I know, I know… it’s already the first week of February and I’m just finally getting around to sharing my 2015 goals.
I wasn’t being lazy or indecisive with my goals — I promise. There are actually a few different reasons I have purposely waited a full month to share my goals here on the blog. One of the main reasons is because there are hundreds and thousands of goal-setting posts that flood the blogosphere at the beginning of January… and I just didn’t want to get lost in the shuffle.
Yes, I do think it’s great to set goals and to keep yourself accountable by blogging about them (or telling others about them), but in my opinion, it doesn’t necessarily have to be when we switch the calendar over to a new year.
As I’ve mentioned before, I do not reserve goal setting for the end of the year (or the first week of January). It’s true that I do often set a handful of larger year-long goals towards the beginning of the year. But I set new smaller goals for myself every month, every week, and even every day.
Just with everything in life, goal setting is not a once-and-done sort of activity. We must think about the goals we’d like to achieve, question the best method to go about reaching those goals, and then actively work towards them for days, weeks, months, and even years.
So… now that we’re a full month into the new year, how many of you are still actively working towards your goals?
If you can confidently say “YES, I’ve been taking baby steps to reach those goals!”, then I say, “Way to go! Keep it up!”
If you just realized that you’ve already let several of your 2015 goals slip through the cracks, don’t stress about it. I’m honestly not trying to make you feel bad. However, I would encourage you to take a few minutes today to really question if your current goals are still things you’d like to be working towards, if you need to tweak them a bit, or if you need to scratch them for now and come back to them later.
First, a recap of my 2014 goals.
I think part of setting new goals is looking back on your previous goals and evaluating how you did… so I guess, before I share my 2015 goals with you, I should share the final update on my 2014 goals.
To save time and space, you can read ALL about my 2014 goals in this post.
And you’ll find my mid-year 2014 goals update in this post.
Now that we’ve totally closed the books on 2014, I can say that I’m extremely happy with how many of my goals I completely crossed off my list. In fact, I believe we met every goal except parts of 2 different goals.
1. We did finally install our new front door — but never got around to installing the new front window. However, I will say, the window was just a “want” that we’ll get eventually. The door was a necessity!
2. We did finish our fabulous mud room addition project (and wow, we are loving that extra space!) However, we ran out of time and energy to get started on the bathroom and laundry room projects. But again, I will say that a new mudroom was much more important than an updated bathroom or laundry room. Plus, part of the reason we ran out of time and energy was because we tore down our old deck and added a new, MUCH larger deck… which was a project that didn’t even make our 2014 goals list.
Other than those two projects, we successfully accomplished all our other 2014 goals — which in my opinion is really great. I’m extremely happy with how the year turned out and definitely don’t feel defeated by a couple house projects still lingering on our list!
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Looking ahead to 2015…
While the list below is in no way completely exhaustive, it is a good list of some goals I feel very motivated to work towards this year. Also, I should mention that these are only the larger goals I have. There are several other smaller goals I’m constantly working at, but it just felt like too much chatter to mention every one of them in this post!
PERSONAL:
1. Continue with my 2 healthier habits.
I’ve already shared a bit about the 2 healthier habits I’ve initiated for myself this year (read all the details in this post).
So far, it’s been very easy to make a couple SMALL tweaks to my diet, and I honestly haven’t noticed any change to my grocery bill (which I thought might go up a bit).
2. Stay up-to-date with my digital photos books.
I realize this might sound like a really silly goal to some of you — but since I almost never print any pictures to display in our house, and since photo clutter is one of my most hated forms of clutter, my digital photo books are really important to me.
I know how how overwhelming photo clutter is for so many people, how hard it is for me to get back on track if I let a few months go without working on them, and how easy it is for me to say “I’ll do it later”; so my goal this past year, and again for 2015, is to stay completely up-to-date with my books.
This means, doing 1 month at a time on the first day of the following month, and not making any excuses. I did it faithfully last year without missing even one month, and it made the whole process much faster and more enjoyable. It also allowed me to order our 2014 book just days after the new year!
I also already finished and ordered Nora’s 2014 book — and Simon’s book will be ordered after his birthday.
Read more about my digital photo books here.
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FAMILY:
1. Survive our first family vacation!
We’ll all be flying to Florida in a couple months — and although I know we will enjoy ourselves, I am a bit leery of how flying with 2 little kids with go.
At first I thought Nora would be the biggest challenge with her sensitivity to loud noises (and who knows, she might be). But lately, Simon has been so fidgety that I’m worried he will be crazy antsy and fussy for the entire flight. He is not a cuddly baby, but since he’s so young, he’ll need to be sitting on one of our laps the entire flight — and I just don’t see that going well. He also has no interest in TV or movies so that’s not an option either.
I know this is a tiny issue for you world travelers out there, but keep in mind I absolutely HATE to travel! So doing it with 2 small children makes it 100 times worse! That said, I’m just reminding myself how much fun we’ll have once we get there and trying to soak up some of Nora’s enthusiasm 🙂 Oh, and I should mention, my parents will be there with us, so we’ll have help. And also, we will not be stepping foot anywhere remotely close to Disney — don’t worry!
2. Adjust to life with baby #3.
I’m honestly not really sure if I can make this a goal — because it’s not really measurable or negotiable. We WILL adjust to life with another baby one way or another. It might not be pretty or enjoyable, but it will happen 🙂
That said, maybe my goal should be to make the transition to a family of 5 as simple and as enjoyable as possible.
Nora is already so excited and obviously, Simon has no idea what’s going on. We haven’t decided if Nora and Simon will share a room for now, if we’ll keep the baby in our room for a while, or if we’ll renovate another bedroom upstairs so Simon and Nora can both be upstairs in separate rooms. So that’s something we need to work through in the next 5 months as well.
As I mentioned in this post a couple weeks ago, we’re in a REALLY good place right now with a daily schedule that seems to work fabulously for everyone (including 3 free hours for Dave and I every night!) I’m a little nervous for how that will all change in a few months… but at least Dave will be home from school for the first couple months of this baby’s life!
Just an FYI, I’m 19 weeks along now — this picture was for our Christmas card.
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FARMHOUSE:
1. Get a new roof.
Yes, you read that right. BOOOOO!
Our current roof is only about 10 years old and most is in fabulous condition. We had absolutely no intentions of replacing it for at least another 10 years or more. However, we now have at least 2 different areas of the roof that are leaking (and leaking a considerable amount) when snow and ice build up on our roof.
We had a local roofing company (who we are distantly related to) come out and look at it, and apparently, when the previous homeowners replaced the roof, all the peaks and valleys were done incorrectly. Which is why only 10 year later, we need to replace it.
This is obviously a large chunk of change that we were NOT planning to spend this year, but it needs to be taken care of ASAP after the snow melts — and then we’ll need to do some restoration work inside the house as well (where the water dripped in and caused damage).
2. Renovate the bathroom off the kitchen.
We have been planning to renovate this bathroom for some time now, but just recently decided that with another baby on the way, we would REALLY like to get a bathtub in our house (currently, Nora takes showers and Simon takes baths in our sink).
So, the plan is to get started with this in the next week or so, and HOPEFULLY be finished by Spring Break. Of course, I’ll keep you posted with lots of pictures and updates.
3. More tree removal and more landscaping.
Last year, we had a bunch of trees cut down, and about 1 week after that, we had 2 more trees start showing signs of stress and decay. They both eventually ended up dying, so we have those 2 trees and a few others to remove this year. We hire this out, so it’s more of an expense than it is a time commitment, but once these trees are removed, we can get to work on a nicer vegetable garden area and finish the last couple areas of landscaping.
Dave and I are both very excited to put the finishing touches on our yard this year (not that it’s ever fully finished) and our goal is to have all the yardwork done by the end of June (a.k.a. before the baby arrives!)
This is the bathroom we’re planning to renovate. See our entire house tour here.
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FINANCES:
1. Rework our budget accordingly.
As you can imagine, with an unexpected roof project and another new baby on the way, Dave and I did sit down and question some of our financial goals.
For one thing, we’re not exactly sure how expensive the roof is going to be. We have a quote for the actual roof removal and installation; however, we don’t know how much water damage might potentially be under the shingles, if we’ll need to replace the roof boards, insulation, etc. And we’re also not sure how much it’s going to cost to repair the inside drywall where the water leaked in.
We will contact our insurance company, but based on our policy, this won’t be covered as the current roof wasn’t properly installed in the first place (which was unfortunately out of our control, but you know how insurance companies work!)
Secondly, with the new baby coming in early July, I’ve already thought about how this might affect my work. On one hand, I know that the busier I am, the more I accomplish. But on the other hand, I know that 3 kids, ages 3 and under will be a lot to handle each day — let alone working a full-time job from home on top of that all. At this point, I don’t intend to cut back, but if I do decide I need to or want to, that will most definitely affect our incoming cash flow to some degree.
2. Fully fund our retirement accounts.
This goal will probably be on our list for a very long time because it’s what we hope to do every single year until we retire.
And since we automate all our savings and investing, it’s almost a given that we will be able to reach this goal.
3. Pay off half our existing mortgage.
Last year, our goal was to pay off 1/3 of our existing mortgage, and we did that. So this year, our goal is to pay off half — with the remaining half paid off the following year.
This might sound crazy and ridiculous, but keep in mind, we got a great deal on our house, we live in a lower-cost-of-living area, and it has been our goal since we first got married to have our house fully paid off (and be 100% debt free) before our first child enters Kindergarten.
Nora will start Kindergarten in the fall of 2017, so we still have over 2.5 years to pay off our mortgage and meet this long-standing goal. We are actually hoping to have our mortgage paid off in 2 years, but we appreciate those extra 6-8 months as we don’t know for sure what the rest of 2015 will have in store for us financially (as I mentioned above.)
While we still want to aggressively pursue this goal, we also don’t want to be dumb about it and pay off our extremely low interest rate mortgage (2.4%) but leave ourselves hurting for cash later if we have another home emergency, medical bills, or decide we’d like to buy a minivan. So while we intend to continue pushing towards this goal, we are leaving a little “wiggle room” for ourselves, just in case the roof or the baby or my work schedule change our plan significantly.
Download my free 2015 Finance Tracking Workbook here.
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BUSINESS:
1. Figure out what I want to do with social media.
In case you haven’t noticed, Facebook is being a real boob lately. Starting on January 1, they decided that unless businesses were willing to pay a pretty penny to “promote” their posts, no one was going to see them.
So literally, on January 1, my Facebook page took a huge hit and almost no one is seeing anything I post anymore. It’s a big bummer since I love using Facebook to interact with all of you — and I know it’s frustrating for many of you too because you’ve been emailing me wondering why you aren’t getting my Facebook updates anymore.
I’ve been told I should switch my efforts to Instagram and Pinterest, but I really don’t feel like “learning” anything new right now and I really do love using and interacting with Facebook.
Hence, my goal to figure out my next social media move. That said, if you do follow me on Facebook, I would LOVE it if you went directly to my page and started “liking” and commenting on a bunch of posts so Facebook knows you want to see my stuff. Also, feel free to add my page to your “favorites” so you see it more often!
2. Explore the idea of a weekly newsletter.
WAY back at the beginning of my blogging career, I sent out a monthly e-newsletter. I had several email subscribers, but it started to feel redundant (and it was just one more thing I had to do). So I quit.
However, I’ve been contemplating the idea of starting up a free weekly newsletter that would go out on Saturday mornings (when I don’t normally write a blog post) and contain additional information, tips, and ideas — more than what you could find on my blog.
Of course, I would still share links and summaries of that week’s blog posts. But I thought it might be fun to also share our weekly meal plan, some pictures of the kids and different activities we did that week, a couple “extra tips”, and maybe even a few links to various posts and articles I read that week and wanted to share.
The newsletter would be completely free and would be via email subscription… but I’m just not exactly sure I’m ready to dive in!
It would involve a monthly fee on my part to pay for the email service, and then of course, the time involved in writing one more thing to send out each week. I’ve contemplated writing one less post and then adding in the newsletter — but I don’t exactly love that idea right now.
I’d honestly like to know what you guys think on this one… do you think a free weekly newsletter would be beneficial and enjoyable to read — or just one more thing to clutter up your Inbox?
Read more about a day in my life, working from home and raising a family.
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WHEW… OK, I think that’s it for now.
Sorry, this was a really long post — but I have been excited to share some of my 2015 goals with you for a whole month already, and I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about many of these goals as the months go by!
I hope you are happily working towards your 2015 goals… but if you’ve fallen off the wagon a bit, just hop back on and start where you left off.
Lindsay says
Andrea, really enjoyed reading your goals. Just want to say I sympathize with traveling with a little boy Simon’s age…. I’ve done it many times and it is HARD!! I spent a lot of time in the bathroom playing with toys with my little one and exploring the aisles!! If you don’t have much overhead luggage I recommend not getting on the plane during preboarding… Just extra time you have to be stuck there!! I boarded right at the end. Also if you can get an extra seat next to you(if you can select online beforehand) that helps…. And one time I saw a mom who made fruit loops necklaces for their kids. I thought that was genius!! Good luck.. And if all else fails bring some child gravol 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Lindsay!
We actually won’t have ANY luggage accept the diaper bag and a bag of books/toys/iPad, etc. so that will be REALLY nice! Also, my mom will be with us to help and I’ll be bringing LOTS of snacks!! I just hope he doesn’t scream and disrupt others the whole flight 🙂
Karyn says
Hi Andrea
Thanks for all the effort you put in to your lovely blog – so enjoy and appreciate it! I am a Mom with 5 children – baby Simon’s age and I get so much inspiration from your blog about getting things done, being organised, self-discipline, practical help in many areas!
I am not crazy about newsletters – if I do scan them then its really quick – but usually don’t – blog posts I love – simple, focused on one topic, detailed – I am always waiting for yours at 3pm when my children have rest time (its 3pm here in South Africa) when they are published.
About Facebook – I haven’t done anything fancy or even commented on your posts but I always get 2 or 3 a day on my facebook updates. I don’t use other social media.
Thanks! and blessings with baby no 3
love, Karyn
Andrea says
Thanks so much Karyn! what a nice compliment!
Jacquie says
Thanks for sharing your goals! You are a planner so I know you will travel great with the kids.
As far as the newsletter, I personally would love it. You have the only blog that I really read everyday. That said, it is more work so maybe wait until after the baby is here? Also, with respect to FB, I see your posts just fine. Not sure why but glad I do.
JoDi says
Interesting comments on the newsletter. I subscribe to your posts via email so I wasn’t quite sure what the benefit would be until I saw your explanation in a comment. Wouldn’t replacing your Friday post with a smorgasbord type post like the newsletter you described work? It sounds like a lot of people are using a feed reader of some sort so it would still reach them and drive some more clicks. Not sure how to reach the Facebook readers. I don’t do Facebook, but I’ve read articles about this game they’ve been playing for over a year now. It sounds like it’s gotten worse.
I follow a couple of people on Instagram, but I’m not sure Instagram would accomplish what you’re hoping for. Instagram doesn’t notify me that the people I follow have posted something new so I find that I check it very infrequently. It’s one more thing to check and I just never think of it. It sounds like I’m in the minority but my email Inbox is my hub for everything so if I can’t subscribe via email and see it in my Inbox, it just doesn’t get read! I stopped reading a couple of blogs just because they didn’t offer subscription via email. I picked one back up recently via subscription through Bloglovin.
Social media sounds like a real bear for bloggers! Do you read The Art of Simple? Tsh did an article and an interview recently and discussed how she handles social media.
http://theartofsimple.net/simple-learning-simple-blogging/
I think you’ll enjoy it if you haven’t read it already.
Andrea says
Thanks JoDi — the main benefit of the newsletter would be that it would show up in everyone’s inbox (at least all the subscribers) without the need for social media promotion. So my content would get in front of more people — and more people would click back over to my blog, meaning more pageviews, and more ad dollars 🙂
I’m definitely not 100% sure I want to do it — just testing the waters and seeing what you guys want. And it sounds like many people don’t have a strong interest in a newsletter and would rather just have blog posts like normal. I’ll keep thinking about it and see what I come up with over the next couple of months!
Liz says
I like the idea of a newsletter if only to see what Nora’s gotten up to in the past week, but that seems rather stalkerish now that I’ve written that out – I feel that since I’ve been reading so long (pre children, if you’d believe that) that Norah’s one of my many long distance nieces and love hearing about her exploits.
For some reason I believe whatever you end up doing I’ll enjoy reading because you come across down to earth and not lets-shove-my-beliefs-on-the-next-closest-person.
Good luck with your 2015 goals 🙂
Barb says
I’d LOVE a Saturday newsletter! I miss seeing you on the weekends.
Sarah says
I would probably not read the newsletter. I use feedly to read all my blogs, so if I ever get a day or 2 behind it’s easy to get caught up (usually on the weekend). You don’t need to add extra to your plate by doing a Saturday email for me. Also, I will probably get confused about where I read your post.
Barrie says
I had 4 kids under 3 at one point myself, and it is truly a life changer (in more ways than you can imagine!) If anyone can handle it however, it seems that you, as a truly organized person, could! For the record, if you do scale back or decide to do a newsletter, I would totally subscribe! I am an email subscriber anyway, and I prefer to read most heavier-text blogs in this way. Thanks for the goals-inspiration!
Payson says
I love the idea of a newsletter! That would be awesome!
Katherine says
Digital photos are a thorn in my side. Every time I think about them I think about how mine are so disorganized…Ugh. I need to ramp that goal up to the top of my list. 🙁
Ann says
I like your M-F schedule very well & would vote NO on the email for 2 reasons:
1. Take time to adjust to your new family schedule
2. I really want to read your stuff without inbox clutter
Christine says
I’ve still been seeing your facebook posts come up in my feed, and I don’t use any other social media, so I hope you stick with facebook to some extent. I’d like to see some sort of newsletter if you go for that, but not at the expense of a regualar blog post. So there’s my opinion. Great job with your 2014 goals! I’m on track to a accomplish my 2015 goals so far!
Andrea says
Thanks Christine — and yes, I’ll definitely stick with Facebook. I love Facebook so it would just be adding in another form of social media!
Jessica says
I love you and your blog, but I vote no on the newsletter. Maybe I’m the only one? I’m not going to stop reading because you don’t have a weekly newsletter, so you should give the time to your family instead. Or to yourself for a break each week! We’ll all still be here on Monday. ☺️
Nancy says
I really enjoy your blog. You and Heather Spohr are the two I follow regularly, and I agree with others that part of that, in addition to your wonderful content and voice, is your regular schedule. I might read a newsletter and would certainly enjoy it, but like some others, email feels like a task whereas my blog feed is something to look forward to. I enjoy your FB posts but as another commenter pointed out, it could make sense to use IG as your main social platform and then port everything over to FB, giving your followers a choice of platforms without creating an extra channel for you to manage. I’m not on IG but my daughter often uses that approach so I see her posts when they show up on FB.
Amber Woods says
I would LOVE a weekly newsletter. The items you mentioned including are my favorite posts. Thanks!
Becky says
We took our just-turned one-year old on a plane a few years ago and he really enjoyed walking around the plane and checking out all the people and their devices. We wandered up and down the aisles a bit and it was actually not bad at all. He walked with help, so that’s what we did.
Also, we found it to be helpful during take-off and landing to give him a bottle and/or a pacifier. The doc had told us that having them suck on something during takeoff and landing helps to relieve the pressure on their ears.
Like some of the others, I think I would fully intend to read a weekend email, but probably wouldn’t get around to it. I do like your ideas of what to include, but I know my habits. 🙂
Melissa says
Thank you for sharing your goals, Andrea! I LOVE the idea of a weekly newsletter, but that stinks that you have to pay for it. !!??? Why does everything cost money these days? (Like a business on facebook? WHAT?? So nuts.) Anyways, what if you did a weekly newsletter as just another post on your blog on Saturday mornings? Or does that defeat the purpose of it being a newsletter? Just a thought. I subscribe to your blog via RSS. Every blog I read feeds through RSS (and not email), just so it simplifies my email inboxes. Of course if you did do an email newsletter, I would subscribe to that.
Also, somehow my facebook is set up that your business does come through on my feed. Which of course I love, because I love seeing your posts. Maybe I asked FB to show it in my feed sometime. I don’t even remember. But I just want you to know that I’m seeing your posts!
Andrea says
Thanks Melissa,
The point of the newsletter would be to get my email and links to my blog in front of people without the need to check in with social media or come directly to my blog. The goal would be to drive more traffic to my blog on the weekends. So simply doing another blog post on Saturday would kind of defeat that purpose since social media is not showing my new posts to most people… so I’d just be working more but not getting more traffic.
Whereas with the newsletter, it would be right there, sitting in their inbox, so the hope would be that they would open it, click on a few links, and generate more traffic to my blog without the reliance on social media.
Does that make any sense?
Liz says
I was thinking that maybe instead of social media having a newsletter would work, but I would be interested to see what percentage of your readers come from social media. I am also someone who uses an RSS feed (which sends me emails which I filter out with gmail filters, its wonderful – reminds me of google reader).
I’m personally someone who doesn’t like having too big an online presence especially on facebook so I wouldn’t have any suggestions of where to go after facebook, sorry. They are all pretty boring for me, hence emailing being good for me.
Danielle says
I was wondering about baby #3. I saw you mention it the other day in passing and assumed I had missed a post. Congratulations! I am 14 weeks and very excited to have baby #2 in August!
Andrea says
yay — congrats to you too!
Liane says
Hi Andrea,
I just started reading materiel from James Clear about habits and goals. I hope this makes sense to everyone. I think you will grasp it since you seem to do it in many ways. He says to stop making goals in the traditional sense and to establish systems that will result in the goal being achieved. It’s hard to explain but here is an example. Let’s say you want to get an A in a class. You set that as a goal and then you fret about how you get there instead of changing your habits that will make that A inevitable. So what you do is this: never miss class, take meticulous notes, complete all assignments, prepare for all exams etc and the A will be the outcome.
We had the goal of paying off the mortgage but never established a set of habits that would make it happen. I occasionally would send in extra money but I had no system. About the only thing we did that worked was to refinance our loan twice to lower the interest rate to about 4% over 10 yrs the first time and 5 the second. It’s finally paid off but since I had no system it just took forever. Now we have no mortgage but we have horrible property tax pmts of over $2000 in Dec and Feb. I have to figure out a way to put that money in an “envelope” ala Dave Ramsey and keep my husband from seeing it. I can’t leave cookies out or he will eat one every time he walks past and I cannot leave money accessible or he will see it as an opportunity to buy more tools. Along with a stupid excuse that it was on sale or my old one has xyz reason wrong with it.
So my goal for this year is to not wipe out the accrued savings to pay those taxes but instead create an escrow like our bank used to do for us. And keep it under lock and key. The other biggie is to take the Dave Ramsey class and do a zero dollar budget. It’s hard to create a system and do a budget for me. It’s a real struggle when the cost of gasoline fluctuated by 50 cents a gallon, where the utility bill goes up and down not as a result of our usage but due to fluctuations in fuel prices.
At least we got our dietary goals straightened out. The way we eat healthier started with the realization that trying to be perfect is a guaranteed fail. So we aim for 80%. I created 3 new habits to achieve that. I started with a list of foods to avoid. High fructose corn syrup, solvent extracted seed oils and GMO foods to start. I am actually saving money since that means I have to make my own in many cases. Take salad dressing for example. It costs pennies to combine olive oil and vinegar and some herbs instead of buying bottled stuff. The second habit was to stop eating out weekly and just go once a month. Makes it more special! The last was to create a simple food journal, basically like your printout with the glasses of water only instead of water I put servings of vegetables. The daily habit is to make sure to get 2 cups cooked and 2 cups raw over the course of the day.
What I see is an emerging pattern. These keystone habits infect the rest of my life. They inform my view of myself. So if I clean my sink out before bed and get up to a clean shiny kitchen I am far more apt to fix myself a good breakfast rather than a breakfast bun at Starbucks! Then that good breakfast feeling permeates the day.
So, that’s my take on goals. Without new habits and new systems to replace old was of doing things, goals are just pie in the sky. It took me 65+ years to figure this out! Thanks so much for this topic. Resolutions end up broken. But new habits build and empower and endure.
Oh, about the roof. We have a single story house with a large attached garage so it’s pretty big compared to a small footprint home with 2 stories. We contacted several roofing firms and learned that we could do an interest free 120 day same as cash payment agreement. It was over $9,000 for a 35 year replacement composition. . We had leaks where you have them despite no snow. Instead we had algae and tree parts causing the water to build up. Now we clean our gutters religiously.
You are amazing with all you do. I’m sure that Simon will do fine. My kids always screamed on planes until I told my pediatrician. She said it was because their little baby ears hurt from the low air pressure and she gave me something prescription that had the side effect of making them sleepy. Take the car seat and buy a ticket for him. That way if you need to get up to stretch your legs you won’t have to wake him to move to Dave’s lap. It will cost more but in the end you will be glad you did. So will your fellow travelers. Nothing like a crying baby to incur the nasty glares of airline passengers who think children should ride in the baggage compartment. Most car seats fit just fine but check your airline and while you are at it get early boarding.
Hope this not tl/dr
Andrea says
This makes a lot of sense Liane — I guess I just never thought of goals as 2 separate parts though because I would never even consider setting a goal without already have some sort of plan for achieving that goal 🙂
That’s just how my brain works — I set a goal and immediately come up with a tentative plan to achieve it. Whether it’s a huge home renovation project, a simple craft, meal planning, etc. once I have my end results in mind, I just automatically start dividing up the goal into manageable chunks to complete over a set period of time.
You’re way of explaining it is definitely more thorough though!
Liane says
Yea! I knew you’d get it. I just had to make the habit connection to the steps. Some goals are done by making a list and following through. Like eating an elephant bite by bite till its gone. The habit connection is for goals that you can view as lifestyle changes rather than one-off projects. That comes easy to me too. But stopping bad spending or eating habits and replacing them with ones that will get us to a financial goal is hard. It’s easy to say I want to lose 10 lbs. if I do it by temporary behavior changes like starving for a week I may meet the goal but I have not addressed the root cause of what habitual behavior put those pounds there to begin with. Those habits have to be replaced with new ones and this is where the James Clear stuff come in to play. We all know how to lose 10 lbs. but keeping it off is hard if we don’t create a systematic approach to how we eat. Like your white bread became whole wheat. Same basic behavior, only you substituted a healthier choice. See what I mean?
ShellyL says
Love your goals post. I’ve been failing to set goals for myself because so much has seems out of my control lately. This is a big inspiration to me to begin setting goals again. Also, I love your Facebook page. I will go and “like” some stuff so I can continue to see your posts. I’d love to see a newsletter but only if you’re up for it. Please do not drop one of the weekday blog posts. As a mom who works outside the home, I read your posts at work and it is a bright spot to my dull work morning. I miss your posts on the weekends but I would really miss it through the week. other blogs don’t post as regularly as you, so the frequency is just perfect for me to enjoy while at work. Good luck with all your goals and I can’t wait to see your progress.
Jennifer says
I would love to see you become more active on Instagram (and Pinterest)! I simplified my social media life and gave up everything except Instagram – and it’s been so freeing. If you still want to stay active on Facebook, you can easily link your Instagram account with FB so that your images display on your FB page.
Great goals for 2015! I look forward to seeing updates throughout the year.
Sara says
I personally wouldn’t subscribe to a weekly email newsletter. There is too much stuff in my inbox as it is.
Jody says
I think I appreciate the content pieces and am able to apply them because I am not reading new info every day. I read other blogs but your writing, ideas and suggestions make me actually take action. This is probably because my kids are 5 and 1 years old so you are going through similar things while handling household management.
If you do, I will read it!
Rose says
Morning!
Thanks for sharing….I’m going to actually sit down and START thinking about my 2015 goals.
I vote to keep your week day posts, save yourself time and money for the Saturday news letters.
Post what you would on Saturday, during the week.
You don’t want to have one more thing on your plate with your young family….enjoy your babies as time flies by so quickly!
Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Tracey says
I totally second what Rose and others have said about the newsletter… while it would be wonderful for us, there’s truly no need to add another commitment and cost to your already full plate! (Do love the idea of sharing your weekly meal plan, for instance, but that could be a regular Monday blog instead!)
Yes, that time could help you more if it went toward sharing a bit on Instagram (simpler and more personal, in my opinion) or Pinterest (to reach an even broader audience!)
All of your goals are very inspiring! Thank you always, for sharing!
Andrea says
Thanks for your opinions Tracey. I guess I just mostly hate social media so the idea of starting another one (or two) sounds overwhelming to me. However, maybe I’ll end up liking them just as much as I like Facebook!
Andrea says
It’s never too late to start thinking about goals… never! That’s one reason I wanted to wait to post my goals because I think it would be awesome for people to set a few goals in February, March… or even December!
Tracey says
Hi Andrea,
I’ve been a pretty regular reader here for a few years, and have tarely been to your FB page, but I would definitely recommend Instagram for these reasons:
-“cleaner and simpler” than FB
-quick and easy way to offer little bits via a photo and a caption and/or hashtag
-would likely bring more non-FB visitors to your blog (I have SO many friends -moms, etc- who “do” IG, but not FB)
-so easy to do from your iPhone!
-simple to pick up/figure out how to use, too
Of course, like FB, I’m sure IG could go the route of charging businesses, but for now it could be great for you!
Tracey says
*rarely, not tarely, lol!
Tracey says
Also, since getting into Instagram myself, I’ve found myself starting to follow people who comment on IG posts from friends and family of mine…
so if you go the IG route, leaving comments is a great way to get exposure!
Amy O says
Andrea – I’m a big fan. You’re my favorite blog. I would read anything you put out so if you want to do a weekly newsletter I would certainly read it! That said, you already have plenty on your plate and you will soon be transitioning to a new baby – so only do it if it doesn’t overwhelm you.
Andrea says
Thanks Amy! so happy to have you as a loyal reader!
Jen says
I’m pleased to be able to say that my goals for the year are still on track at this point. But even a month in, I have tweaked and changed them to suit changes in our plans/lifestyle/family goals. So it goes!
Apropos of nothing, my daughter (who is 11) is extremely sensitive to noise and loud situations, as are a few of the little girls in our Girl Scout troop. One of the other moms keeps a pair of headphones (no cords or wires; just basic headphones) in her purse for her daughter, and she let my girl use them in a bad situation the other day. They helped TREMENDOUSLY, and I came home and immediately ordered a pair to keep on hand for my daughter. IDK if Nora would be open to that at all, but your mention of her noise sensitivity felt very familiar to this mama.
We ordered a pair on Amazon. they have tons of choices. You can even Google “best headphones for sensory kids” or something and you’ll find lists with reviews and ideas. They make them specially sized for young children.
Andrea says
Thanks Jen — and I already have the noise canceling headphones for Nora 🙂 one step ahead of you there!!
The headphones also plug into an iPad or computer, so since she is VERY entertained watching a movie or looking at books on the iPad, we’re thinking (hoping) that the headphones + iPad + snacks will keep her content for the trip!
JoAnn C. says
Is the water on your side of Michigan more potent than on my side? I’m needing a nap just reading all the goals you have listed. ; ) We will need a new roof this year too! BOOO! I would like to see a weekend post, but it doesn’t have to be weekly, it could be bi-monthly. Happy weekend, Andrea.
Laurel says
Thanks for sharing your goals. I’m sure that helps you stick to them when you know they are out there for all to see. We flew from Michigan to Dallas when 3 of our kids were 5, 2 1/2 and 4 months. We had a seat for everyone including the baby and I’m glad we did. I think it went really well because of that (of course they were in their car seats.) The biggest problem was that we took two strollers and 2 car seats and hauling that stuff through the airport was a huge pain. I ended up getting to Dallas with a terrible headache and it wasn’t because of the kids–it was all of the baby equipment! As far as the transition from two kids to three…good luck with that! My husband is a teacher too and two of our four kids were born in the early summer so that was a huge help. However, and probably everyone has told you this, the difference between two and three is huge. Three to four is no big deal and I rather imagine anything more is hardly noticeable! Unfortunately for me, our third was not one of our babies born in the summer so I had three really small kids home with me, no family help to speak of and it was challenging even with really easy babies. I hired help to come in a couple of days a week to cook for us, run a couple of loads of laundry and just lend an extra hand. Worth every penny for my sanity! Hopefully, having yours in the summer will make all of the difference.
Andrea says
Thanks Laurel, We don’t have a seat for Simon (the tickets were booked months ago) but we also don’t need to take ANY luggage or carseats, or anything besides our carryons as my Dad is actually driving down with everything in a rental van. He found a rental for WAY cheaper out of Grand Rapids than out of Orlando so since he loves driving, he’ll be taking all our stuff and my mom will be flying with Dave and me and the kids. Pretty awesome huh!
So, I’ll have the diaper bag and Dave will have a backpack — and that’s it. Everything else will just be there when we land. Also, it’s a non-stop flight, so HOPEFULLY nothing goes wrong and it’s “smooth sailing”!
RB says
Just make sure you bring a change of clothes for the kids and for yourselves in the hand luggage in case someone throws up on you or has a diaper accident while on your lap!
Pamela says
I’m only throwing my opinion out because you asked! 🙂 I vote no on the newsletter. Why add yet another thing when baby #3 is on the way? (I just had #3 — can you tell?!?!?!!!) Seems like learning Pinterest or another social media is a better long-term solution to your blog’s visibility and expansion, while a newsletter seems like a short-term temporary commitment that you might dread.
I have mixed feelings about goal-setting. I feel like I should set goals because everyone else seems to! But that’s dumb. I accomplish a TON just because of my “do it now” attitude. I am a go-getter, and naturally very motivated. So I don’t set goals. And I’m trying not to feel guilty for it! 🙂
Have a great weekend, Andrea. I’m looking forward to Monday’s post! Yours is the first blog I read every day. Thanks for all you do.
Andrea says
Thanks for your opinion Pamela — and yes, I did specifically ask for it so I appreciate you sharing!
Also, I definitely don’t think you MUST physically write out goals at the beginning of every year. I like to think about our major goals each year, but as I’ve mentioned many times, I set mini-goals for myself every week, every day, and sometimes multiple times a day. I’m like you — I “do it now” almost all the time, which really helps as I’m working towards mini-goals every day!
Oh, and I think you will REALLY like Monday’s post — it’s a good one!
Kellie says
Andrea these goals are so awesome! Since you’re asking for feedback on the weekend newsletter, I thought I would weigh in: I would read anything you put out! But I did want to encourage you in that you are the most faithful blogger that I read, and the fact that I know to expect a post from you M-F is one of the bigger reasons why I have been able to follow for so long. Just to encourage you in that you are wonderful at remaining current, up-to-date and relevant and I don’t feel like you necessarily HAVE to add anything (I hope I’m not sounding like I’m talking you out of this!). Thanks for being so transparent and honest and willing to share a little glimpse of your life with us!
Andrea says
Thanks Kellie!
I LOVE the idea of putting out a weekly newsletter as there are so many things I’d like to share that don’t make sense to do a full blog post about (and I don’t want to write more than 5 posts a week to keep things SIMPLE) but you’re right, this might not be the best time to be adding something to my plate!
Summer says
I was wondering what difference you had in your grocery budget these days. I remember when I first started reading your blog, you had like a $25 a week grocery budget. Obviously that was TWO people!
We are going in reverse now with the girls moving out and adjusting ours. Deciding where our money needs to go is an ongoing goal. I still keep our grocery budget very low, but I was wondering how different yours is now that you use several delivery services and have almost three children??? Obviously children change EVERYTHING, but I was curious how the ultra simple Andrea is doing it these days?!
Please try to relax on flying… your anxiety can ramp up theirs and really there isn’t a thing you can do differently once they close the doors. You are one of the most prepared people I have ever come across -Trust you did all you can and try to enjoy it! Good luck!
Andrea says
Hey Summer, I actually did a blog post about that exact topic a few months ago. Here’s the link…
Heather says
I think if you are up for it, the newsletter idea is great! Your enthusiasm and tips inspire me – and Monday through Friday I don’t seem to have much time to implement projects with maintaining the rest of the busy week. A weekend shot of encouragement first thing Saturday morning would be awesome.
Good luck with the rest of your goals!! 🙂
Andrea says
Thanks Heather — I appreciate your feedback and will definitely take it into consideration!
Jules says
To answer your question… I would read anything you sent out 🙂 Seeing photos, knowing your meal plans, etc. would be a nice way to supplement the ‘meat’ of your blog, in my opinion. Even if it was not a ton of new Live Simply content, maybe it could replace the fun stuff you shared on Facebok. Sorry it’s being a pain, I am noticing a ton of sponsored and totally irrelevant content in my feed and it’s making me want to sign in less anyway.
Andrea says
Isn’t Facebook just getting SO crappy now? I’m totally bummed!
Priyanka says
I love to read your old posts when I feel I am slacking off my goals or need to redo my strategy about prioritizing and list making. It always gives me the right nudge and inspiration. This year has been great so far, I am staying on track with my goals and really working towards that big picture on a monthly, weekly and daily basis.
LoriB says
Two thoughts. A simple and enjoyable transition to 3 children is a wonderful goal. Looking back I wish I had tried to enjoy life’s changes instead of thinking how uncomfortable it was for me. Everything always turned out fine after making the adjustment but my attitude could have made it much more pleasant for my family.
Your blog is one of two I read with daily posts. The other daily blog posts quick updates on Tuesday and Thursday. Other blogs are very hit and miss. I start every weekday with you and mostly love and appreciate your blog. I’m happy to have an “Andrea” weekend break. Makes me look forward to Monday morning.
Andrea says
haha –thanks Lori! I love how you put “I’m happy to have an “andrea” weekend break” 🙂
Anna says
I am still seeing everthing you post on Facebook. I had no idea they were being that mean 🙁 I do love the idea of the newsletter though!
Jenny Z says
i wan wondering why I wasn’t seeing your posts anymore! I will occasionally go to you facebook page and I would see photos that I missed! I had no idea why! thanks for the update. I’ll go “like” some of you stuff! and definitely add you to my favorites!
Amy says
The easiest way on Facebook is to hover over where you click like on the page and check “get notifications”
Andrea says
Sorry jenny — hopefully you start seeing my content again soon!
Organize 365 says
I was SO excited to read your goals this morning. 🙂
Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your plans. And YES!! I would love a weekly newsletter – maybe that could replace your Facebook page? About a year ago I switched to Facebook groups which has been great for reader interaction, but is a HUGE time commitment to monitor.
I can’t wait to see what you decide!
🙂
Lisa
Andrea says
Thanks Lisa — I know more bloggers who are switching to Facebook groups as well!
Jen T says
Love this!
I have flown alone with a 3 year old and an infant, and if you can, I highly recommend purchasing a seat for Simon, so you can just put him in his carseat…it makes a world of difference and you don’t have to worry about holding him and keeping him occupied.
Also, if you are planning on gate checking the car seat, you might want to reconsider…check the video in this post: http://csftl.org/leaving-on-a-jet-plane-the-csftl-guide-to-safe-air-travel-with-children/
Good luck!
Andrea says
Thanks Jen! We unfortunately purchased the tickets months ago so simon does not have a seat. that said, we will not be checking or bringing any carseats so that’s one less thing we need to worry about!
We have a direct flight and it’s “only” about 2.5 hours so hopefully things go OK!
Julie says
Little tip: Get to the airport early and check-in at the gate so they know you have an infant. They may be able to sit you somewhere with more room, if they have any open seats. ;). Our family of four was flying across the country and our seat assignments were not together (although we bought them together!). Although my kids are older (11 and 14) we at least wanted the 11-year-old to sit with one of us. A nice airline worker arranged for us to swap seats with someone, it was SO awesome. It was a funny story, though, finding the person willing to switch. One lady was called up and asked to switch and she said, “what do I get in exchange?” and the airline person said, “never mind but thank you so much”, and the next man they called up they asked if he would switch, and he immediately said, “of course, my pleasure!” I cannot tell you how much that man’s graciousness meant to us. Although my 11-year-old had flown before, he was quite nervous and he wanted to hold hands on the take-off. I vowed to always be like that guy who was so quick to be kind and never be the rude person just looking out for what’s in it for them! Love your blog!
Andrea says
oh gosh, We wouldn’t be able to fly unless we were sitting by each other. I mean, Nora is only 3 and one of the ‘scaredest’, shyest 3 years olds ever. If they don’t put our seats together and no one is willing to switch, I’m honestly not sure what we would do!