I planned to accomplish some things in 2013. Even though I haven’t been posting regularly, I thought I would review my 2013 goals to see how I did and if I felt the desire to start blogging again.
Here were my 2013 goals post.
1. I want to make sure to use up all of the leftovers. My kids are really good about eating leftovers, so that isn’t the problem. The problem is finishing up every little bit of many different items without anything getting bad or lost in the refrigerator.
2. I want to try some new recipes. I am going to try for 2 new recipes each month. I think food prices are going to go way up soon and I would like to have some cheap, filling meals that the kids like and will eat. I have found that as my boys are getting bigger, they eat a lot! They aren’t too into casseroles, but they have been really open to trying my food experiments lately. If I come up with some good recipes, I will post them on the blog for others to try.
3. I am going to try making more stuff from scratch. I want to try to cut my grocery bill. With 5 growing boys, it will be tough, but I think with smarter choices, it can be done. I want to make at least 2 things from scratch each week.
4. Learn how to can with a pressure canner. I am getting the canner for Christmas. I want to learn how to use it and fill up our basement shelving unit with the stuff that I have canned. I want to have 10 jars canned each month.
5. I want to keep track of some of the frugal things I am doing to help save time, money, or gasoline. I will try to update one time each week.
6. ETA: I also want to be able to run a 5k without stopping by the end of the year.
I want to challenge myself to use our resources wisely and not be lazy (which I have a tendency to do when I’m tired.) I will be using the older children to help me out and hopefully teach them some cooking, canning, and grocery strategies that will help them in the future.
Here is my interpretation of how I did.
1. Use up leftovers-so so. Sometimes I do really well, other times, not so much. I would say overall there wasn’t much change–FAIL
2. Try new recipes. I have done that. Everyone was really good about trying the new stuff. PASS
3. Cook from scratch. I always cook. With 7 children, eating out is expensive. I’m not sure about cutting my spending, but I have been shopping at Aldi and hardly shopping at Kroger at all except for stuff that Aldi doesn’t carry. PASS
4. Learn how to use a pressure canner. PASS
Fill 10 cans each month to fill the basement shelves with canned food. FAIL
5. Keep track of the frugal things and post 1x per week. FAIL
6. Run a 5k without stopping by the end of the year. PASS I ran a 5k without stopping and even though it was my first race since having a baby I was only off of my fastest time by 1 minute. I’ll take it!
It looks like I hit about half. This was my first time of putting them in ink so that I could go back and look at them. The good is that I can see what I did well with and what needs work. I now know that I have to look at my goals more frequently so that they are in my sights so that I can make every attempt to accomplish them.
The only goal that was really on my mind the second half of the year was to run the 5k without stopping. Since I was aware and remembered that I was trying to accomplish it, it happened. I need that to happen with my other goals.
Now I need to plan some goals for 2014 and I only have a day to think about it!
View From My Nest 