New Year’s Resolutions 2016 to 2017

It’s a new year, a time for reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future.  And that means setting goals.

This is something I attempted to do last year (see 2016 New Year's Resolutions), but I wasn’t as good about updating you all about my resolutions (my last update was 9 months ago!).

So here’s how I did:

Make more tutorials

My goal was to make 12 tutorials last year and I made 10.  Two shy, but that’s not too bad. 

Here’s all the tutorials for 2016:

• Lace Twin Hearts Hair Clip Tutorial
• Easy Fitted Bodice or How to Make a Dress for Any Doll
• Lace Rosette Tutorial and Kitties!
• How to Make a Ribbon Bow
• Lace Rosette Shoe Clips Tutorial
• Cute Doll Drawstring Tank Tops Tutorial
• Cute Felt Bags for Dolls Tutorial
• Lace Sandals for Dolls Tutorial
• Doll Head Bands Tutorial Including a Cat Eared Head Band!
• Rhinestone and Pearl Pins, A Quick and Easy Tutorial

 

Reduce craft stash

This one was mostly successful thanks to the basket trick I used (see Major Craft De-Stash, Part 2).  The problem was in staying away from craft stores.  Thanks to that, I think my craft stash is almost a large as it was at the beginning of the year. :(

Exercise and Stretch

I put these two goals on hold to focus on the others, but I found I made some progress on them anyway.  I found myself squeezing in small bits of exercise most days without thinking about it.  And stretching too, especially during slow periods at work.

Save money

I changed this goal from building up my savings account to paying down my credit card.  I’m happy to say that I brought the total balance down to $1000 and should have it completely paid off in less than two months.  Yay!

Clean out my closet

This goal was was successful too because of the basket trick, sort of.  My closet and drawers are full of clothes that I love that actually fit me, and now I can actually close the door.  The problem is I also have bags of clothes that don’t totally fit me, but I love them enough to alter them.  I just need to get to them all.  I at least made some progress on that this year (see Blue Plaid Revisited, a Dress Makeover).

Despite a few issues, I’m pretty happy with how the year turned out.  But now it’s time to look forward. 

So here’s:

My 2017 New Year’s Resolutions

 

Pay off Debt

This one is obvious.  Since I’m so close to paying off that card, I might as well add it to the list.

Say No to New

This one is a little more interesting.  I’ve been thinking a lot about our planet and how much space we take up on it.  When new products are made and purchased the old ones have to go somewhere, and many times this somewhere is landfills. 

I thought to reduce this somewhat in two ways.  First, avoid buying anything unless I really, really need/want it.  This way I have less stuff that occupies valuable space.

The second way is to only buy stuff second hand if possible.  This means searching out items at thrift stores, yard sales, consignment shops, antique stores, etc.  The bonus for this is that I will save money and may end up with more interesting stuff.  Thrift stores and antique shops are full of fun stuff.

Organize and Plan

I’ve been thinking that so much of the stress in my life is somewhat linked to a failure to plan things out and organize them.  True I’m good at making to-do lists for crafts and stuff, but I think I need to go a bit further than that. I’ve got a lot of stuff in my life to juggle around, and as I get older I will probably gain more to juggle.

So I’m starting out in search of a system that works for me to plan out everything in my life.  From blog posts to birthdays, work schedules to workouts.  I intend to keep it all in order so I don’t end up pulling my hair out toward the end of each week.

And that’s it.  I’m keeping the resolutions short and sweet this year.  Doing too many makes it too overwhelming, just failure waiting to happen.

What about you?  Got any goals for this year?  Let’s work on them together!