2014 Goals and Resolutions

Coast Tulia Dress, tights, heels
As I’ve said before, New Years resolutions aren’t really a thing I do. Back in the Millennium, I forced the family into writing a list of resolutions – this included uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents as well as parents and sister. I wish I could remember everyone else’s (I’ll have to find that list again!), but I remember mine: ‘Jump 5 bricks high on Bertie’. A bit perplexing if you don’t know that Bertie was my horse then (I was 10 at this time by the way to put things in perspective), and I clearly had ‘big’ goals. I’m pretty sure I didn’t complete that resolution, most likely because Bertie was the most stubborn horse you’d ever meet and the fastest he ever went was a very very gentle gallop before he promptly stopped and dropped me into the mud. So yeh, not too great with past resolutions! But anyway, this year I’ve decided to set out some sort-of-‘goals’ for the upcoming months. They’re not particularly specific, and I’m dividing them into sort-of-categories (are you getting a theme here?!), so here we go! (I’m sticking in a ‘Read More’ thingy after the first one because I feel like I may ramble and fill up all the first page of my blog with something you may not want to read – this is more for myself really! And the pictures are also just there to fill the wordy space #sorrynotsorry)
Jumper, floral dress, cut out boots

Finance-wise (the boring stuff)

Ben and I had sort of (there we go again, why can’t I just decide on something?!) agreed on a specific amount of money we wanted to save this year. Now that we’re both working full time in jobs we love, and I have my extra on the side blogging, freelance writing etc., we need to actually be making some saving goals rather than just occasionally realising we have a bit extra to chuck in the savings account. We’re currently living in a rented house and at some point in the future (hopefully this year), will be looking to buy a house. We’ve both been extremely fortunate in having very clever and gracious families – Ben in that his mum works in banking; mine because they’ve had measures put in place for me since I was born – that we’ll hopefully be in the right place to put down a deposit on a house when we need to. Despite that, I’ve always had it instilled into me that it’s important to stand on your own two feet, so now my own savings are building slowly up.

Health-wise (the other boring stuff)

You probably haven’t realised this (HA!), but I tend to get ill a lot. If you ask me on any given day what’s wrong with me, I can be sure to give you a list (today it’s the burn on my hand from last week that’s sore and the fact that I didn’t sleep well last night…told you so!). Just in the few years I’ve had this blog, I’ve had two operations for completely separate things: gallbladder and (regular) bladder. And just months before I started the blog I had a tonsillectomy. I can list you many things ending in -itis that I suffer from or have suffered from in the past (okay, since you asked: tonsillitis, costochondritis, mesenteric adenitis [which turned out to be gallbladder – cholecystitis], cystitis….). Anywaaaay, over the last few years, most of these problems have been remedied, the last being just last week! Soooo, I’m going to make an attempt for this to be a year of good health. Okay, so it’s kind of out of my hands what my body decides to do, but I’m going to do my best to keep it going healthily, be it by eating (this is not going well so far…too much Christmas chocolate) or exercising (not tooo bad – I have exercised twice this year, wooo!). Since all my ‘long term’ problems (tonsillitis had been occurring since I was like 6 until 18; gallbladder from 15 to 21; cystitis from 17 to 23) are now fixed (yay!), there shouldn’t really be any problems.
IMG_6813
(before gallbladder op – looking pretty unhealthy!)
Glamorous elbow patch jumper, Topshop jeans, black flats
(after regaining my health post gallbladder op and leaving teaching last year)

Material-wise (the more exciting stuff)

Another thing you may not have noticed about me (HA AGAIN!) is that I buy/own a lot of stuff (yes, parents, I do know!). I have actually got a bit better recently with buying – it helps that I no longer live in a city and walk past Primark on a daily basis. But that’s where the problem lies: places like Primark. Currently there are no Primarks within a 40 mile radius of me, so that’s good. But I do have ASOS Premier, and that’s not good. I tend to buy a lot of things of ASOS ‘just because’, meaning that I have a lot of not-so-great-but-kind-of-okay items of clothing from there because they can arrive the next day with free delivery. I also get quite a lot of things sent for the blog for me to wear/review in outfit posts. In the past I was guilty of accepting anything and everything, meaning I ended up with some really cheap pieces that I didn’t even really like that much, again ‘just because’.
So, this year my aim is to wear more classic pieces (taking inspiration mostly from Amber, just because I want to wear every single one of her outfits), so I’ll really only be accepting pieces for my blog that I really want/love/need. I’ll be trying to buy less cheap/trendy pieces and focus more on longer lasting things, and in particular I want to look at independent designers (particularly British ones), so feel free to recommend places to me. Obviously I’m not going to be giving up shopping on ASOS and other places altogether, in fact I still have more than £100 worth of New Look vouchers to spend, so I need to sort that out, but I’ll probably try to focus more on the good quality things, not ‘How many things can I get here for the cheapest possible price’ which is my usual method of spending my monies.
And of course, I’m going to have to get rid of more stuff (again!). I still have several bags of clothes that have parted ways with my wardrobe but have yet to make it to the realms of eBay (although people on there make me so angry!!). But I think the wardrobe may need, ahem, another clear out (wish me luck!). I’m already having a bit of a purge on bras since I own, well, about six thousand (maybe a slight exaggeration but unfortunately the number is probably now close to 40 after my Deco 365 win :/), so those are listed here if anyone’s interested!
Snood, leather jacket, vintage midi dress, heelsSo in summary, here are my ‘goals’ plus a couple of extra little things:
  • Save some money
  • Be healthy!
  • Buy less cheap not-worth-it stuff and focus on more classic pieces I really love
  • Focus my style more on things I love and a more exact style (more vintagey/retro?)
  • Work on my posture (because I’m a Slouchy McSlouch Pants – especially at work when I’m sat at my desk). Hopefully this will help with my one remaining health issue, costochondritis (although it isn’t too bad usually!).
  • Practice sewing on my (teeny tiny) sewing machine and try to make an article of clothing!
  • Finally, keep on blogging and put more effort into it again. It’s got a bit more difficult over the last year or so to blog properly because of work etc. but I need to keep going.  One of my oldest friends Katy has also just started a blog at Bread and Beauty x, and seeing the initial enthusiasm for having a blog again has reminded me that I need to do it because I love it, not because I have to.

3 Comments

  1. January 16, 2014 / 7:33 pm

    Good luck with those goals lovely xo

  2. January 16, 2014 / 7:38 pm

    Its me!
    Ahh poor old Bertie, I remember him well. And of course the illnesses… sorry we never believed you!
    If you want to trade some NL vouchers for cash, then I’m game, I’m always in there so its no hardship for me.
    Its funny to me that my blog has made you want to get back into it more, because I’m only into it at all because of YOU!
    Thanks for the link 😊 come say hi everyone!
    Katy
    Bread and Beauty X

  3. January 16, 2014 / 8:04 pm

    Awww, I was so surprised and flattered when I got to your link – thank you so much!

    I’m so glad to hear you’re feeling better health-wise, and I totally relate your shopping goals: my ASOS premier subscription just ran out, and so far I’ve resisted renewing it, because you’re right, it’s just SO tempting to hit that “buy now” button knowing that you’ll have something shiny and new arriving the next day! (I don’t think I could ever completely give up my ASOS habit either, though!)

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