One Hundred Dollars a Month

I’m sure you know that I pretty much can’t sit still. Sitting still is my kryptonite. So for starters, I want to say a BIG thank you to anyone who has been reading this blog for more than 3 years and is STILL reading this blog. Why 3 years? Well, if you’ve been following this blog for awhile now then you know darn well that 2016 was probably the lamest year on record for Mavis Butterfield.

Seriously.

There were times when I just wanted to walk away from blogging, toss my laptop into Puget Sound and curl up into a ball and never type or take another picture again.

I was in a terrible, terrible funk.

The Girl was on the other side of the coast {for a second year in a row}, Monkey Boy was working full time, I had no major home projects to work on, my brother became ill, the HH was stressed out about work, and I was BORED OUT OF MY MIND and everyone around me knew it. For some reason I just kept muddling through one day at a time and didn’t came up for air until around the beginning of November.

That’s was when I decided what I really needed was to get out of the house and do something totally different to get some perspective. So I accepted a seasonal job at a warehouse. And it turned out to be just the kickstart I needed to get back on track mentally. Not only did I learn a lot of new things, it made me want to work smarter, harder for my family and the things {and goals} I am passionate about.

People are fascinating. I don’t know why you are still here, but I am SO GLAD you are. The old Mavis, she’s back. And holy crack people…. I’ve got a oodles of things I want to accomplish in 2017. And no, I did not take my own advice about keeping my list of goals small. 😉

And I am VERY, very excited about it.

My number one goal is to get back to the basics. In my life in general as well as here on the blog. But in order to do that, I can’t go into all the details about each of the goals I’ve set for myself this year.

So, for the time being I have 4 top secret goals… Those ones I won’t be talking about until I’ve accomplished them. But I promise that when I do accomplish one of those goals…. I’ll be filling you in on all the details and the story behind those particular goals. I promise.

In fact I will be writing about those particular goals in real time… but I just won’t be publishing the posts until the time is right. Confusing, I know. But I have my reasons. 😉

To hold myself accountable to the things I want to accomplish this year, I will continue to do a weekly goal update. Personally, I think setting goals are a good thing, and sharing your goals with someone helps keep you on pace and gives you the extra motivation to push through and accomplish what you set out to do in the first place.

So here we go. Are you ready?

My goals for 2017

Get 7- 8 Hours of Sleep Each Night

I get up at 4 am everyday because I am a total psycho. I have tried and tried to sleep in. But I can’t. I blame my mother. Because she doesn’t sleep much either. And The Girl… she noticed she’s not sleeping as much as she used to either. I don’t know if it’s hereditary or what, but I want to TRY to get a little more shut eye this year. I’m just not so sure how I’m going to do that yet. {Any tips you have would be welcomed.}

Make Saving a Priority, Not an Idea

Save. Save. Save. Continue to pay down the mortage, add to our emergency fund and sock away money for my secret goal #4.

Live a little

One thing I really missed last year was my trips to the local thrift store and stopping at garage sales to hunt for bargains. So if I see something I like and truly have a use for, I am going to buy it.

Visit 52 REAL Bakeries

Seriously. When did store bought baked goods start to taste like junk? Bakeries. That’s where the good stuff is at. And I’m going to find 52 of them this year.

Have 1 “no spend” week each month

The idea is that this will help reduce grocery spending, gas, eating out, and shopping in general. I’ve never done this before… and I’m pretty pumped about it. I have no idea if it will help with my overall spending habits… but I’m willing to give it a try.

Start a Line of Rug Hooking Patterns

My goal is to come up with 12 original patterns and have them listed on Etsy by the end of the year. People have been asking me to sell my original designs so they can hook them up for themselves for a while now and I’m finally ready to do that.

Turn My Wool Stash into $2,500.

I have some other projects I want to focus on this year so although I won’t be hooking as much, I still want to keep it up in my spare time and earn a little extra on the side.

Play in The Dirt

Instead of trying to keep up with posting 4-5 times a week over on Dig for Your Dinner this year, I am going to aim for 2 posts a week. My first post is already up.

Purge 250 Items Including Selling Larger Items We No Longer Feel We Need

For instance, the elliptical machine that is sitting in our garage and was only used 4 times last year. Our garage freezer. Say what? Yep. Even though I occasionally get meat in bulk from Zaycon, our eating habits have changed over the past few years and I truly believe we could get by without one {and save on electricity to boot!}. The set of bikes that are hanging on the wall in our garage? Monkey Boy, The HH nor I have even used ours in the last 2 years. The Girl only used hers like 3 times. I’d much rather get rid of the clutter and rent a bike for the day instead.

Last year my goal was to get rid of 1,000 items and we ended up selling/donating over 1188 items. In all honesty, our home it at it’s most minimalistic stage that it has ever been. And I’m loving the fact that our home isn’t stuffed with a bunch of crappity crap. I think finding 250 items to purge is actually going to be a little difficult… but I’m totally up for the challenge.

Learn to Crochet

Master the granny square, and then make a blanket. I had a handmade blanket similar to the one above about 20 years ago and absoultly loved it. {photo credit Fookiewooh}

Dote on My Husband Even More Than I Do Now.

Seriously, is that even possible? Apparently working outside the home for 5 weeks traumatized him. He missed his sunday breakfasts in bed, early morning coffee deliveries, packed lunches and being greeted at the front door with a kiss when he came home from work. Poor, poor fella. It will take years for him to recover. 😉

Lose the Muffin Top. {again}

Okay. So the only jeans in my closet that currently fit are pretty worn out and have been tossed into my painting/yard work stash. What remains are 8 pairs of pants that are at least 1 size too small for me. They are PERFECTLY GOOD pants!!!! Going out and buying more pants would be kind of a waste of money if you ask me. So, what’s a frugal girl to do? Lose the muffin top.

How am I going to do this in a healthy and gradual way? Well, you are going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out. That’s when I’ll be posting about our new grocery budget for the year. All I want to say is this: Maybe you’ve got a Costco sized muffin, maybe you’ve got a mini muffin… whateva. If you want to get rid of it… it’s going to take some time. Relax. Join me. We’ve got 365 days to scratch this baby off our list. 😉

Wear out {most of} the clothing I already own.

I’d like to buy a whole new wardrobe in 2018 {goodbye black shirts… hello ?} So my goal is to not buy any new clothing this year {with one exception. Undergarments}.

Try 52 New Recipes

I feel like I was kind of in a food rut last year. So this is a must.

Read 52 Books

I loved always having a book on my nightstand last year. So I’m doing it again.

Give Back to 12 Different Organizations in My Community

Each month my mom and I will select one organization in our community and find a way to give that organization $100 {in purchased goods}. So for instance, let’s say one month we choose to donate to a local animal shelter. We would contact the shelter and find out what items they are in most need of. We would then go out and purchase those items and then donate them to that particular organization.

My mom and I are both really excited about this one {and especially excited for the organization we have already selected for January}.

And then, there’s those top secret goals we’re not talking about yet.

• Secret Goal #1
• Secret Goal #2
• Secret Goal #3
• Secret Goal #4

So that’s it. Those are MY goals for this year. All 20 of them.

But wait. Here’s a few more from the peeps who live here:

The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird

Finish college one semester early {so she can pocket the money to help fund her “Gap Year.”} The kid is clever, what can I say?

Qualify for the 2018 Boston Marathon {she needs a time of 3:35 to “qualify” but more like a 3:25 to actually get in}. With very few long distance runs {14-22 miles each} she ran a full marathon last fall and was about 20 minutes shy of the qualifying time. So after talking with an older friend who has run Boston 5 times, she has a new training schedule and is excited to try again.

Fun Fact: If you were to click on Shalane Flanagan’s page on Wikipedia, you’d find the above photo of Shalane nearing the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. If you look all the way to the right of that photo, you’ll find The Girl and I in the background.

Monkey Boy

Learn Another Skill at His Job and get a raise.

Save Up for a New {used} Vehicle.

The HH

Take All His Paid Vacation Days This Year.

Seriously. I have no idea what his problem is.

Lucy 

Stop Lunging Towards Cars.

She tend to get upset if a vehicle doesn’t stop to give her a cookie. Particularly white vans/trucks/suv’s and mail trucks.

So there you have it. Those are our goals for 2017. What do you think? Do YOU have any goals for 2017? If you do, I’d LOVE to hear about them.

~Mavis