photo courtesy of “Her Creative Studio” via Style Collective. 

Cheers to a new year! 2018 is here, and as much as I love making New Year Resolutions, often times I don’t follow through with them. I decided this year, instead of making a list of resolutions, I would make goals.

My 2018 goals are simple, and I believe they will be easy to achieve in the New Year. Without further ado, here are my 2018 goals:

Get outside more: I am homeschooling two of my three children, and I work from home. When I workout, I go to the gym. I need to try and get outside more by scheduling family hikes, outings, and the like; at least once per week.

Give my husband more attention: With three kids, their activities, and running my company, sometimes I fail to give my husband the attention he deserves. I am going to plan a date night once a month, and ensure he gets the attention he deserves!

Make more educational family time: We play games with our kids, and take them on excursions, but most of that time is fun time. I want to make fun time more educational. This means more educational-type excursions, and educational games. I want my intelligent children to be as well educated as possible. So far we have played writing games, and gone to a few museums; but I want to do more-would love ideas you have!

Get my fitness on track: I always have a strong workout plan which I adhere to religiously every week, season, and year. Last September I hurt my neck, and had to stop working out for several weeks. Then, I was able to start up my workout routine over Thanksgiving vacation. Unfortunately, I soon fell ill with influenza and was unable to workout for close to three weeks. I finally got back on track this week. My goal is to stay healthy and keep my fitness on track. I gained over ten pounds since September by not working out, so I really need to keep my schedule strict!

Diversify my blog income: So this is a question I get asked quite often; “How does your blog make money?” Right now, I have been making passive income by relying on affiliate income, banner ads, and brands who approach me for collaborations. It has been easy to run my blog this way; plus, since I have three kids and I home-school two, I am always really busy-so I always have had excuses for not going out there and cold pitching. But, it is time for a shake-up!

In 2018, I plan to use my corporate outside sales background to start pitching brands in order to expand my income possibilities. I have an action plan, and I have already started to implement it. Don’t worry, I am targeting brands I already love, and would be a good fit for this blog. I would never advertise something to you which I don’t already love, use, and would pay for myself. If you have questions about a brand relationship, or monetization of this blog in general, never hesitate to email me.

Stay away from “fast fashion:” So, I don’t think I need to delve too much into this. The last few years I have succumbed to the fast fashion temptation. Great prices, trendy items, designer look-a-likes; but my lifetime mantra has always been to buy the real thing. I have never purchased anything that isn’t real, because unreal items are sold by criminal organizations; but I have purchased fast fashion items which are inspired by the runways-I think you know the cheap stores I am referring to which can be found online, and at the mall. No more! I am staying away from cheap, sweatshop items.

Well, those are my 2018 goals for now. What are some of your goals for the new year?

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy