it has been nagging at the back of my mind that i've been neglecting this thing, but at the same time, a one month hiatus is not actually that long. and it's been nice not being super proactive and thinking about it. every so often i'll throw stuff onto my desk because i need to swatch it, or take photos, or something. my desk got cluttered and everything got shoved into a sephora bag. with that, i'm not using stuff because it's sitting on my desk in a bag! which is bad. gradually throughout the month, i have been photographing items and swatches in anticipation for making posts, but just haven't been posting. thankfully today, i finally sat down and spent a few hours going through and editing photos, sprucing up some old posts (not that much really), taking more photos, and prepping myself for all of my end of year (and end of month) posts that i've missed. i also dumped the bag across my desk to make sure i get it done! i hate messy workspaces. it'll be a bit before i'm fully caught up with my usual posts, so please bear with me!
onto the reflections and goals.
2017 was pretty good. not as hectic as 2016, that's for sure. 2016, i was on my first client project for a technology i was not super familiar with. two years later, i'm more comfortable working with it, which is great both for me and the client. a good bit of 2017 was focused on the house. we finally have a house! homeowners! a lot of stress was on saving enough for the down payment. meaning, we couldn't do anything fun or exiting last year because we couldn't afford it. the great thing about the builder we chose was that when we chose this house, we only had to put down a deposit for the lot/style of house we wanted. that was it. no down payment til closing. that is great! so for the months of march through mid-october, we had given them less than $2000 between the reservation and going over the allowed amount of add-ons that could be rolled into our loan. then mid-end of october came along, and we pretty much put down the equivalent of my yearly salary. that is a lot. i can't tell you how much we've spent on other house-related things in the past three months. thankfully, i'm not the one in charge of the credit cards. hehehe. but it's been one thing after another with this house. i fully intend to have a 1 year house update in october or november. but it's been expense after expense, little trip to lowes or home depot here and there. a little bed bath and beyond there. get a security system. pay home owner's association fees. fence request to the HOA. hire fence people. badger the poor builder man that my cabinet wasn't replaced when they said it was supposed to be done. apply for permits to even have a security system that the security people waited 3 weeks after installation to tell us that said permits were required by the parish (that's a county for you non-Louisianians).
enough life stuff. as for the blog, i think i did fairly well, keeping up with when things have come in to post about them. which is good. i'm not sure i can say i will be able to keep up the same consistency for 2018, but we'll have to see. i have been posting to instagram pretty irregularly recently. like i've gotten all kinds of planner stickers recently, but haven't felt the need to make like a bulk photo post of it. kind of because it feels like it's becoming too late to do so, yet at the same time, i will be posting about it on the blog, so it's whatever. i'm still taking photos as i get them, but yeah...
i'm never really good about making new year's resolutions, so i primarily just make some general blog goals. it's kind of fun seeing if i actually kept them up or not, especially since i can easily search the blog and find the original post again. anyway, that's beside the point. this year i have a few things i'd like to do that i've had in mind the past several weeks. i'd also like to note that all resolutions related posts or videos i've seen lately include at least some of these, which is helping reinforce the idea that i should actually do them.
- be a more informed consumer. you don't need that new thing that no one's talked about from an unknown brand. just wait for someone (that you follow online) to say something about it.
- you don't need every color of that thing either. just get the one(s) that you foresee yourself actively using.
- with this, saving money will be easier. (or will it, because planner stickers are so stinkin cute?!)
- save money, stay within budget. i've had a lot of trouble with this one since ever, really. last year's penny challenge, lol that was a joke. and guess what i'm doing this year, the 52 week challenge. please help me now! granted, my budget this year is higher than before, so i theoretically should be able to do this. right now, the plan is to gradually save the amount i intended to save for the penny challenge plus the amount for this year's 52 week challenge. december will definitely be difficult! the ways i'm currently trying to alleviate are to save what i need for the 52 week challenge, spend under budget, and save any remaining.
- actively go through your makeup stash. things expire, why would you let it sit unused?
- start an actual rotation of products. don't think about doing it, do it! for things like mascara and liquid liners, try to keep only 1 or two in use at a time.
- if you're not reaching for certain products regularly, get rid of them. return them (if possible) or pass them along. there's no sense in keeping them if someone else can use them before they go bad.
- that thing that you have, why keep it if you don't like it?!
- get rid of that sample stash! i have a huge stash of sample hair products and travel sized things. this one will be a slightly harder goal to achieve, as i am not ready to quit my ipsy or sephora subscriptions, but i definitely want to get rid of my shampoo/conditioner, leave-in's, body wash and lotion stash.
- if you actually want to try all the things!, then alternate them in with your regularly used items. if you don't like them, it's only one day "lost". get over it.
- finish those unfinished posts! that video you promised from the 2016 cruise you went on? yeah, where is it? part one was like 2 days of the trip, that was it. that's not everything!! that nume curling wand post that you've pushed off for 4 YEARS now? publish it, get it out of the way! (note: it is scheduled to be published soon. prior to me working on this post.)
i hope you all had a happy new year and have a great 2018! ~Lindsay
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