Setting monthly goals is a great way to focus on what you want to get done. Choose a goal to finish or break a large goal down into smaller chunks each month to accomplish something over a larger time span.
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The first month of summer break is over – what? I suppose being gone for two weeks on vacation did not help the time pass any slower. We are finding a groove but I’ll talk more about that as I go over my goals from June!
1. Family Goal – Start our new summer schedule
I mapped out a very loose daily schedule with time for chores, reading, playing, adventures, and we must not forget, food. It’s working well but it’s only been two weeks. I really enjoy that I’m working in large time blocks which allows plenty of breathing room to accomplish tasks before switching gears.
2. Home Goal – Adjust our home management schedule
Making Thursday cleaning day is both brilliant and terrible. I love going in to the weekend with a clean home but getting the kids motivated to help has not gone so well. The big boys aren’t used to spending several hours (what should be two if they didn’t add in all the dramatics) working on chores since they weren’t here during the school year for the new schedule. They have a few paid chores they need to do as well as clean their bedroom. I’m still adjusting to all this so it’s not surprising that they are as well.
3. Self Goal – Finish Couch to 5k
I finished week 7 today so I still have one week left. I’m not upset that I didn’t finish since I knew the chance of me getting in running while on vacation would be a stretch. I can tell I’m getting stronger with my running skills because my ability to go for longer periods of time is getting better. I really struggled hitting the five and eight minute stretches without walking last month and now I’m in the mid to upper teen minutes before I need to walk for a few blocks. Is it exactly what the program is telling me to do? No. But I’m out there and I’m trying and that is way more important to me than running for the exact amount of minutes straight through. Progress, not perfection, am I right?
Goals for July
I spent some time thinking and praying about how to approach my goals and decided focusing on one area was helpful initially but now I need to spread my focus a little more. Now I’ll have a single goal for different areas: family, home, and self. As I continue to see how this works I may expand the number of areas to make sure I’m growing as I need to be.
1. Family Goal – Begin a weekly study with the kids
I’ve got a Bible study from the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle about taming our tongues to start with the kids. It comes with activities and coloring sheets for all the kids to work on together. Plus I think we can all use reminders about taming our tongues from time to time!
2. Home Goal – Move basement furniture
We have too much furniture for this house. Wait, I take that back. We don’t have the right furniture for this house. When we got married Micah’s brother made us a kitchen island/cart. We had very little counter space in our old home so we were excited for a little extra work room. We forgot to give him dimensions and he made us a very LARGE, but gorgeous, handcrafted cart. It was so big, and our old house was so old, that we couldn’t get it further into our house than the front entry. Our doorways were too small! So it became an entry table… a large entry table. I dream of having a home that this will fit in one day!
Right now this cart is in our basement and we try to keep it for building and sorting LEGO but frequently it gets covered in things that we aren’t sure what to do with at the moment. It simply absorbs clutter. Plus it takes up a large portion of the basement living area! Add in the desk, curio cabinet, and other shelving and it’s simply too much. We want to be able to use the space down there for family time – playing games, building LEGO, working on puzzles – but it doesn’t work right now.
Micah’s parents are giving us an old octagon shaped table so we need to move furniture around to make it work. We discovered the cart will fit in our storage space so our goal is to finish sorting through our storage to clear a place for the cart. It stinks to put it away but until we have a home it fits in to actually get used it’s not worth keeping it out to be a clutter spot.
3. Self Goal – Add in strength training
My running program is coming to an end but I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. As long as it’s warm enough I’ll be out pounding the pavement three mornings each week. However, I miss strength training and I can tell my body needs it! I don’t want to do p90x again because I don’t have the motivation or ability to do that type of time investment right now so instead I’ll be using Full Body Dumbbell Workout available with Amazon Prime. I love that I can change up the intensity of strength workouts based on the size weights I use and we have a decent variety so I should be able to get in a good workout during this twenty minute video.
Did you accomplish your goals in June? What were they? What goals are you setting for July?