2017- Is going to be my year.

In light of all the tragedies last year, I have decided to make this year count as life really is too short. Here are my plans for this year:

Sort out my bedrooms

We live in a three bedroom house and one room is supposed to be a study where I can sit and do my blog, take pictures, do my nails and colouring. However this has not been the case since we moved in. At the moment it is an extension of my cupboard, whenever I have someone coming round I dump everything in there and never go back and put it away. This year I really want to schedule in a few hours every week to focus on writing my blog and taking pictures. I plan to put motivational quotes on the wall to help me along when I am struggling.

Although I haven’t focused on it a lot recently, I am still obsessed with nail polish. For Christmas I got a gel lamp from my boyfriend along with some other nail stuff. I have tried the lamp a couple of times and not yet perfected it, but plan to do a blog post soon. At the moment I do my nails on my bedside table, which is not very easy. Once I have sorted out my study I can do them properly and take pictures along the way.

I also need to sort of my other spare room where the majority of our clothes are. Due to lack of budget when we moved in we just brought double clothes rails to hang all our clothes on. Some items have sat on the rails for over a year and have not been worn once. I read somewhere you should turn all your clothes hangers the wrong way round and after six months depending obviously on the weather if it hasn’t been worn you should get rid of it. I think this is a great idea and something I am going to try, I have loads of items that I keep saying oh I will wear that next time and never do. I also have items I am holding on to in the hope that I will fit back into them, I do plan to lose weight (more on that later) however my boyfriend made a good point by saying wouldn’t it be better to buy a new wardrobe once I lose the weight which I think it a great idea. So watch this space I may do a little photo shoot of all the new items of clothing I get.

Get Fit

Although I do want to lose weight, my main goal is actually to get fitter. At present, I park my car in a multi-storey car park on level 7 most days and by the time I get to my car I am winded. Before I went to Florida I was going to the gym 2-3 times a week and walking up those stairs was no problem. Due to finances and Christmas I cancelled my membership so I could pay for other things. Instead, I am now going to classes where you pay as you go, so if there is a week I can’t afford to go I just don’t. I have also started up a group on WhatsApp with my friends who all said they wanted to go swimming, I thought if there was a group of us it would be more motivation and we would always hopefully have someone to go with. So far I have been to Zumba, which I really enjoyed. They do an offer where you can get one class free if you pay for five but you don’t have to go every week. I plan to pay for this once I get paid and then use my 5 passes whenever I feel like going. We also have a new class in Peterborough called Clubbathon where do aerobic exercise in the dark with glow-sticks which I intend to try shortly. My aim is to get fit enough to do a 5k run and then train to do a half-marathon for charity. As well as doing my exercise I do plan to improve my diet so that I am fueling my body so that I can get fitter.

Stay Positive

Now from this blog, you would probably assume that I am a positive person all the time, who loves going out however this is not true. I am a 5-star worrier and a bit of a drama queen. I have a horrible habit of thinking the worse and getting myself in a state. This year my aim is to slow down, stay calm and try to find solutions to my problems. No one can be positive all the time but it’s how you manage the hard times and before this has been my downfall. I also plan to buy a gratitude diary of Amazon (waiting till pay-day) where I write 3 things every day that I am thankful for. Sometimes you need to remind yourself of the good things and you should keep on going. I also find adult colouring books very relaxing as they allow me to switch off from the real world and my hardest decision is which colour to choose, once my study is sorted it will allow me to escape and relax whenever I feel stressed. Where possible I plan to put the completed colouring’s on my walls to make my study more personalised.

Save money

Now this is something I have been meaning to do every year and I just haven’t ever really tried that hard. I don’t earn a huge amount but I earn enough that I should be able to put a small amount away every month. If you have read my other blog posts you will know that I recently went to Florida and I hope to go back again in 2018. To be able to do this I need to start saving now, so that I can buy the things I want as well as the extra suitcase to bring them home in. I am a big Disney fan and there are some items that I wish I had bought but didn’t due to money.

To save money for our last holiday we started shopping at Aldi, which we are still doing. However, we have been known to have at least one take-away a week when neither myself or boyfriend can be bothered to cook. However, before Christmas we bought a second-hand freezer, so my plan is to do some batch cooking and put them in the freezer ready for days when nothing for dinner has been planned. My favourite dish to batch cook is curry as all I need to do is cook the rice which only takes 20 mins, however in the past if I have had rice and curry leftover I have just frozen them together in the same container.

As I have mentioned I am obsessed with nail polish and I am always on the hunt for new colours and effects. However my goal this year is not to buy anything new unless it has run out for example top/base coat and appreciate what I have. I am pretty sure I have colours and kits that I have never touched. I may even do some video tutorials, watch this space.

I got a lot of toiletries for Christmas in particular the Soap and Glory case which contained I believe 10 full-size products. So like nail polish I plan not to buy anything unless it has run out. I recently did a clear out to make space in preparation for the stuff I knew I was getting for Christmas ( I actually picked up the Soap and Glory Case myself and then got the money back from my boyfriend) and was surprised at how much stuff had gone out of date. Some stuff I wasn’t sure how long I had it so decided it was best to bin it ( if you didn’t know on most cosmetics/ toiletries there is a little tub on the back that will say for example 12m which means you can use it for 12 months once opened).

Well guys those are my plans for 2017, what are your plans? Please let me know in the comments.