almost 7 years ago and have never looked back. It has kept our family a very close unit.
Blessings
Diane
Pingback: 2013 Goals: The Year We Begin Home Educating! | Notes From The … | atopufesicud
Pingback: Weekly Menu Plan (During Our Month of “Nothing”) | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Year In Review – Part II | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Frugal Family Fun | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
wow, that looks a lot like my list last year. this year i plan to keep it more simple: 1. drink lots of water 2. get into shape 3. get debt-free except for my mortgages 4. do random acts of kindness
Good luck with your goals!
Pingback: Goals For January 1-6 | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Creamy Fish Pie | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day Three: Month of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: What Goals Are Giving Me: Very Early Thoughts | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day Four: Month of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day Five: Month of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day Six: Month of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day Eight: Month of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: Day 13, 14, 15: Month Of Nothing | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey
Pingback: At Our Table – $40 (£25) Week Grocery Budget | Notes From The Frugal Trenches – A Downshifting Journey