As I told you last week, I’m doing weekly goals in 2020 instead of yearly goals. We’re only a week into the new year, but I can already tell you that I am loving this approach and couldn’t believe how much I got done last week.
(Okay, it probably helped that the kids were out of school, we had very few extra commitments, and it was an overall quiet week. We’ll see how it goes this week when we’re back to our usual schedule and pace and we have commitments and plans every evening!)
Before I share this week’s goals, here’s an update on how I did on last week’s goals…
Last Week’s Goals (progress update)
Personal Goals
1. Get in 50,000 steps total.
2. Finish reading Parenting and An Invisible Thread.3. Get up at 5:30 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. (I hit this goal every day but Monday.)
Home/Family Goals
4. Declutter the entire house.(See the pictures of our progress here. (Note: We did all the big projects this week, but I came up with a list of little areas I want to declutter and I’m planning to tackle one small project every week day for the next few weeks.)
5. Finish reading aloud A Single Shard together.
6. Start a new family devotional book together.(We decided to go with The Ology since we already had it and had been wanting to go through it.)Work/Blog Goals
7. Spend 12 hours on my manuscript outline.(My outline is done — yay!! This next week I get to start writing!)
8. Open up the blogging Mastermind to new members.
9. Get everything ready for our big $4 course sale next week.Word of the Year Goals
10. Pop popcorn and watch a movie as a family.(We watched Swiss Family Robinson and the kids really enjoyed it!)
11. Take Kaitlynn out shopping.(See details on our shopping trip here.)
12. Make tea, light a candle, and write thank you notes.
I was SO excited to see all those things crossed off the list! YAY!!!
A Word About My Baby To Do List
You’ll start to notice baby items on my goals list each week. A few weeks ago, I sat down and made out a list of everything I needed to do/buy/get before the baby is born (I’m due April 30).
I divided this list up into weekly tasks so that I could slowly chip away at it instead of waiting until the last few weeks and feeling overwhelmed by everything I needed to do. This makes the countdown more exciting and it also is in line with my word for the year — because it’s going to let me savor this special time even more instead of feeling sort of rushed with to-do’s.
2020: Week 2 — Goals
Personal Goals
1. Get in 52,000 steps total. (I use the FitBit Ulta HR to track my steps every day.)
2. Finish reading Romancing Your Child’s Heart and Awful Beautiful Life and listening to the Killing Patton audiobook.
3. Get up at 5:30 a.m. every week day.
Home/Family Goals
4. Decluttering: Garage freezer, bathroom closet, attic area, laundry room, car.
5. Start a new read aloud book together as a family. (Any great suggestions??)
6. Inventory what baby clothes we need to buy and purchase these.
Work/Blog Goals
7. Finish the introduction and write chapter 1 of my manuscript.
8. Write an in-depth honest review of Butcher Box.
9. Run our $4 course sale.
Word of the Year Goals
10. Pop popcorn and watch another classic movie as a family.
11. Go out to dinner with Jesse for our anniversary.
12. Make tea, light a candle, and write a card to Jesse.
Alix says
Have you read The False Prince series by Jennifer Nielsen? It’s a middle grade trilogy. She has several other middle grade novels as well.
Or you could do The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson or the 100 Cupboards series by N D Wilson.
There’s a lot of great middle-grade stuff out there!
Crystal Paine says
Thanks so much for the suggestions! My struggle recently has been finding books that engage my kids since they are older now!
Greta says
I love your library! Is the course sale on specific courses or all? I had a look and some are discounted and some are not. When does it end please? Thank you!
Crystal Paine says
You can find more details here: https://moneysavingmom.com/4-course-4-days-4-dont-miss-this/
Greta says
Thank you for the quick response! I bought a couple 🙂
Ashley Merrithew says
No goals last week as it was still vacation. This week’s goals:
Do some updating in Quickbooks for our business
Read before bedtime 4x this week
File year end taxes (get them done well before the due date of January 31st!)
Finish my pile of estimates I need to enter into our computer
Make sure kid daily chores are getting finished M-Th
Crystal Paine says
Great list! I’m cheering for you!
Keri says
The Hiding Place is a great book to read out loud!
Crystal Paine says
We love that book!!
Kristin Dunlap says
I’m envious of your library! Our family has really been enjoying the Little Britches series. There is a no-longer-acceptable word that we changed to an acceptable one for our audience, just FYI. Ralph Moody was an exceptional story-teller and our family loves his writing. We do our read alouds at the dinner table after eating and before being excused.
Crystal Paine says
Do you think they’d be interesting enough for high schoolers? (We’ll have two this year come August! I’m having trouble finding read aloud books that they haven’t read that are also super engaging for them!)
Kristin Dunlap says
My oldest is 8th grade and my mom and husband are also really into the story! My husband likes it so much, he asked me to buy more in the series.
Pamela says
We did Little Britches and I liked it so much I bought the next book in the series for myself!
Raquel Evans says
Last week was still Christmas focused for us, so this is my first time trying out weekly goals this year. (I’m trying to use categories from my Gretchen Rubin style 20for20 list, which I accidentally started giving”H” themed names and then had to keep the theme going even if it was forced…):
Word for the Year: Intentional
1/6/20:
Holiness:
Memorize/review Phillipians 1:1, and start Phillipians 1:2 using BibleMemory.com
Husband:
Start one of my ‘husband’ 20for20 list goals
Homemaking:
Take Down Christmas Tree
Take care of misc. address change and other phone calls
Health:
Exercise 20 minutes, 5 days this week
Hobbies/Hatch a Plan:
Start weekly reading updates on book blog
Write a letter to my Grandpa
Continue using Leap Second app daily
Crystal Paine says
I LOVE it! Thank you so much for sharing! I’m cheering for you!
Gina Benson says
The King in the Window by Adam Gopnik is one of my alle favorite read aloud books https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7113
Crystal Paine says
Thank you for the suggestions!
Karla says
Holes, Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Wonder, A Long Way From Chicago.
Crystal Paine says
Thank you for the suggestions!
Clare C. says
I feel like you may have done some of these Read a Louds, but my kids liked the following when they were younger:
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Caddie Woodlawn
The Saturday’s
The Good Master
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books
Crystal Paine says
Yes! We’ve read all of these but The Good Master. Thanks for the suggestions!
Diane says
The Good Master is book 1 of 4, so you may find 4 books you like!
Have you read aloud Little Women, Little Men, the Hobbit, Little White Horse or Calico Captive?
Suzanne R Cefola says
The Kingdom Series by Chuck Black is a great series to read!!! He has other series but start with this one.
Crystal Paine says
My kids LOVED all of his books when they were younger!
Suzanne R Cefola says
He has several older series too.
Becky says
Check out My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George if you haven’t already. So good!
Crystal Paine says
Thank you for the suggestion!
Kim says
Have you all read Swiss Family Robinson? This is a GREAT read-aloud! also, we enjoy Sarah Mackenzie’s Read-Aloud-Revival sites – podcast & instagram.
Crystal Paine says
We actually JUST watched that movie last week! Thanks for the suggestion!
Joanna says
Audiobook suggestions for/with your kiddos: Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier. Both are GREAT reads.
Crystal Paine says
Are these ones that would keep older kids excited/interested?
Jeanine says
Have you read any of James Herriot’s books aloud? We read through them all as a family, and my kids loved them! He was such a wonderful Vet and writer. He makes you feel like you’re right there in Yorkshire with him. Many of the books describe the wintery landscape that he often worked in, so now would be a good time to read one of his books.
Crystal Paine says
We’ve read and loved them when they were younger!
Sheri Prescott says
Whew! Great job, Crystal! And I love that “baby items” are popping up on our goal lists. What a special, miraculous time!
I crossed off all my goals from last week, except making a well-baby-appointment for my 2 year-old. However, that was because the clinic was closed on our military base for a long holiday. It’s all good and I shall add that to my list of goals for this week: 1. Implement new morning routine all 5 weekdays 2. Schedule 4 oldest children’s dentist appointments 3. Schedule 2-year-well baby appointment 4. Try grocery store online ordering and pick up for the 1st time 5. Birthday cake, card, and celebration plans for my Hero’s birthday 6. Prep and start Whole30 on Wednesday, for my Hero’s health plan (I’m trying to be very supportive (smile)) 7. 3 free weight workouts 8. Declutter and organize the homeschool room.
Crystal Paine says
GREAT JOB!! And I’m cheering for you this week on your goals!
Julie Smith says
I am loving the weekly goals! Glad you got most of yours done last week! I did all of mine except one (work on beginner handstand moves) because my foot and hip had been bothering me, so I decided to push that goal off into this week. Here are mine for the upcoming week:
1. Start and finish the last week of my current workout program
2. Have a sauna session to celebrate finishing!
3. Read one book
4. Declutter 4 rooms (likely kids bedrooms and bathroom)
5. Put the house back together Tuesday when kids return to school 🤪
6. Watch a movie with family
7. Make lunches at night M-F
8. Continue pantry challenge
9. Finish intro level on duolingo
10. Practice handstand M-F
11. Practice some new doodles, just for fun
12. Attend Weight watchers meeting Friday (I haven’t been during the holidays.)
Crystal Paine says
Great job! And I love this list of goals for this next week. You can do it!!
Anne says
You are smart. I’m totally scrambling on the baby stuff at 35 weeks! We don’t know the gender so I have just a few gender neutral clothes in newborn and 0-3 months. Last week, I bought a pack of newborn diapers and I just got off the phone with my insurance to get a breast pump. I’m waiting on my Amazon completion discount to buy a newborn car seat.
Crystal Paine says
I feel like I usually wait until the last few weeks to do most of the baby related things, so you’re not alone! I’m more motivated to pace myself and have more forward-thinking this time since I’m writing a book, the kids have a lot going on the next 4 months, and we might get a call to open our home for foster care at any time!
I realized that I probably wouldn’t regret starting early. Although if I’m sitting around completely bored the last two weeks, I might regret that decision! 😉
Anne says
If you have tons of extra time, you can get your older kids to help make freezer meals and bake muffins for quick snacks. 🙂 But that’s so smart about writing your book. This will allow you to savor it!
Crystal Paine says
We’re planning to make a few things, but since they can all cook/bake now, if need be, I’m not as worried about needing to prep a bunch of stuff ahead like I was when they were little! But I was planning to do energy bites, muffins, and maybe some egg muffins. That’s what’s on my list, at least!
Amy says
Great job on your goals this week! I would love to see and hear more about if you have secrets to find deals when you’re buying baby supplies, crib furniture, etc. I would love to hear more about that on future posts and stories.
Crystal Paine says
I’m keeping everything super minimal and am planning to just get the very basics (like I did with our other three) and am planning to mostly use gift cards I’ve collected over the past 6 months. (Some from Fetch, some from Swagbucks, some from gifts.)
The baby will be sleeping in our room for likely the first 8-12 months, so we won’t buy much other than a bed (we likely will do something small and portable), car seat, stroller, and babywrap or carrier, + basic clothes and items. I also need to buy a few items for nursing. But that’s likely about it. I’m all about keeping it super, super simple! 🙂
Dorothy says
For a read aloud book, how about Island of the Blue Dolphins?
Crystal Paine says
Is that one that would be good for older kids?
Emily says
I enjoyed Island of the Blue Dolphins as a tween. I also love A Wrinkle in Time (suitable for all ages, but the main characters are older kids).
Crystal Paine says
Thanks so much!