July 2025 Goals

    

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     2025 is half over. Why do the months and apparently the years go so fast as we reach a certain age? June was a mixed bag of success towards goals, but no one but myself is counting on me to achieve them, so no harm no foul. Still, it seems at least thinking about what I'd like to get accomplished is a good thing. My list is sort of suggested guideline, not a mandate. Some of these are repeats from June, and some were June fails, but I'd like to keep them on a regular basis. A "C" next to a goal is a continuation as in it was not completed in previous months but still needs to be and has an end point. A "R" means it's a repeated goal. 

Financial:

• Shave $75 off budget grocery/ HH target of $575. I say target not budget because I feel like I have less control on costs, but control on what I buy. Since last month was going well until the final stretch, this seems entirely doable. R I plan to combine efforts to save money and lose weight/ improve my diet with seasonal eating, more plant based meals, and cutting most junk food.
• Reduce gas to not more than two fill ups. More walking, more consolidation of trips. R

Family:

• Do one fun activity with each or kids collectively. R
• Go to lake to visit MIL at least one time. I'm still trying to have an amicable relationship. After her knowing me for 39 years, I don't expect to develop a closeness. For my kids and husband's memory, I want a good rapport, though the subtle and not so subtle criticism wears thin. R
• Join my family Tuesday lunch at least one time. I'm trying to be budget conscious so weekly is too much, but on occasion a nice splurge. I'll be selective about which weeks to join based on quality of menu. R

Fitness ...and Health (physical and mental):

• Lose 5 pounds- let's try this again shall we. This just seems like it's going to stay each month until some (utopian) future when I achieve the healthiest weight for me. C
• Download a good podcast ( and have some ideas for next round) for walking C
• Walk at least one time per week, with or without grand pup, outside of my neighborhood R
• Replace my mattress
• Get a good haircut and color. I wore my hair in a braid when I met the retired coworker. She sort of gasped at how long my hair had gotten and jokingly called me a hippie. My hair grows fast and the graying at the roots and sides shows more but I don't think about it until pointed out. I say people can wear hair or clothes anyway they want regardless of age, but the aging hippie look is not what I'm going for. 

Personal

• Meet up with at least one friend. R
• Play trivia at least one time in the month. R
• Get out with my camera a minimum of two times. Document the evidence in blog posts. R
• Read two books, both family book club one and a second. R

Organization

• Purge xx items of clothing. I know there are heaps that can go, but as I'm likely to buy minimally, need to review conscientiously what gets tossed so still not setting a specific number C
• Get the office set up  C technically a continuation of getting rooms flipped and this includes purging of the closet, and an organization system set up
• Paint nightstand 
• Repaint a shelf from old bedroom to use as a board game shelf
• Empty, sort, purge, reorganize hall linen closet
• Empty, sort, purge, reorganize entry closet 
• Empty, sort, purge, reorganize trunk bench and hall tree in the entry to garage hallway
• Start organizing a better e-file for my UK trip (including things that may need to be taken care of by others while I'm gone for so long)
• Another run to the recycling zone and donation center 

Other

• Blog at least 3 times per week. R
• Make time at least one time per week for other writing projects. I might move Thursday dog sitting to my daughter's house and she'll get him on Wednesday nights and I'll go there Thursday where there's less distractions. R
• Make at least one batch cherry and one batch strawberry jam
• Hunt for (find) porch table at thrift conscious price point. Of course, not a necessity, but as the front porch is such a nice place to sit depending on time of day and activity outside, it just adds to things I still like about my house. I temporarily moved a footless cube type nightstand that came from the room that will be the office for now to hold a book or cup of coffee, and got the wobbly plastic thing in recycling. Even though I could jazz this up to work, it's just too short as a table.
  
  
  

     Most seem to be repeat goals from the previous month but keeping them on until I establish a good pattern. I added the Organization list and while long, each item is a 1/2 day project, so not too great a challenge. It doesn't include just basic life maintenance we all have, cooking, cleaning, yard work but I'm trying to get into a pattern for those kind of things such as weed for one hour-3X a week, spend up to two hours per week on life admin/paperwork/sorting, filing, and purging, weekly pantry inventory and meal planning to avoid waste and save time. I'll check in next month.