January 2, 2015

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? How is it 2015 already??? Remember when it was going from 1999 to 2000? That seemed so epic and now we're 15 years later and I'M NOT READY YET! What the heck??

Ok. So now that ONE freak-out is out of the way, here's another one. I will be 36 this year!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is not even funny. Once upon a time, I didn't understand why people had mid-life crises. I thought "come on... you've seen this age coming for a WHILE now. Just get it together and BE that age." Nope. Not even close to possible. I have been 24 for 12 years and I see no reason to stop now. I will be 24 until I'm old and wrinkly and crabby.

Moving on!

The other day, I received a book I have been looking forward to for a WHILE. It's Ruth Soukup's book: Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life. Last year, I participated in her 30 day zero spending challenge. It was HARD, but worth it. It gave me a better idea of what I was spending money on. The rest of the year, I tried to be more mindful of what I spent and WHY. I feel like we did a better job but there's always room for improvement. This is why I'm so eager to read Ruth's book. I've read the first chapter in a pre-release e-book format but there's nothing like holding a REAL book in my hands so I'll be starting all over shortly.

Also last year, I went through the 40-bags clean-out challenge. I got rid of at LEAST 40 bags (of all sizes) but there's still a long way to go. We let ourselves get overwhelmed with stuff these days, don't we? There's always something 'better' or more useful or newer or cuter... and we get sucked into obtaining those things. Yes, I have used the things I've bought. I've gotten rid of clothes that no longer made me feel good about myself and replaced them with better pieces that I still love. But I still have more than I need. More is not always better, sometimes it's just more.

My resolutions for this year are simple. At least, they seem simple because I haven't actually written them out yet. haha! So here goes:

1. Make more time for reading with the girls. I want them to love books as much as I do and they need to immerse themselves in those 'other worlds' to really get why it's so amazing to be able to read.

2. Take risks. I became an independent consultant this year, something I have NEVER attempted. I am fearful of failure, always have been. But this is something fun, something new, something challenging and I need to climb out of my hidey hole and just do it.

3. Stop comparing what I have with what others have. Oh, this applies to so many things. Other people are better at lesson planning, other people have kitchen gadgets that seem so useful, other people find ways to have cleaner homes, other people have prettier yards, other people dress their kids in cooler clothes, other people have clean kitchen counters, etc etc.

4. Make a damn budget already. Seriously.

5. Get rid of the stuuuuuuuff already. We're off to a decent start with this. We've sorted and purged some toys, bagged up clothes to donate, sold games no one plays, burned old papers we didn't need to hold on to. Today the boy child is sorting things in his room. He's got bags and bags of things to give to younger cousins or donate. Woohoo!