My goals for the month . . . here goes nothing:
1. I failed to sew something in June, and am trying again for July. I plan to make either a maxi skirt, or a knee-length ‘yoga’ skirt. I think either would be great for summer weather!
2. Exercising 4 days a week sounds like kind of a lot to me . . . but when all I can handle without getting totally winded and spending the rest of the day napping is a leisurely stroll with Forrest, it doesn’t seem so daunting. And during the last few months/weeks of my pregnancy with Forrest, I really packed on the weight. Like, a lot of it. And yes, a good amount of it did turn out to just be water weight, but maybe exercising more will help keep my out-of-control swelling down this time? It really was outrageous. I was swollen in places I didn’t know could swell (love handles! did you know you can have a WATER MUFFIN TOP?). Fingers crossed that maybe a little more frequent exercising helps with that.
3. Jeff can’t believe I’m stressing already about the baby’s room. “It’ll take you like 3 days! She’s not due for 4 months!” But all I’m hearing is, “4 months! That’s it! You only have 4 months to do EVVVEEEERYTHIIIING!” And I know this second trimester feel-good get-er-done energy isn’t going to last forever, so I want as much baby prep as possible to be done well before the 3rd trimester exhaustion hits. This month, I want to clear out my craft room (a huge task in itself) and relocate it the basement, and get started on turning it into baby girl’s room (collecting/repainting furniture, decorating, etc.).
4. Not to toot my own horn here, but I’m really good at not spending lots of money. Avoiding a $50 jeans purchase? Easy. Not dropping $75 at Target on little doo-dads and cheap shoes? Simple. But I’m not so good at not spending a little money. It’s not as easy for me to talk myself out of, say, a $10 fast food lunch with Forrest every week, or a $12 shirt on clearance, or just an extra $15 worth of snacks and candy at the grocery store. I’m great at avoiding large-ish purchases, but I make plenty of little purchases instead, and they sure do add up. I want to cut down on those small spur-of-the-moment purchases this month.
5. Yet another item Jeff is stunned I’m already worried about. “She has no clothes!!!” “You have FOUR MONTHS, Rachel.” “But she has NO CLOTHES! She’ll be naked! ALL THE TIME!” And since I like to get as much as possible from garage sales/thrift stores/hand-me-downs/etc. instead of buying everything brand new at full price, I want to start early at building a wardrobe. This will include going through old boxes of Forrest’s clothes to see what can be re-used for a girl, and looking for bargains for new or secondhand items.
So this should hopefully be a busy and productive month! What’s on your plate for July?
New follower here! Love your goals. I just posted mine and sewing and working out are both on my list too! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome goals! I'm with you on #2! I've definitely fallen off that wagon!
ReplyDeleteI had gotten rid of almost all of my baby items before our second arrived (we were done! or so I thought...) I was AMAZED at how giving friends were (mostly so they could get it out of their OWN houses and fill up mine). We have purchased very little. Plus-with a girl-EVERYONE will want to clothe her I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteDon't men understand how quickly 4 months can go by without anything getting accomplished? At least Jeff started helping by picking out a few cute outfits of his own.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely with you on #4 though. I'll feel terrible about spending $30 on a pair of jeans that I desperately need, but watch me come away from the Target dollar bins with a dozen little piddly things! I'm really bad about dinner recently though. If I have a rough day, I'll call Ant and be like "If you loved me you would bring home some nuggets so I don't have to cook." Lazy much?
Couldn't agree with you more on the not spending money on spur of the moment purchases. I AM TERRIBLE at that. And I can promise you, if we lived close to each other and went shopping, I would only be fuel to the fire. "YES! You need that extra bag of dove chocolates, and maybe one in every other flavor they have!"
ReplyDeleteWe have a store near us where you can donate gently used baby clothes for credit and then purchase new (to you) clothing. I buy onesies for friends there for about $1 each. I have also heard of baby consignment sales.
ReplyDeleteI love your goals and your honesty about them! Have you ever tried prenatal pilates? I got this video and LOVED it: http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Solution-Prenatal-Pilates/dp/B000RIWARG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373351697&sr=8-1&keywords=prenatal+pilates
ReplyDeleteCan't say I was super committed to doing it, but I liked that she wasn't over the top in the way she instructed, and you can choose to do just one 10 minute session, or do multiple. Then, at the end of my pregnancy when my hip pain was really bad, I'd just do the stretching session and it was amazing how much more comfortable I was at night. And I'm right there with you on spending little bits of money. My biggest temptation daily is wanting to go out to lunch, especially since I've found places that I can feed me and Jace for under $7. And I've trained him well--he asks to go out all the time now :)
I just made a skirt last night and I think this is going to become a new habit. A new skirt every weeknight? too much. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was super simple and only elastic waist, but it did take about 4 hours longer than expected. As always. ;)
Same problem here: those small spending "needs" sure add up fast! The big shopping trips can be avoided, but those small little ones are hard to give up for any length of time!
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