Monthly Goals: August 2015

I think I've spent more time the last couple of days adding and crossing things off this list than any other, and honestly the shopping goals were hard enough to figure out.

I got a decent amount done on my monthly goals for last month, but I've got a couple of hold overs as well as a ton of other things I want to do.  So, let's get started!

1.  Decorate son's room.

I got the room reorganized a bit and have come to realize that moving the entertainment center into his room might not work.  I have a big container of play balls down in my den right now that I really want to see go in his room and I don't want to make things in there too cluttered.  So, I'm thinking that the entertainment center is out.  But, putting some cute decorations in his room isn't, so I'm hoping to work on that.

2.  Reorganize Den

I still haven't gotten to this yet, but I also know this is going to be one heck of a chore, so I'm hoping to work on that this week. I was too depressed and not feeling well last week to deal with it.

4.  Make soap

This one is iffy.  It takes a lot of fat to make soap, and I'm really not sure I want to part with my shortening to do this at this point in time.  This can might get kicked down the road for a couple of months until I can afford the materials to do it.

5.  Reorganize master bedroom

My husband's and my bedroom, by nature, becomes a catch all for things.  It also has so much furniture in it that it always looks cluttered, so I'm hoping to fix that a bit, somehow.  I also need to move a queen sized bed my mother-in-law offered us over to our house, somehow at some point in the near future so I can get rid of our ancient double bed that is sitting under our queen sized mattress. 

6.  Make a couple of pairs of shorts for daughter and son.

I find it ridiculous that this late in the year I'm having to make back to school shorts for the kids (just in case), but we're spiking into hot temperatures again this week and while my daughter loves to run around in skirts, she also likes to ride her bike. So, I'm thinking that some shorts might make her life a BIT easier.  This is going to be put under "do this" goals as well as sewing goals.  Hopefully by cross referencing I'll get it done faster.

7.  Continue to clean out storage and go through it for yard sale.

I've been bad about this lately as it's been so hot and on cooler days I've been preferring to clean my house, but no matter what I really need to get this done if for no other purpose than to donate some items to get rid of them.  Especially the baby clothes horde I have.

8.  Try the "speed cleaning" approach

I have read and read books and blog posts on speed cleaning, but it has never worked for me.  So, I'm thinking of doing one approach I was reading about which was simply setting a timer for a certain amount of time and seeing how much you can get done in those minutes (say 15).  Everyone assures that you get more done this way, so I figure it's worth a shot. 

9.  Make more laundry soap

The new laundry soap is working well so far, so I want to at least make another jar of it.

10.  Use the crock pot more

I really want to expand my culinary horizons when it comes to the crock pot.  I really haven't used it much, but have started to realize how nice it is with all the hot weather we've had this summer.  So, I'm thinking using it more would be beneficial to my stress level.

11.  Set up new printer in bedroom

I have had the printer sitting in a box for a good couple of months, mainly because I want to preserve the "starter ink" in the printer as long as possible to potentially print out a couple of t-shirt transfers for the kids for Christmas.  So, I've been prudish with the new printer.

Canning/Preserving Goals:

1.  Continue to dehydrate herbs from the garden
2.  Depending on tomatoes, consider making green tomato relish
3.  Can salsa (never got to this last month).
4.  Try to harvest some more rose hips and dehydrate
5.  Vacuum seal jars of dehydrated herbs, nuts and fruits.

Sewing Goals:

1.   Make shorts for son and daughter.
2.   Work on Christmas gifts
3.  Make tablecloth for coffee table.
4.  Work on mending, finish darning socks, fix jeans, etc.
5.  Make some pillow shams
6.  Make some handkerchiefs