Happy new year!
Image from geralt on Pixaby |
The
end of 2016 and the start of 2017 has had me thinking about things I'd
like to change about my life over the next twelve months. Not exactly
resolutions, but some things I'd like to try and do to make life a
little better or simpler. Some of them are things I'm hoping to develop into habits that
will be here to stay. So here goes, 12 things I'd like to try this
year.
1. Be proactive, not reactive
I
spend a lot of time joining in KALs and swaps and other knitting
bandwagons, but actually they stress me out. I have written myself a plan of
what I would like to knit and design over the next few months, and will
try my hardest to stick to it. The same goes for impulse casting-on of
projects, they make up the vast majority of projects that languish
unfinished.
2. Always check my stash
The
stash is starting to take over the house; if I open a cupboard in any
room other than the kitchen (and the bathroom, I'm pretty sure there's
no yarn in there!), there is a strong chance the cupboard will contain
some yarn. So for this year, I'm hoping to establish the habit of
checking whether there's anything in my stash that would do, before starting
a project, rather than buying new yarn, then remembering when I get it
home that I already had some of whatever I bought.
3. Keep my stash in check
A
continuation of point 2, from today I am not going to buy extra yarn to
make up free postage - I never knit those balls. Instead I'm only going
to buy one project's worth of yarn at a time, and only for the project I
want to cast on. And when I've finished a project, I'm going to look
closely at the leftovers and decide whether to keep them or pass them
on. I don't often use leftovers, so there's not much point in giving
them house space.
4. There will always be more sock yarn
The
sock yarn box is especially full, so no more sock yarn purchases: no
sock yarn that is on sale, waved at me from Facebook, Etsy or Instagram, or
comes in a mystery box. When I next want to cast on a pair of socks
there will be plenty of sock yarn in my stash, and if none of that takes
my fancy, I can always buy a single skein.
5. Make a list and check it twice
I
used to be quite an organised person, but the stresses of two children
seem to have made me rather scatty. This year I am going to write lists
for everything: finances, children's events, meal plans, the ins and
outs of my stash. There is some hope I might start to get my life back
in order!
6. 15 minutes of reading a day
The
year I had my son I read well over 50 books, including the Booker Prize
shortlist (let's pretend it wasn't the year that the shortlist was criticised as having been dumbed down). And since then I've not read
much at all! So I'm going to try and go to bed a few minutes earlier
every day and get a bit more reading done. I've already got a page ready
in my notebook to fill with the titles of the books I've read.
7. Plan ahead for making gifts
The
run up to Christmas in 2016 was a little stressful as I had a backlog
of gifts I wanted to make for people, but totally ran out of time. So
this year I'm going to start gifts well ahead of time and store them to
give away later, making sure I keep a note of who I've made gifts for so
I don't end up making gifts twice or two gifts for one person (it has
happened...).
8. Back up the computer more often
Because
I don't do it often enough, I'm going to add backing up the computer to
the calendar and make sure it gets done, at least once a month.
9. Keep up to date with photo editing
I
am so far behind with editing my family photos (I think I was last on
top of it the week before my daughter was born, over two years ago) that
it feels like an impossible task, but actually a couple of hours a week
is all it will take for the backlog to stop getting bigger, and that is
doable. So one evening a week will be dedicated to editing photos, and
by the end of the year it'll be really easy to print photo books for
Christmas!
10. Carry water and snacks in my bag
Every time we go out one of the kids will say they need a drink or something to eat, and it's always best to be prepared!
12. Find a job
The
final one is a big one, but one that only needs ticking off once! Since
I finished my PhD I've been muddling through with bits and bobs here
and there, but I've finally decided that what I want is a nice reliable
job to make the money to pay to do the things that make me happy.
What are your plans for 2017?
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