Autumn all along

March Recap + April Goals

growth

March always seems long to me because it is in the middle of busy season, and when it starts to get pretty outside, I really just want to do more with Devin.  That being said, Devin has been working until 2 AM for weeks.  I’m grateful for our weekends together, but it just kind of stinks sometimes.  I’ve been keeping busy though by getting bit by the spring cleaning bug.  I’ve really been organizing, cleaning, and purging a lot.  I still feel a little overwhelmed with the amount of things I have on my to-do list, but I’m proud of my accomplishments here.  I’ve loved seeing friends get bit by the purging bug too and having them send me photos of their piles- the best!  This is my March recap + April goals.

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HIGHS

We bought tickets to Ireland for $380 a person after tax.  This still completely and absolutely baffles me.  We’ve never had this much time to plan for a trip before and there are seriously so many dang options!!

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Below is our phone nook in our kitchen that began the crazy purging cycle for me.  I love the way it is decorated now!  This then funneled into my closet being very organized.  I talked about it in this post here and it sure is making picking out outfits I love a million times easier.  We got rid of 200 items from our closet which is both surprising and very satisfying.

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I also bought a Bissell steam mop/vacuum combo and have been going to town on our kitchen and bathroom tile.  I will say that I justified the price of buying this product because everyone said it did fine on their hardwoods.  I did a test strip in our hallway though and I will not be using this on my hardwoods.  Even though our hardwood floors are sealed, the texture felt very odd after I steamed it very quickly on a low setting and Devin noticed it immediately without me saying anything when he got home; I ended up waxing the hallway floor and it feels back to normal.  However, I hate mopping and this has helped me get a lot of very deep stains out of our 1960s bathroom tile so I will say win-win!

LOWS

Sometimes I get sad about how little I make at my job.  This month I really felt like I questioned a lot of what was doing.  I really had to write out some pros and cons this month while my job felt a little harder.  What I came down to every time?  I am contributing, I am making some money, I’m doing a great job at my job (you can always learn more with teaching though), and I have more flexibility than I probably would in any other career.  I wrote about my journey in becoming an ESL teacher, something I am very passionate about, but I had all of the feels this past month.

MY FAVORITES

  • I love this post by Franish on being an average-sized fashion blog.  I have loved her blog for a few years and with my recent closet reorganization, I’ve found myself following a lot more clothing blogs in our budget range.  I fully plan on replacing my items with nicer quality peices and blogs like this one help me come up with ideas!
  • I love this series by Kat about how to build the perfect capsule wardrobe.  I’m still on the fence if this is something I will do or not, but she really breaks everything down into easy to follow steps.  Plus, I think her graphics are very cute 🙂 .
  • Seeing a theme here with clothes and organization?  Well, here is another.  I love this post about decluttering your fantasy self.  Essentially, get rid of the things you think should define you in your home so that you can just keep the stuff you actually use.  I have a very limited amount of crafting supplies, but this post had me kind of scratching my head on how much of it I will keep.
  • I loved this post by Blair about the things her and her husband don’t do in order to save money.  I really related to it a lot because we are respectively 28 and 30, but we are just now entering a “non-student” type of lifestyle.  We knew I wanted to do grad school, that we didn’t want any debt, but we’ve sacrificed a lot for that and we haven’t had many extras.  Traveling has been our one vice, albeit, one we saved for and paid for in cash.

Now for goals 🙂 …

Reviewing goals from March:

  • Read 31 chapters of scripture, 10 church talks, and go to the temple 1 time
    I’m lowering this goal and working back up to it.
  • Purge every room in our house to simplify more
    I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff, but I still have a lot of room to go.
  • Exercise 15 times
    Nope, but I kept pretty busy with cleaning.
  • Read 3 books
    I read three awesome books here.

Goals for April

  • Spend 30 minutes doing something spiritual a day.
  • Spend 30 minutes doing something active a day.
  • Spend 30 minutes doing maintenance cleaning everyday.
  • Continue purging every room in our house to simplify more.
  • Read 3 books
  • Sell my grad school textbooks that I know I will not use again.

What were some high and lows for you in March?  What is a goal you have for April?

LINKUP + RULES


  1. Add your goal posts to the linkup: it could be your goals for the year, 101 in 1001 goals, monthly goals, or just a post that talks about a goal you have completed!
  2. Display the button on your blog or post (button + code is available on my sidebar)
  3. Comment on 3 other blog posts that are linked up!