Budget
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
It was a full week. We’ve all been fighting a cold so that made it seem even crazier since we were tired. There were several nights when various family members crashed early. Thankfully, we are all on the mend and back to our normal selves now. We are looking forward to being back to our normal schedule again too. Here are my goals for this week:
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
Finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the kids– we were all in tears at the end of the story, but the kids loved itPlan one special activity with the family- Play a Game with the Kids – we spent extra time catching up on sleep, trying to get better from the lingering colds, and other activities this past week
Prepare for Upcoming Winter EventsSpend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with HomeworkAttend After School ActivitiesLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforePlan a Fun Birthday Activity for the Kids- Confirm my parents plans for their upcoming visit – their plans got altered slightly due to an unexpected death of a friend so we are hoping they will be able to come at a later time this month
Personal Goals
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – I spread it out over a couple of days again this week
Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer – working our way through the goodies
- Clean House (Focus – Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom) – made progress, got our new bed set up
Organize Chaos (Focus – Kitchen)- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Leaves) – it somehow manages to rain about the time we are ready to do the leaves
Pet Care (Focus – Refill All Pet Containers)
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsRespond to Inquiry – Business Relation EmailsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car – working on it
- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt) – working on it
Pay Bills & File Paperwork- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – went to more than one store this week
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Finish reading Wonder’s Victory by Joanna Campbell to the kids
- Plan one special activity with the family
- Play a Game with the Kids
- Prepare for Upcoming Winter Events
- Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
- Attend After School Activities
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Plan a Fun Birthday Activity for the Kids
- Confirm my parents plans for their upcoming visit
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer
- Clean House (Focus – Dining Room)
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Game Closet)
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Clean Kids Outdoor Toy Storage Containers)
- Pet Care (Focus – Pick Up More Dog Food)
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car
- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt)
- Pay Bills & File Paperwork
- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget
- Sale Items no longer using or do not need on Facebook / Craigslist / Ebay
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
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Gift Giving: Amazon Wedding Registry
In 2015 we have several family members and friends who have set the big wedding date! WooHoo! So excited for these amazing people and for their upcoming weddings. Thankful that they have found that special someone to share their life with and look forward to seeing the awesome memories they will create over their years together.
There is a lot of excitement and planning that goes into a wedding. Even though several of these events are still months away they are already in full planning mode! One of the fun activities is picking out the various items for their new home. Creating a Wedding Registry is a wonderful adventure for the couple.
One great place to set up a registry is Amazon’s Wedding Registry! It is easy to set up and adjust as you figure out what you want and/or need for your new home. Also, the new couple may have many family and friends who are spread out all over the world who will want to get them a gift for their Bridal Shower and the Wedding. Amazon’s Wedding Registry makes it easy for the new couple as they prepare for the big day as well as for those wanting to get them a gift. The gift can be sent directly to the couple which helps save on shipping costs too!
Here are some great benefits to having an Amazon’s Wedding Registry:
- 10% Discount on Select Items Remaining on your Amazon’s Wedding Registry
- LARGE Selection of Items
- Universal – anyone that is anywhere with internet connection to access the Wedding Registry (convenient when you have family and friends spread out all over the world)!
- Returns are FREE for 90 days
- Add anything from any Online Store to the Amazon’s Wedding Registry
- Easily Find & Track Items You Need for Your New Home
- Browse the most popular wedding registry gifts
- Find lists of top-rated wedding and household products
- Gifts can be shipped to your designated Amazon’s Wedding Registry Address
- Created and Updated from the convenience of your own home
It only takes a few minutes to set up an Amazon’s Wedding Registry and you can add items as you need to. Select from a large variety of household items (kitchen, dining, bedroom, bathroom, living room, decorative, organizational, gift certificates, and many more)! Congratulations!!! Wishing you many wonderful blessings as you prepare for new life together as a married couple!
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
I had high expectations to get so much more done this past week. The good news is I was able to spend a full fun Monday with the girls since they did not have school for Martin Luther King Jr Holiday. It was wonderful soaking in those precious extra moments together!
I did not make as much progress as I had hoped on some of the other items on my list, but for the most part I am moving forward which is better than no movement at all. It is amazing how activities which appear to be easy or simple can actually take longer and eat into any extra time I had. Trying to stay positive especially on those tasks that seem to never get completed (or take a long time)! This week I have a lot of my list so hopefully it will be a more productive week. Here are my goals for this week:
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
- Finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the kids – getting closer (the busy weeks have slowed us down)
Plan one special activity with the familyPlay a Game with the KidsPrepare for Upcoming Winter EventsSpend time Tuesday – Friday helping the kids with Homework– they did not have school on MondayAttend After School ActivitiesLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
Personal Goals
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – still taking me 2 days, hoping to get back to normal schedule soon!
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week – I planned it out, but had to alter it a little more than I anticipated this week
Use up food items in our pantry and freezer- Clean House (Focus – Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom) – got our new bed put into the room, just have some more organizing to do before I can cross it off
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Kitchen) – got the pantry cleaned out, but have some more items I want to get done in the kitchen
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Leaves) – although I did some raking with the girls this week hoping for a dry week soon so we can get the side yard blown and raked
Pet Care (Focus – Fix the Goat Fence)– my sweet husband got this fixed
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails – have a few pending projects
Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention- Work completed for clients – I have 2 projects I need to complete soon
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car – working on it
Sale Some Items No Longer Using on Facebook / Craigslist- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt) – working on it
Pay Bills & File Paperwork- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – went to 2 stores and was $20 over budget
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the kids
- Plan one special activity with the family
- Play a Game with the Kids
- Prepare for Upcoming Winter Events
- Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
- Attend After School Activities
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Plan a Fun Birthday Activity for the Kids
- Confirm my parents plans for their upcoming visit
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer
- Clean House (Focus – Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom)
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Kitchen)
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Leaves)
- Pet Care (Focus – Refill All Pet Containers)
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car
- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt)
- Pay Bills & File Paperwork
- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
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Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelets
Two of the “Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelets” we made!
The girls have been collecting Soda Pop Tops from my husbands aluminum soda pop cans for the last few months. The other day we got all the soda pop tops out and made a bunch of cool bracelets. It was a lot of fun! We came up with some neat bracelets that we made out of the recycled soda pop tops!
These are super simple to make even for the kids to do themselves. There are so many variations you can make with these bracelets. Attached are pictures of four different types of bracelets we made that day. The kids also made decorative belts for themselves and a matching belt for their baby doll out of the recycled soda pop tops too!
You can use any ribbon you want! For this simple Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet we choose white with red hearts. This would be a great Valentine’s Day goody your kids can make to share with their friends at school.
The bracelets were adjustable – wrap it around your wrist and weave the leftover strand of ribbon into the next one or two soda pop tops to lock it in place. It was very easy to take it on or off. With the ribbons we used the bracelet stayed on really well, we didn’t have any problems with them slipping off. If you have a thinner more flexible ribbon you can tie the two ends together in the back instead of weaving it through the pop tops.
Here’s another example of the Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet with the simple weave as well,but with gold ribbon. The gold color really popped out against the silver pop tops!
This one was fun too! We used the same ribbon, but on this one we overlapped the pop tops and only weaved the bottom row which gave this bracelet a more 3D look which was super cute!
This Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet turned out really well. We weaved the ribbon through a double layer of overlapping pop tops. The bracelet was thicker, but still comfortable and fun to wear.
The blue double layer soda pop top bracelet! They kids has a blast putting together all kinds of cool bracelets in various colors and styles. It was fun to see them use their creativity. They have worn these bracelets several times already and get a lot of compliments. These bracelets are simple and unique which make them fun to wear.
