Money Saving Mom®

Someone commented on the goals post last week lamenting the fact that she wasn’t able to get many of her goals accomplished since she had a toddler and a newborn. You know what? I wouldn’t be doing much of any of this if I had a toddler and a newborn, either! In fact, it’s hard for me to even remember what those days were like now that my children all sleep consistently through the night, can dress themselves, help with the chores, and are pretty independent.

I’m sharing my goals as a way to keep myself accountable and to (hopefully!) inspire you to live life on purpose, instead of just letting the hours and days slip by without intention. However, please do not feel like you need to be accomplishing similar things to what I have on my list.

I’m in a relatively easy season of life since my children are 6, 4, and 2 (compared to having them be 4, 1, and newborn, it’s definitely much, much easier!), so I can challenge myself to do more than I have at other seasons because I’m sleeping at least 6 or 7-hour stretches every single night (this makes a world of difference!) and my children are now at the age where they can help out and play independently instead of needing me to do every single little thing for them each day like they did when they were younger.

If you are the mom of very young children who depend upon you for just about everything, make sure and read my post of encouragement to you here. If you accomplish nothing more than keeping everyone fed and diapered and you spend quality time enjoying your children, you are accomplishing a lot! Set microscopic goals and don’t be discouraged if even those don’t get done. Really and truly, it will get easier.

Don’t compare yourself to other moms and feel inadequate if you’re not doing as much as them. Give yourself grace, smile, make your own health a priority, and just love on your babies while they are little! You’ll never regret making them a much higher priority than a clean house or a checked-off to-do list.

Now on to the goals. Here’s what I accomplished off of last week’s list:

Mothering Goals

1. Finish reading Homer Price aloud to the children. {I ended up doing some other reading to them for our school weekly theme and didn’t get to Homer Price. This week, hopefully? :)}

2. Take children on a Nature Walk.

Personal Goals

3. Run 12.5 miles (total).

4. Finish reading Good to Great and Raising a Soul Surfer. {Still working on finishing up Quitter — I’m enjoying it so much that I’m just slowly reading it to try and soak everything up!}

Home Management Goals

5. Vacuum underneath beds.

6. Make homemade soap. {Still haven’t tried the Homemade Scrubbing Bubbles — must do that this next week!}

7. Wash, dry, fold, & put away one load of laundry every day. {Well, I didn’t quite manage to do this, but I did a pretty good job of staying on top of the laundry this week, so that’s progress, right? :)}

Business Goals

8. Re-shoot videos and send to publicist. {Hopefully I’ll get to this this week, time got away from me last week!}

9. Go through my formatted and edited manuscript from the publisher to check for errors in format or content.

Ministry Goals

10. Meet with a friend who asked for counsel.

And here’s this week’s list:

Mothering Goals

1. Finish reading Homer Price aloud to the children.

2. Continue teaching children table chores.

Personal Goals

3. Run 13 miles (total).

4. Finish reading All The Money in the World (advance copy that I was asked to write an endorsement blurb for), Quitter, and Friendship for Grownups.

Home Management Goals

5. Keep the master bathroom clean. (This seems to be the one area in the house that has been sorely neglected recently. I want to implement the ideas from Totally Together to see if I can keep it looking great with just 3-5 minutes of maintenance every day.)

6. Make Homemade Scrubbing Bubbles (third time’s a charm, eh?)

7. Wash, dry, fold, & put away one load of laundry every day.

Business Goals

8. Re-shoot videos and send to publicist.

9. Start working on my presentation for an upcoming speaking engagement.

Ministry Goals

10. Meet an acquaintance who asked for counsel regarding her business.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? If you feel comfortable doing so, I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

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