- Jen Leave a comment

December Goals

December Goals | Grace to Grow Blog

It’s hard to believe it’s December already! Soon it will be 2017 and time for New Year’s resolutions, but for now, we still have a month left of 2016, so let’s make the most of it! Here’s how I did with my November goals:

  1. Write at least two blog posts per week. I ended up posting 6 times in November, so not quite twice a week, but not bad considering I started a second job and am still getting used to my new schedule.
  2. Read 8 books. I definitely accomplished this and then some 🙂
  3. Set up a budget. I know I’ve been putting this off for a few months, and I still didn’t get it done. Now that I have a second job, I’ll have a better idea this month of the total amount I have to work with.
  4. Finish my machine embroidery project. I actually totally forgot about this! I’ve been busy with two jobs, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas preparations…oops! This is still something I want to do though.
  5. Get a good start on buying/making Christmas presents. I did really well with this one! I think I’ve bought everything I need except a gift card or two, and almost everything I have is wrapped. I’m really excited I got that done before December! Now I still have a couple of things to make, so hopefully I can set aside the time to finish those without rushing right before Christmas.

Now, here’s what I want to accomplish in December:

  1. Work on pre-scheduling blog posts. I would still like to work towards the goal of two posts per week, but I think I’ll have an easier time accomplishing that if I’m not scrambling to write something at the last minute. Sunday is the one day a week I know I don’t have to work, so my plan is to set aside time on Sunday afternoons to write posts for the week.
  2. Consistently follow the She Reads Truth Advent reading plan and read The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp every day. I posted here about why I’ve decided to read these two things, and I want to be disciplined and read them every day instead of falling behind and trying to catch up.
  3. Set up a budget. Now that I have a better idea of how much I’ll be making every month, I’m finally going to set up a budget on Mint! No more excuses!
  4. Finish making Christmas presents. This should be pretty easy to accomplish, since I kind of need to get them done by Christmas 😉 But I don’t want to wait until the last minute!
  5. Do some Christmas baking. I want to make the time to enjoy Christmas traditions, especially once my sister gets home from college in a couple of weeks.
  6. Start working on goals for the new year. It would be nice to get a head start on that before New Year’s Eve 😉

What are your goals for December and/or Christmas plans?

- Jen Leave a comment

October Goals

I can’t believe it’s October already! September seemed to fly by. That’s okay with me though; I love October, and we’re one month closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas! So now that it’s a new month, it’s time to set some new goals.

October Goals | Grace to Grow Blog

First, let’s see how I did with my September goals:

  1. Blog at least three times a week. I accomplished this for the first three weeks of September, but then I had my birthday and came down with a sinus infection, so I didn’t pay as much attention to the blog. Still, I’m happy with how I did my first month blogging!
  2. Read four books (at least two non-fiction). This goal was sort of accomplished…I ended up reading eight books, but none of them were non-fiction. I’m going to count that as a win though, because I read double the number of books I wanted to. Look for a post later this week on all the books I read!
  3. Set up a budget. I totally failed on this one, and I don’t even have a good reason. Time just got away from me, I guess!
  4. Movie/coffee with a friend. Done! We went to see The Light Between Oceans (it was good but sad; now I want to read the book!) and went out for coffee after. It was nice to catch up!
  5. Send a package to my sister at college. I sent it last week, and she got it this week! She called and said it made her day, so I think that’s a win 😉

Now, on to my goals for October:

  1. Write at least two blog posts per week. I want to get in the habit of writing consistently, but I’m moving my goal down from three to two posts per week. Last month I had daily inspiration from the Blog-tember prompts, so I’m giving myself grace this month since I have to come up with my own topics to write about 😉
  2. Read five books (two non-fiction). I’m going to try this one again! I still have plenty of non-fiction books to choose from.
  3. Set up a budget. This really shouldn’t take too long, so I need to just sit down and get it done.
  4. Work on a machine embroidery project. My dad does screen printing and vinyl as a hobby/small side business, and last winter he bought an embroidery machine. I want to learn how to use it better and try some new projects. I would love to be able to use the embroidery machine in some kind of business someday, but I have a lot to learn first!
  5. Plan a trip to see my sister. My friend and I might take a road trip to visit my sister at college, and I might fly down to see her around Thanksgiving. Nothing is set in stone, but I’m hoping to take at least one of those two trips!

Let’s hope I do better with my goals this month than I did last month! I’ll let you know in November 😉