Waste Not in 2017 – Goals for Time, Money, Opportunity and Words

1. 1.

   use or expend carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.

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1. 1.

   an act or instance of using or expending something carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.

Let’s just say I’ve totally been pretty wasteful in so many areas.  In 2016 I chose the word Receive and focused on the verb of the word which is to suffer, experience or be subject to.  In reading over my post I have to say I’m fairly proud of how being willing to open my heart and receive from others and from God helped me a grow up just a little more.  I noted a quote from Ann Voskamp “real change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change”.  Reading these words again makes me feel peaceful about where I am in my life.

Now, time to grow up just a little bit more in 2017 by cutting out some waste.  I’ve thought about the categories I feel should receive the most focus and I kept coming back to a few areas over and over that led to these words.

Evaluating the things I’m spending time on that do not provide an adequate return is hard to admit. My biggest time wasters are honestly social media and choosing my outfit every day.  I squander away hours sometimes without even realizing it scrolling through feeds and even if I don’t want it to, it takes up precious space in my mind.

For some reason putting together and outfit every day has become a huge time waster too!  For several weeks in the fall I cleaned out a small section of my closest and used it to plan my outfits for the entire week; hung together complete with accessories and suddenly the morning was smoother. Finding time to really evaluate my closet and purge to make it a little more manageable is definitely a must.  I’m definitely the queen of holding on to certain items for longer than necessary “just in case” I “need” it again.

One of the phrases my kids love from their summer camp is don’t waste fun.  I have been accused more than once of being a fun waster.  In 2017 I really want to make the most of the opportunities I have to be with my family and friends.  I want to be present, receive what they are willing to give and use my time with them to make a positive influence.  Being able to put the housework on hold for a date with my husband, some one on one time with one of my kids or an unplanned family outing will insure I don’t miss the opportunity for a special memory.  I want to ignore the unfinished projects and worn furniture and invite those friends over for dinner anyway!

Professionally, there are definitely some areas I have an opportunity to grow and bloom this year and I really want to put my heart into my work and see where it might take me!

Even here on the blog, I want this to continue to be a space I love and enjoy but the time involved can be daunting.  Figuring out a blog calendar which is manageable (and realistic) and allocating specific blocks of time for writing, responding to comments and staying up to date with reading other blogs will help me not miss the opportunity to connect and grow this space.

It really hurt to even type that word!  While I know it is not realistic for me to say I’m going to stop all spending, cutting back is definitely a priority.  The positive and the negative is I do track every single thing we purchase in a spreadsheet (yes, I know there is probably a better way) so I do know how we are spending and wasting money.  Really scrubbing our expenses and creating a budget for those things we consider frivolous and actually staying within that budget is a huge goal for 2017.

We have lived in our house for 13 1/2 years and not one room is “finished”.   This is an area I want to divert the income we’ve been blessed with to actually make a dent in finally turning this house into the home I know it can be!

Early in the fall I set a goal to only go to the grocery store once a week and it was amazing to me how much less I spent on groceries and how much better I was at intentionally planning our meals for the week.  Now that our HEB has curbside delivery I fully expect to get back on track with meal planning for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Less dining out = more money in my pocket and healthier living!

Blogging is not free either.  If I really do want to continue to focus on sharing fashion here, it’s unrealistic to think I will never spend any money on clothes. While the income I receive from advertising and affiliates is not much to report, I would like to see 100% of it poured back into the blog with an updated design, giveaways and time saving items such as social media schedulers that will save time.

I’ve mentioned before I can be somewhat of a hot head.  In 2017 I really want to work on not wasting my words.  Using my words to build up instead of tear town; to encourage instead of judge.  Being a hormonal 47+ there are weeks when this is easier than others but I really want to try to not waste my words.  This also means using silence when I need to!!  Maybe even shutting up and just listening or leading through my actions versus my words.  I’d love to remove phrases like “you always” and “you never” from my vocabulary!

All of this to say, my actions in 2017, when relating to time, opportunities, money and my words, need to all have purpose!

 

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