Mid-Year Goal Checkup

We get checkups for our bodies, our teeth, even our cars. But what about... Our goals?  

You didn't think I'd forgotten about those goals we set back in January, did you?! (Actually, I did. Luckily Kiki was there to remind me). So today, we are going to go back and look at the 6-month checkpoints that we set for ourselves!

Ready?! Okay…

My 6-Month Checkpoints:

1. Post to Organized Charm regularly

2. Be more disciplined in my "priority time”

3. Find a new job

4. Register for my final semester of grad school

5. Live in a loft/studio in the city

6. Set aside a designated amount of money each month

7. Let go of my perfectionism (a little)

8. Work out routinely

Now let's see where I've accomplished/fallen short of my checkpoints. 

1. If we don't count the summer hiatus, then I'm doing pretty good about posting regularly (this will be my 3rd post in the past 2 weeks! Yay!).

2. YES! I can gladly and proudly say that I have surpassed my own expectations in this goal! Not only am I reading my Bible and praying consistently at the beginning of every morning but I am actually *confident*  about the future and *at peace* with myself and my life. This is an awesome goal that I'm glad I set!

3. Here's another one that I've accomplished! After a TON of hard work, I found a new job (3 miles away from our new home!) that I start Wednesday!

4. Failed. There is one class (with 2 sections) standing between me and graduation and both sections were filled up by the time I went to register. I am hoping that something works out in this area, but if not, I'll just graduate in the spring instead.

5. Accomplished!

6. Accomplished. Sort of. I have been doing this but I could be more consistent. Financial responsibility will go on my list of things to focus on.

7. Check. Being more disciplined in my priority time and writing regularly have given me a much better outlook on life!

8. Check. Whereas, health has always taken a backseat to productivity for me... I have finally learned to make it a priority.

So, I'm giving myself credit for the goals I've accomplished and I'm making a list if those that I still need to do! 

Out of the things I still need to do to be where I want to be in life right now, I will choose the most important and spend the next month mainly focusing on that! 

Now, do you have your list? Good! You can see how far you've come and which areas you need to improve (hint: there will *always* be something)!

{ by the way, if you’re a new reader and you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here! :) }

Keep going! Love yourself and believe that you can make the changes! 

Go, You! :)

In which areas of your life did you meet your checkpoints? What could you still improve?! 

{Shared on A Life in Balance}

8 Things to Organize in August

Happy beginning of the weekend (and new month)! I hope that y’all’s summers have been filled with celebrations and sangria and socializing and sunshine and swimming! Because summer can be such a fun and laid-back season, it’s easy for it to become a little cluttered and disorganized. And I hate to say it but it’s almost time to get back into the “real world” of boring textbooks, morning classes, and full schedules. 

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the forthcoming first day of school, take some time this weekend to get your life in order. When I feel organized, I feel prepared for whatever comes my way! Fall semester? A new job? Bring it on, Fall.

Bring. It. On.

31  Item  Purge

FlyLady always says “You can’t organize clutter” and she’s exactly right! So, before we go on an organizing binge, we just need to get rid of some stuff. Since there were 31 days in July, that meant there were 31 windows of opportunity for useless clutter to find its way into our homes, cars, purses, and phones. 

Spend some time today getting rid of 31 things that you don’t need, want, or use anymore. I did this about an hour ago and I will tell you that my makeup bag probably contributed to half of my 31 items! And so did my bathroom cabinets. Empty shampoo bottles? Seriously? How does that even happen?

And do iPhone apps (and ex-boyfriends' phone numbers) count? Absolutely! 

We are getting rid of a n y t h i n g that is unneeded!

8  Things  to  Organize  in  August

Once you’ve cleared the 31 excess items, look around and see what could be better organized to make your life run more smoothly for the fall! It could be a medicine cabinet, an e-mail account, your closet. Anything. Make a list of 8 (somewhat small) organization projects and commit to having them complete by the end of the month!

2 a week, maybe? 

Here  is  my  list: 

Car (console, floorboard, backseat)

Laundry Closet (home for everything)

Purses (inside + better way to store them)

Fridge (adjust shelves + practical storage system)

Trunk of car (donate, sell, store, or toss everything)

Bathroom Cabinet (holy goodness! it’s a mess in there!)

 “School Supply” Cabinet (file papers, toss unneeded items)

Shoes (get rid of shoes unworn this season + better storage system)

(Please tell me I’m not the only one who has to put “car” on my list every single month!)

What’s  on  your  list  for  August?

Do you feel prepared for the upcoming semester or are you starting to get a little overwhelmed?

Summer Vignettes

Y’all. This summer, seriously. It’s been one of the best/craziest/most roller-coaster-y seasons of my entire life. I have learned a lot (and I mean A LOT) of things and had to deal with some stuff that I’ve never dealt with before (aka, free time. eek!). I was basically forced to just slow down and enjoy the summer for what it is: “a place where laziness finds respectability” {-Sam Keen}. 

So, is there good news? Absolutely! All of my free time gave me a TON of time to work on some organization projects, research some new topics, and have some new experiences and I am so, SO excited to share those with y’all in the upcoming weeks! Oh, and more good news? I am planning on posting more consistently and frequently this school year! Which seems perfect because I have received an amazing amount of comments/e-mails from many of you saying that this will be your first year of college! I think that sounds like it’s working out perfectly, right?!

So, if you’re wondering what my calendar-less, full-time-job-less, summer-semester-less June & July looked like, here they are! The good, the better, and the unplanned!

On Organized Charm…

So, OC took a little summer hiatus along with me. Having no structure to my days meant having a challenging time doing things like writing and doing laundry and keeping my sanity on a regular basis. However, I did manage to get a few posts together! And here they are:

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Aaaaand… Bloglovin’ sends me an e-mail every time that we reach a hundred-mark number of followers. On July 1, it sent me this e-mail, which I immediately squealed about and screen-shotted so that I could share it with y’all in July's Vignettes post! But guess what? 18 days later, it sent me another e-mail saying that there are now 400 of you awesomely amazing followers! So I just want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Because I love you. And that is all. 

In My “Real Life”…

This summer has been all about sitting back, relaxing, enjoying free time. And what I realized about myself is that I am not a “free time” type of girl. I’m just not. My summers usually consist of me taking an intense and abbreviated summer course, working in my school’s summer camp, and teaching Sunday School. This year, I didn’t do any of those things and it nearly killed me I didn’t die. 

I just like to be busy, okay? 

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Because going 2 months without working at all would be the most brutal thing I could imagine, I did work part-time in a brand new restaurant here in Memphis, Strano! I initially applied because we are friends with the manager… but now I can honestly say that I am friends with everyone who works there because they are all 100% amazing people!  

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I spent a LOT of time trying to get our new home in order. In our old house, we had a home for everything, a system for everything, and everything served a purpose. So, I spent the summer really trying to recreate that as quickly as possible in our loft. My poor husband came home almost e

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Our 4th of July was absolutely perfect. We walked across the street and watched the downtown fireworks from our friends’ rooftop. And any night filled with champagne and sparklers is a definite success as far as I’m concerned! 

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If there were one thing in this summer of leisure to have an anxiety attack over (aside from the leisure itself, of course), it would be the Certification Exam that I took last Thursday. This is a brand new exam. So new, in fact, that there is NO STUDY GUIDE! Queue every form of panic attack possible. I just scoured my textbook, made flash cards, and reviewed the information the best that I could. I get my results back on August 10th, so that may or may not be a good day for those around me. 

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Aside from those things, we really just spent the summer enjoying everything that there is to enjoy in Memphis! Weddings, rooftop parties, brunches, dinners, happy hours, movies, fireworks, parks… you know, all the things that other adults are out doing while I’m usually studying. So, it’s been very nice and I am super, super grateful that I had this time to slow down and just enjoy life! :) 

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Most of all I learned that, no matter how much time you spend planning or how prepared you try to be, sometimes you just need to step back and believe that everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. Because it will. 

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Oh, and I am just so thrilled to announce that I’M BACK! :)

How was your summer? Did you have any big/tough transitions to get through? 

If so, how did you handle it and what are you looking forward to this fall?!