How will you improve your life in 2020?

[wondering7777]

With a new year almost upon us, how do you plan to make positive improvements to your life in 2020?

My goals are:

1. Get out of debt: DH and I are about £4.5K in debt and I’m hoping that 2020 will be the year we finally manage to clear this. I’m not sure whether it’s achievable but I really hope we do it. It will give us a significantly better lifestyle if we can and will be a huge weight off my shoulders.

2. Keep my home “visitor ready” at all times: I’m so sick of people asking to pop round and having to spend an age desperately cleaning and tidying in order to make it presentable. I’ve been on an organising and cleaning mission in the run-up to Christmas, and the main rooms are looking decent for the first time in ages. I need to make sure it stays that way all year.

3. Tick off all the annoying tasks on my to do list: including selling or giving away old stuff I never use, and sorting some tricky DIY jobs around the house that have been hanging round for ages.

4. Be more productive at work: I’ve been feeling really lethargic and demotivated over the last couple of months and it has been affecting my work. I really need to change this attitude and make sure I stay on top of things in the new year.

What are yours?

1. Make a decent attempt at losing the extra stone of baby weight I have. (She's 8 months now :-@)

1. Organise house/storage better so that house is more visitor ready than the usual shit tip.

1. Play more spontaneously with the DC.

1. Try and stop wallowing and blaming myself for things I cant change

1. Decorate and fix all odd jobs

• no spend month(s). I did really well this year.
• be organised
• Tomm
• alcohol free January
• an hour a day max on social media

Oh and I’m going to sort out a draw/cupboard a week!
We have lots of storage but it’s so full of crap. Some drawers haven’t been opened for years so I don’t need what’s in there!

@festivefrustration

I really don't have the money and have got into a really bad cycle of not eating much and buying sparse groceries and then buying takeaway as a treat or to cheer myself up. I don't even think my kids like it anymore. I hate cooking and washing up it just seems endless, just constantly making snacks and meals and drinks, but it's not that much less work to order takeaway than to make a quick pasta or freezer meal and it would make a big difference to my health and budget. It's such an easy habit to get into to go do the school run/activities/big food shop or spend time with friends/family and then get to the evening and just order a takeaway because it's easy and there's a deal on, but when I look at it over a month or a year those mid-week pizza deals, Friday nights walk past the fish and chip shop might as wells, the pay day Chineses and the late night KFC cravings all really do add up. I intend to put half towards paying debts and half towards clothes/my appearance. I used to have about 2-3 Takeaways a year but the past few months it's been more like 2-3 times a week which is just horrendous. We don't have anything healthy either so that's all grease Laden kebab, burger, fried chicken, pizza, fish chips and battered sausages, chinese, icecream and fizzy drink type takeaway food

We're looking to get out of renting an buy a place in the first quarter of next year.
Continue conquering my spider fear...as soon as we're out of rental accommodation with a no pet policy, we intend to buy four starter tarantulas and a jumping spider. Perfect pets for full time work and I'm so happy to have gone from fearing regular house spiders to being fascinated by the big leggy guys.
Continue cycling and get fit again/lose a bit of weight. My sedentary desk job is catching up with my aging metabolism and I took up cycling again a few weeks ago and I'm loving it.

I'm going to do one nice thing a month just for me. I've already booked an Agnes Obel concert for March and a Stone Rose's one for summer.
I'm also going to stop dressing like a middle aged respectable mum and start wearing band T shirts and a leather jacket.
"White Stuff" can Fuck right off.
I am going to continue my new found habit of swearing.
I might even get another motorbike having had to sell my last one when the DC were small.
Ive spent too long focussing on my DC and DH and not enough on me, have been losing sight of who I am these last few years.
Bring it on.

I'm sorting out our house this year. It needs a total overhaul. Bought the Kondo book, arriving tomorrow, so I am on a big declutter mission, then doing one DIY job a week all year, and having various jobs done so that it looks loved again. It was sliding towards student rental house state!

@Serin - I'm in awe!

@Ambrose2 - you could look up online and find a stack of really easy healthy family dinners.

Might sound dull but if you meal plan for the week it can help. You can buy a ready cooked chicken and have it with sweet potato fries and peas one night, then turn the rest of the meat into a risotto or paella or biryani the next night.

Pasta with a good ready made sauce and some veggie sticks of carrot, cucumber and pepper is a good one.

If the kids like it, humous and falafel in pita bread takes 2 mins in the microwave, then just add soem iceberg lettuce and sweet chilli sauce.

No harm in beans on toast or omlette/egg on toast soem nights if they;ve had school dinners. You could give them a home made banana milkshake with it and that's very healthy.

I hate washing up so most of the meals I cook are based around using only one pan!

@milliefiori

Thanks. I have done it all before though and know my way around the kitchen, I've just been struggling recently to motivate myself. It doesn't help that my kids basically won't eat anything or any of the same things as each other. If I cook things they supposedly like it's boring and same-y and half the time doesn't get eaten anyway (and means I have to cook different things for them sometimes too), whereas if I cook things that are more interesting and just present them with a meal it turns into a battle even when I don't want it to. It's just really switched me off from cooking a lot. I think that needs to be another thing for 2020 though? To try and find the joy I used to in day to day things. I used to really enjoy my daily routine but don't really have anything resembling a routine now, it's all kind of fallen into chaos. Some people are happy living that way, just muddling through, but I feel kind of lost and overwhelmed without proper structure and routine.

Thank you for the thread OP, some interesting ideas here!

My aims are:

1. Manage my money more carefully. I'm a SAHM but want to start earning some ££ from home, there's some really helpful advice on MN and I'm planning to make the most of what I have by budgeting, and add funds by work/ paid surveys/ anything else I can find.

2. Like you, keep the house in a decent state as much as I can not very easy with two small DC around but I will try!

3. Sort out my health; I have around 3st to lose and a food intolerance to diagnose. I'd really like to visit a dietitian for more advice and/ or have blood tests as a baseline for what I need to work on, but can't afford either at the moment.

4. The pesky 'to do' list still needs to be worked through..... boring jobs like sorting out wills and pensions

5. Keep in touch better with my friends and family, even if it's only by email/ card.

@Serin I would love to look more interesting than a middle aged respectable mum but mainly I just wear whatever fits at the moment as I am not acknowledging my weight gain!! Hopefully I can follow your example once I am less wobbly!

Could you get DC to help meal plan - to take it in turns to choose what to eat, or to help batch cook some tomato, peppers,onions and mince at the weekend, to be the basis for spag bol or chilli or fajitas or lasagne?

If it helps, mine went through such a fussy phase, they ende dup eating tinned spaghetti with grated cheese and peas night after night because they rejected anything I cooked. It made me hate cooking and I stopped being at all inventive with it for years. They are much better now, but I totally get that it has become a chore. I found weekly planning helped a lot. The worst thing is feeling tired and having to decide what to cook. When I did menu planning I always assumed there'e be at least four nights a week when I'd feel knackered and grumpy so it had to be food that was ready in a few minutes. I saved time-consuming cooking for weekends.

That last post was to @Ambrose2

I'm so excited for 2020. Single mum to 5 and got some serious changes happening.

Getting sterilised.

Looking to go back to work part time.

Starting therapy sessions at the beginning of the year.

Look after myself and my appearance. Have seriously let myself go this year.

Finally putting myself first and getting my life on track 👍🏼

Lose half a stone. Spend less. Continue to be fabulous

@milliefiori

My kids are really not very interested in food at all. I can't remember the last time they got excited by eating anything. Maybe last time I took them for a happy meal, but that was about the toy. Even the foods they say they like they don't eat. It's so disheartening.

1. Sort out debt : stick to a monthly budget

2. Diet & exercise : cut down on sugar and join a group pt session that friends of mine are doing. Take up walking and progress to running which will help my mental health.

3. Distance myself from my loser ex & men in general, concentrate on myself first

4. Find a new job

5. Hopefully if I can work on those 4 points, I can wean myself off the antidepressants I'm taking due to point 2,3 & 4!

To be tidier. I’m not back in work until 2nd Jan so have decided to have a mass clean out on Monday. I feel less stressed if I come home to a clean and tidy house.

To prioritise my health. I’m 40, getting a bit chubby and not fit. I’m going to commit to two fixed nights at the gym and arrange childcare with DP (he plays football while I look after DD so it’s only fair that it’s reciprocated).

I think the above two things will contribute positively to how I feel.

Oh, and drink fresh ginger tea daily. Hoping it will help me feel less bloated.

Lots of good ideas here, good luck everyone!

1. More self care, I'm always last in the list.

1. Sort out my skin, when I stopped BF my skin flared up with huge spots along my jawline/chin which have scarred.

1. More exercise, I'm feeling flabby and unhealthy. I miss running and want to be able to run 10K.

1. Major declutter, we have way too much stuff and struggling to keep the housework under control which I have realised massively affects my mental health.

1. More quality family time.

1. Focus on my career, a lot changed when I was on mat leave esp in my team and I need to prove my worth to my new boss.

One more, spend more time with friends!

Keep up vegan diet and yoga.

Travel.

Maybe move to Cornwall.

1. Dry January and keep moderating / drinking mindfully
2. Lose weight (the above will help)
3. Sell our house, buy somewhere smaller
4. Get a dog
5. Keep going with self care, i.e. mindfulness, counselling
6. Only spend time with people who make me feel happy
7. Consider what to do work wise, try doing something different

Ruby slippers, there is a lovely website called nicsnutrition.com run by a lady who is a registered dietician. Lots of inspirational posts that may be of interest to you in the meantime.

I have decided to give up takeaway food and also crisps. I would like to reduce alcohol intake too. And get my juicer out.

Having things to look forward to is important. I’d like to do more theatre, walks and National Trust visits. They set you up for the week.

Look out for a new job
Have some coaching
Pay off my overdrafts
Increase pension and mortgage payments....boring
Start savings
Lose another stone (lost one and a half last year)
Earlier nights
Keep to healthy eating 90% of the time (about 60% this year)
Walk more, cycle more, gym classes more
Physio for an old injury
Take a couple of holidays
Have a massage every month
Do more yoga/pilates
Maybe do some more professional training
Declutter
See family more
Date (meet love of life and start building a future together)