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trilobite_gw

Ten in 2011

trilobite
13 years ago

I found an interesting suggestion on another forum. A poster mentions that each year, she has ten New Year's Resolutions. These could be projects she wants to get done, good habits she wants to start, etc.

It's ten over twelve months on the assumption that there will be at least one month where nothing gets done and to take December off. The aim is to keep it manageable and have many small triumphs throughout the year. (On that note, you could just as easily do "Six in 2011", give yourself two months for each project/habit, make it even more manageable.)

I'm going to try it. Dunno what the rest of my projects will be, but at least two will be clearing my electronic clutter (emails, URL's, hard drive disorganization) in January and clearing our incoming mail in February.

Comments (20)

  • Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
    13 years ago

    That's a wonderful idea to 'schedule' a months time to accomplish a (maybe) long overdue chore. I can think of a couple of bigger things that have needed done for some time now (years). One is cleaning the basement, and another is painting the shed. It has been partially painted for so many years now, that it will all need to be painted as the initial paint has faded a lot. I'll have to ponder what other bigger chores I'd really like to target getting completed in 2011.

    I'll target the basement for Jan.

    Sue

  • mvastian
    13 years ago

    Ok, I have to jump in on this one - Thanks for posting trilobite!

    I am an old member here (maybe 12 years), and read all the new posts every day, but in the last year or so I cannot participate in the discussions as much - so, I mostly lurk - anyway...

    I'll make my ten-list now and have it posted here and come back each month to say what I have accomplished (or not, and why). Some items are waaayyy overdue, some are very simple but I just keep postponing...

    Here it goes:

    #1 Add an extra shelf in a kitchen cupboard , so we don't have to stack 2 different sizes of plates.
    #2 Buy material and reupholster our 4 dining room chairs.
    #3 Finish my DD#1's baby book (she is 5+).
    #4 Finish my DD#2's baby book (she'll be 4 on Epiphany).
    #5 Translate 6 texts we want to use at church next Christmas (2011).
    #6 Translate 7 texts for Christmas 2012.
    #7 Select and translate some meterial for our women's group for Nov.-Dec. 2011.
    #8 Find and purchase online a devotional that an old friend has written that is off print a long time now.
    #9 Update and print my phone/address book (I have it as an excel sheet).
    #10 Email in installments some song material that a lady in another island has asked me for.

    It is manageable, and being accountable to all of you will get me going, I believe!

    So, who's next?

    Maria, in Chios island, Greece

  • mvastian
    13 years ago

    ok, I forgot one that is a biggie... so I'll upgrade to a Twelve-list:

    #11 Print colored photo pages, make extra data CD and make an LP (vinyl) into a CD, to complete a project I have started a year or so ago(it's the history of my old music school).
    #12 Prepare a magazine article and have it published about the project mentioned above.

    Next?

    Maria in Chios, Greece

  • Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
    13 years ago

    It is manageable, and being accountable to all of you will get me going, I believe!
    hmmm...Ok, I'll hold you accountable then, but am not sure I want anyone holding me accountable. Am I doomed before I even get my list together? I'll ponder it and consider posting it.

    Sue

  • patchworkfarm
    13 years ago

    Chem--Posting on a forum--or not--only holds yourself accountable. I'm not going to come to your house and shout PASS or FAIL :) Some folks like the public declaration and support of a self-challenge. You're never doomed--only encouraged as you check off your goals!

    Maria--if you want to knock off an easy one to get yourself going . . . I added wire plate shelves to some of my cabinets for added storage. Don't know if you can get those where you are, but if you need a visual, let me know. I'll try to post a link to a similar product.

    Still coming up with my list for the year

    Patch

  • happyintexas
    13 years ago

    I like making goals for a few months at a time. By June 1st, I'll be ready to modify.

    To begin, I'd like to get control of the books in the house. Some we really don't need anymore. I.E. our homeschool books. Both sons are graduated now. I'm paralyzed because I know I could get a few bucks for some of them. I'd really rather just move them out of the house. Dollars are tight here, so...ugh. Paralyzed.

    I have more books in my personal library. Books on writing and parenting...phases of my life I've moved through. Yep, just writing this down helps me see. I need to bless someone else with these books. I'm done with them. That's the January goal.

    Other spring goals. Set up a better area in the house as a home office for my real estate business. (January)

    February~ Clean out a storage closet.

    April~Clean out the garage. (I shudder to think of that one. lol)

    March~Clean out the attic. (Shudder.)

    Whew. We have let clutter and stuff take over. It is going to be a wrestling match to see who gets control of the place. I'm gonna take my vitamins and WIN. ;0)j

    I like this plan. It seems less overwhelming than just a list of to-dos. I'm typing these on to the first day of their coresponding months on my calendar so I won't forget.

  • trilobite
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Bumping this because we're one week into January. How is everyone doing?

    I have cleaned out a lot of old email, posted new pictures to my Facebook, completely revamped my bookmark organizing, updated a website that I maintain for a craft society and I'm more or less up to date on returning emails.

    I started when I first posted (12/29) At first every time I sat down to deal with electronic clutter it was soooo difficult. I could feel all internal resistance and having to push, push, push all the time. Now I really feel like I've turned at least a small corner and it feels much easier to sort, respond and purge.

  • ktmusher
    13 years ago

    Well I'm a newbee from Illinois!! Just joined in January and I do have lots going on!! My boyfriend of 11 years and I got married July 2010..YEAH!! So here goes...

    January into February: finish remodeling my house to put on the market (we both have owned houses for the 11 yrs)

    March: hopefully sell my house!!!

    Summer 2011: finish the 3 season porch my husband started summer of 2009.
    I am very excited coz' I have a new (very big!!) yard to plant this summer. Well, actually I get the left over yard not fenced for our 4, count them, 4 Siberian Huskies!

    I'll start with that and check back as often as I can. I guess first I'll let you know when the house goes on the market and when it sells!!

  • mvastian
    13 years ago

    Ok, I'm revisiting my #6 "Translate 7 texts for Christmas 2012", and make it: "Translate 7 texts for Easter 2011", and start on it today.

    Maria

  • msmarieh
    13 years ago

    I don't have all my projects picked out, but here's my starting list for the first few months:

    January - declutter and organize home office

    February - declutter and organize basement

    March - declutter and organize garage

    April - Paint the shed (weather dependent)

    May - weed perennial beds (a far greater task than it sounds after several years of neglect).

  • ktmusher
    13 years ago

    update to my list!!!

    March: Still working on finishing the kitchen remodel. It was a complete gut...no walls!!
    The weather in the Midwest is trying to get to spring!!
    49 degrees today rain/snow mix tomorrow!!! After all it is the Midwest.

  • talley_sue_nyc
    13 years ago

    OK, here's my list

    1. get a new job
    2. get a new job
    3. get a new job
    4. get a new job
    5. get a new job
    6. get a new job
    7. get a new job
    8. get a new job
    9. get a new job

    1. hem 4 pairs of pants
  • jannie
    13 years ago

    I made a list like that in 2005. Attic, basement, garage,etc. It didn't look too bad until I had a stroke and had to quit my job, I never made it. But today is April 1, maybe I could accomplish nine smallish projects in what remains of 2011.

  • Kevalsha
    12 years ago

    I am a new member. Hi! everyone. Did not make a list but have been working in the garden since we moved into our new house in January 2011. My husband and I are making square foot gardening boxes and I am busy transplanting my herbs and flowering plants and in the backyard our vegetables. We have a must do project which should be done in the next couple of months. Bring our travel trailer to our property. This year we will have a yard sale to sell items we do not use.

  • sudiepav
    12 years ago

    glad I found this...we have WAY to much stuff. We're getting older (mid-sixties) and I am reminding myself that if we don't deal with this stuff, our kids will have too. I have one particularly ruthless DIL and all I can picture is her presiding over a GS table with a sign reading "Everything 25c." This may happen anyway. I was feeling pretty good, since we just redid our family room, and I donated 6 bags of books and all our VHS tapes to the library for their sale. I gave a friend 3 boxes of stuff for her yard sale, and several outgrown outfits from my GDs to charity. But there's so much more. My 10 a day today are:

    3 boxes to trash/recycling
    4 outfits to a friend's little girl
    1 tape to library
    2 magazines and Sunday paper to recycling.

    I have SO much more to go.

  • mvastian
    12 years ago

    So far I have knocked off only 3 out of 12:

    #6 Translate 7 texts for Easter 2011
    #9 Update and print my phone/address book (I have it as an excel sheet).
    #12 Prepare a magazine article and have it published about the project mentioned above - in #11. It's the history of my old music school. I submitted it for publication and now wait...

    Of course I've done a million other things not on the list!

    Maria in Chios, Greece

  • sudiepav
    12 years ago

    Maria, yours are huge, and mine are teeny, but because I'm such a saver, they're tough for me.

    Today, recycled another book
    threw out a breathing apparatus from the hospital
    5 old prescriptions from the medicine cab
    2 bottles of old supplements
    an aluminum spaghetti cooker that was my mom's. I haven't used it in 30 years. This one was hard.

    I can already tell this will be hard as it goes on.

  • sudiepav
    12 years ago

    Easy today...10 useless things from my vanity (nail polish, lipsticks, old Altoid tin, etc. Did it in 2 minutes as I brushed my teeth!

  • mitchdesj
    12 years ago

    DH has been away a lot on business recently so I used the spare time I had to go through my home and purge from everywhere, I did it a few hours here and there, it feels good but the problem is by doing this, I uncovered many areas that need even more attention, but the plus side is I found things I thought I had lost.

    I still need to go in my bulding's garage and spend time in my locker which is brimming full ; I need a morning where I feel particular energetic to tackle
    that project, lol.....

    thanks all for the inspiration !!!!!

  • jannie
    12 years ago

    Ten is a magic number for me. I can't start ten projects before the end of the year, but I can do ten things per day that lead to my goals.

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