February Goals: Streamline {Free Printable Checklists}

January is one of those paradoxical months. The cold, winter weather seems to drag endlessly on, while at the same time the new year is speeding ahead and all of a sudden you don’t know where the month went. If you’re anything like me, my very well intentioned resolutions are usually slipping through my fingers right about the time the calendar flips over to February. To avoid that familiar sense of defeat, this year I decided to set small, weekly goals instead of an ambiguous monster goal that wouldn’t even get me into the spring.   

Looking back on January, I’m pretty happy with how my first month of “non-resolution” weekly goal setting went. With the theme of my month being nutrition, I set some gradual transitions in place for my dietary habits to go from a holiday eating free-for-all frenzy to a whole foods, dairy and gluten free lifestyle. 

Doing it one week at a time made it manageable by focusing on specific adjustments, like increasing my fruit and vegetable intake, so that I was taking steps towards bigger changes at the end of the month like eliminating processed foods. Granted, even with the more reasonable smaller goals, I wasn’t perfect, but I definitely made some positive changes that I’m happy about and can live with. 

For February, my theme is to streamline. I don’t know what you daydream about, but I often fantasize about a perfectly ordered and organized home where everything has a place and routines enable everyone to function well. However, my reality is so far from my idealistic vision that I often feel hopeless or powerless to move in the right direction. 

This month, I am choosing to focus on small areas that matter a lot and streamline them – make them more efficient and effective by decluttering and reorganizing.

WEEK ONE

I plan to tackle kitchen utensils, which includes about three drawers and a countertop organizer. I am guilty of hoarding kitchen supplies – I have five whisks, an antique one I never use, one I hate and three that function well – but I rarely use more than one a day. No wonder I can never find what I am looking for and feel like I never have room to put clean utensils away!! 

WEEK TWO

I will focus on better storage solutions for the items we currently haphazardly store in overflowing baskets under my toddler’s changing table – diapers and accessories, socks, shoes, hats and jackets – as well as removing the items we rarely use. 

WEEK THREE

I plan to sort through our overflowing toy collection, leaving out a few key favorites, tossing out anything mismatched or unused and storing the occasionally used items in labeled bins on a shelf. I’m hoping to help my son be more engaged with the toys we do have out by keeping collections together – it’s hard to play farm when all you can find is one piece of fence, half the barn and a single chicken – and empower him to help “pick up” at the end of the day by having less out and a more specific place for those things to belong.    

WEEK FOUR

I plan to simplify my family’s never ending battle with food storage items, or as we to say, our “Tupperware.” My best option here is likely to recycle our madding mismatched collection and start fresh with only 2 or 3 sizes all of the same brand and shape so that finding coordinating lids isn’t a daily time-consuming frustration.  

What would you like to streamline this month? What areas cause a daily bottleneck or bog you down with clutter or lack of efficiency? Are there small changes you could implement to make a big difference? Comment below and share what your weekly goals are for streamlining your life. 

Printable February Goals : make your own

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