Resolution Recap: January 2012

With one month now into the New Year I thought that I would take a look back to see where I stand with my 2012 New Year's resolutions.

January was a hectic month for me since I was out of town for almost half of it. On top of that I have been sick for the past two weeks and am just now starting to feel like myself again. Despite those difficulties I am proud of what I did manage to get done and it has me energized and excited to keep going. Hopefully I will be able to  accomplish even more in February just by being in town and being healthy.

Resolution 1: Purge & Organize
For three out of the five Mondays I met my goal of having a volume of at least one trash cart (between my recycling and regular trash) out on the curb on garbage pick-up morning. The other two Mondays I was out of town that day so I'm giving myself a pass. Here's my breakdown:

- January 2: Nothing (In New Orleans)
- January 9: 3/4 full trash + 1/2 full recycle = 1-1/4 total
- January 16: Nothing (In Pasadena) 
- January 23: 3/4 full trash + overflowing recycle = almost 2 total
- January 30: Full trash + 1/4 full recycle = 1-1/4 total

I even managed to put things out on the ninth when I was only home for the weekend before leaving that Monday afternoon for Las Vegas. I actually barely made it on my flight because I ran home to pull the carts off the curb en route to the airport since I figured my neighbors wouldn't be too thrilled about them sitting out for over a week.

Overall on the weeks I was in town I exceeded my goal and I am happy with my progress. Among the items that I got rid of was a leaky air mattress (I have a guest room so I don't really need it anymore even if I did get around to fixing it), some broken luggage (did I really think I was going to try to patch the torn canvas?) and some scraps from my craft room that were really too small to be useful.

In addition to things that went out on the curb I also managed to go through a lot of my kitchen stuff and sort out items that were still usable but I don't need anymore and filled up a box for a garage sale I plan to have in the spring. On the organizing front I made some progress in getting a few kitchen cabinets in order.

Resolution 2: Finish Up Projects
I decided to start working on finishing up my master bathroom since it was almost done making it an easy first step. I am about a third of the way through what I wanted to accomplish. Here's my status:

- Paint the outside of the tub teal (it is currently a light creamy yellow): Prepared area, started stripping old paint
- Replace the cheap, temporary mirror with a medicine cabinet: Removed mirror, measured and marked out wall location
- Add shelving to the inside of the built-in cabinet: Wood purchased
- Jazz up the built-in with some color: Done! (Added wallpaper and painted)
- Make a wood vent cover to go over the ceiling fan (the plastic cover that came with the fan just doesn't fit in with the vintage look of the bathroom): Wood purchased
- Make a rug to go in front of the bathtub: Done!
- Add some wall art and do some paint touch-ups: Teal touch-ups done

As I got going I decided that I also want to add making a shower stool to my bathroom to-do list. So far I sketched up the design for that and bought the wood and paint for it. My plan is to have the bathroom finished and move on to some other projects in February.

So there's where I stand with my resolutions at the end of January. So far, so good and I hope to hit my stride this upcoming month. Does anyone else out there have any resolutions they are trying to keep? What are your goals for the year and how is it going? I'd love to hear what other people are doing to stay motivated!

Comments

[Ben]

Hey Lisa,
Keep the hard work on your master bathroom.

Excellent job there!

[Lisa]

Thank you, Ben! I am hoping to finish up in a week or two.