goals + habits

I love a tidy house, but I am not a clean freak. So I do have a few things I do each spring for a refresh! Let’s call it spring cleaning for the rest of us.

I love a tidy house, but I am not a neat-freak. Even so, when spring rolls around, I am usually ready to freshen my home up a bit. Even if it is just to get the smell of husband and dog out of the house.

If you are looking for a comprehensive list or an in-depth cleaning schedule, you are in the wrong place. Becky over at Clean Mama is your gal for that. But if you are looking for some simple thing that you can do to freshen up your space as the temperatures warm, keep reading.

Open all of the windows.

It has been a long winter gang. Open up those windows and let some fresh air into your place. This simple step goes a long way to refresh your space.

Smudge the whole house.

After I have all of those windows open, I walk around the house with my stick of smoldering sage, waving it around. Not only does it help refresh your space, but it also helps get rid of the bad juju. Smudging is a tad bit woo-woo, but I love the woo.

Wash and put away winter gear.

I don’t have enough clothes to make a full ‘putting away the winter gear’ ceremony necessary, but between Jesse and I, we do have a lot of winter gear. Now is the time to clean up those boots, wash those stocking hats, and clean those jackets. I store them all in a tote in the garage until fall rolls around again.

Clean the windows inside and out.

Cleaning windows is a pretty standard spring cleaning trope for a good reason. When the windows are clean, the whole house seems brighter. And all of that springtime sunshine can shine in.

Dust the walls, sills, and trim.

It is weird to say that I dust the walls, but my old house has an odd plaster situation going on, and all of those nooks and crannies get full of dust. So I give them a good once over with a duster. And while I am at it, I wipe down the trim and clean out the window sills.

That’s it! I love a clean house, so we don’t save all of the deep cleanings till spring. But there are a handful of things I do each springtime to get my house ready for the summer ahead.

PS – Shop your house first + Kitchen staples for quick meals.

I am not one for New Year’s Resolutions, and you will not find me picking a ‘word of the year.’  I am far, far too contrary to do what everyone else is doing.

I do, however, love a to-do list and for the last couple of years, have followed Michael Hyatt’s goal-setting framework. Don’t worry, I am not going to bog you down with the details (if you are curious you can read his book Your Best Year Ever). And when my day job started to slow down for the holidays, I started looking toward 2020.

2019 was kind of a bitch for me and I spent much of the year wading through the shit-show that is probate.  I felt like I was just spinning my wheels. So I decided that in 2020 I was going to make some large strides forward.

And that means setting goals that require some real effort and moving forward on projects that scare the crap out of me.  For me, the biggie is that I am going back to school, which is something I have been on the fence about for years.  And since I have a competitive streak, I don’t just want to do well in school, I want to crush it.  

The rest of my goals (and there are 10) vary from setting up a regular date night with Jesse to wrapping up different aspects of my parent’s estate to starting (and refining) wellness habits.  They might not be ‘scary’ goals, but dammit, some of them are hard. And sometimes doing hard things scare me. Which is ridiculous, I can do hard things.  

If you set easy goals, while you will surely hit them, it will not be much of a challenge. And you are taking away a great growth opportunity for yourself.  

So, I want you to join me in setting hard goals for yourself in 2020.  Write them down and hang them somewhere where you will see them every day.  Think them over and break them down into manageable steps. Then get to work!

PS If you want to hear more about goals and how to achieve them (and from me in general) sign up for my newsletter. It is free, comes out weekly, and will keep you up-to-date on what is happening around here.

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