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If you haven’t accomplished your new year resolution this is for you. Today you have the power to change your health, finances and the environment and still be proud in a year!

If you’re thinking you’ve seen this post before, you’re right. I actually posted this story back in 2015. Since feeling deflated as you struggle to reach goals is a common feeling I figured it made sense to repost this baby. But this time, I’ve added even more simple ways to make yourself proud. Who said feeling proud and accomplished were limited to only 20 things? So read on and find out what simple things you can do to make a change in your life and be proud on even the busies schedule.

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While many people are awaiting the coming of the holiday season, others are excitedly wrapping up the end of their new year resolution challenges. The rest of you might be cringing as you realize that yet another year has come to a close and you still haven’t come close to accomplishing your goal. You are not alone. If you are one of the people in the latter thought camp, you’ve actually more company than you think. In fact,  only eight percent of people accomplish their resolutions according to Forbes magazine.

If you’re part of the 92 percent that didn’t accomplish the goal you set early this year you might just be wondering what you can do to turn things around for the following year. Of course, there’s probably one part of you that just wants to avoid the potential of disappointment completely by ditching the whole resolution idea. You can calm down because making yourself proud isn’t as difficult as you may think. There are several things you can do now that will make you feel proud and accomplished next year. The best part is most of them don’t cost much money, require little commitment and benefit yourself and those around you.

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Repeat after me: The future is mine.

You all know that I’m supposed to be done with doing all these lists. But this time it’s different. This one isn’t a list of over the top things that I’m pressuring myself to complete by a certain date.  Rather than making a list of lofty goals, I’m listing the things I’m most looking forward to experiencing during my 30th year of life. They’re the things that my personal nature tell me will most likely happen. They’re also the things I’ve decided to enjoy and savor as much as possible and be able to take something away from.

1. Watching my son grow and learn about the world
2. Hosting a wine related event
3. Moving into another place
4. Teaching Zumba overseas
5. Make my blog more profitable
6. Finding a group of local mommy friends
7. Celebrating my 6th anniversary with my husband
8. Growing my hair back
9. Building a stronger relationship with my family
10. Improving my writing skills
11. Taking a cooking class
12. Creating a new wardrobe fit for a 30 year old
13. Exploring more of the state
14. Taking more pictures
15. Getting more comfortable with talking about myself
16. Dancing more
17. Having an organized kitchen
18. Saving more
19. Investing more
20. Coming into my own
21. The new books I’ll read
22. The new people I’ll meet
23. Getting closer to financial freedom
24. More conversations with friends
25. The magic of summer
26. Learning about more wine varieties
27. helping more people
28. Learning new things
29. becoming a better driver
30. overcoming struggles

Repeat after me: I’m greater than my darkest moments.

“I can’t always be in control and that’s ok” It’s one of the things I’ve had to routinely tell myself to keep my peace of mind. Life happens and things don’t always go my way. Sometimes, it’s at the hands of the universe. And sometimes it’s because I screwed it up. Regardless of the outcome which I can’t control, I can control my reaction and overcome it.

Unfortunately, my reaction hasn’t always been that great; especially when I’m the one who screwed up. I’ve made so many mistakes over the years. And like most people, beat myself up about it for a while and then convinced myself that I’ll have life figured out soon. But i never do and the cycle continues. Of course, It took me nearly 30 years to realize  I will never have it all figured out. Not having all the answers. It’s what makes life interesting.

And as interesting as life may be, it  doesn’t make dealing with those mistakes any easier. However, i’ve learned that if I want to move forward, I need to stop looking at the past regretfully and dwelling on it. Instead, I must look back on it, forgive myself and acknowledge the lessons I’ve learned from them.

Forgiving yourself may not always be easy, but it’s necessary if you ever want to grow and move forward in life. In case you are having trouble, I’ve listed 30 of the common mistakes made and have trouble forgiving ourselves for. Read through them, remember the time and lessons, and use them to make better decisions. And of course, be proud as those mistakes made you the person you are now.

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that self-care, metal health, and relaxation have been the hot topics for the last year. If it involves sheet masks, and reading books with a glass of wine in the bath tub, you’re golden and it might even make you go viral on Instagram. But don’t let the Instagram mavens fool you. Self-care isn’t just about relaxing in hot tubs and sipping on cocktails. It also includes doing whatever you can to make your life easier to give you peace of mind. And it’s not always easy or Instagram worthy.

Sometimes self-care is cutting off your a friend, a family budget meeting, or even ditching social media for a week. It’s not easy, but that peace of mind and brief moment of sanity is worth it. For me it involves a trip to the Dollar Tree. It seems silly, but the Dollar Tree carries so many items that totally makes my life easier.

Peace of mind is worth a lot of money. Luckily, thanks to the Dollar Tree, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Don’t believe me? Check out my list of 30 things to buy at the dollar tree to make your life easier. Apply a few to your life and let me know what you think.

Whether it’s for organization porn, self care, or entertaining guests, the Dollar Tree really has everything you need to make life a breeze.

This post may contain affiliate links to some TERRIfic sites you should check out. Learn more about it here. 

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Repeat after me: What I’m waiting to have isn’t as important as what I already have.

This post may contain affiliate links to some TERRIfic sites you should check out. Learn more about it here. 

Is it me or is it really hard to come up with things to do when you’ve committed to not spending any money? And if you are doing a month long, no spend challenge – forget it. It can totally feel like torture. Then when you do find something to do, it turns out it’s really not free at all. I mean is anything truly free these days?  Whether it’s not having gas, or needing batteries, things that are meant to be free end up costing money. And so the struggle of finding things to do during a no spend challenge begins.

If you remember my post a while back, I’ve decided to kick the no spend challenge to the curb because it hindered me more than it helped me. You can read more about it here. However, I recognize that it is beneficial for some people.  That’s why I want to help you all survive it.

Not sure what the no spend challenge is? It’s when you commit to not spending any money on anything but necessities for a designated amount of time. It can be a week, a month etc. Regardless, the whole point is to limit spending for your desired duration to help you reach particular goals. Those goals could be to save more money in an emergency account, pay off more debt or even have more money available for a trip later in the year. Regardless of the reason, I’ve heard many people struggle with actually completing the no spend challenge. Normally, it’s because they’re going about it the wrong way. They are treating it like punishment.

Not sure what to do during a No Spend challenge? The key to survival is focusing on things you do have instead of the things you can’t buy.

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Repeat after me: I am determined.

Mom always told me that positive words lead to a positive life. As corny as it sounds, I think she’s right. As I look back on events in my life, I realized that all the times I was worried about something bad happening or even said the words, it actually happened.

For example, It happened when I was concerned about not doing well on tests in college and then again in recent years when I was adamant about not having multiple god parents for my son. On the contrary, the opposite happened when I was kind to myself and told myself that something good was right after the horizon. I’ll never forget being nervous about ending my contract writing for a small online publication, but telling myself that something better would come along. I was right, because less than a week a later I was contacted to contribute regularly to the now defunct Sister 2 Sister magazine.

Perhaps, it was a coincidence but I like to believe the daily mantras I told myself and never losing hope, led to that opportunity.

Our words are the blueprints for our future.

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Repeat after me: I’m here to listen when you’re ready.

If you don’t already know, I’m a cancer. Whether or not you believe in astrology, cancers are generally known to be very emotional, sympathetic, nurturing and loyal. Because of those traits I think people are naturally drawn to me. And what does that mean? I’m always listening to someone’s life story whether I know them well or not. People from all walks of life feel comfortable telling me the good, bad and ugly about their jobs, kids, relationships etc. And every time I listen intently and feel for them. However, one thing I don’t do is tell these people to pray about it. And you shouldn’t tell people to pray about it either.

Telling people to pray when they are struggling may be doing more harm than good.

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Repeat after me: “This will be the best day of my life.”

Guys, I celebrated my fifth anniversary with my husband two months ago and I’m still on cloud nine. And all we did was hang around the neighborhood. Everything about our anniversary weekend was absolutely perfect. The crazy part about it was we were literally ten minutes away from home, but it it felt like we were hours away. I was convinced we were in paradise even though it was a staycation. It was truly the escape I needed minus the pricey flight (though I’m sure I would have found a discount on cheapoair), hotel taxes and heavy luggage. And though it was only a weekend, it was exactly what I needed to recharge, feel a bit of excitement and prepare for the week ahead.

Considering how great I felt during my vacation to paradise which wasn’t a vacation at all, I’ve been obsessed about finding out what made it all click. After all, it would be nice to know  how to recreate such a perfect day in paradise should I need to get away again and not have the time or money to board a plane. So in true form, I’ve decided to analyze and completely breakdown our magical anniversary weekend so I’ll know exactly how to turn an ordinary day at home into a paradise getaway when the time calls for it.

It is definitely possible to feel like you are on vacation in paradise without leaving home.

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Repeat after me: I won’t let pride get in the way of doing what I need to accomplish my goals.

Are you ashamed to admit you have a part-time job? Is pride getting in the way of you having a part-time job even though you may need one?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, I don’t blame you. It’s something I can totally relate too.

Having a part-time job when you are an independent adult is nothing most people want to brag about. Something else I can relate to. Mention the word “part-time job” and I’d duck and hide for cover.

It’s like “part-time job” has turned into a dirty word. No one wants to get one and if someone does get a part time job, hardly anyone wants to admit to it. Instead, the cool thing to have is a side hustle. But let’s be honest. Most of them are really the same ole thing with set hours, a boss and possibly a uniform wrapped up in a fancy term with a few exceptions here and there.

I know because I’ve been there. I’ve been the girl who’s worked a day job plus multiple side hustles — er I mean part-time jobs. Hell, I’m still that person. Except way back when I didn’t want anyone to know. So I either hid that part of life or did the trendy thing and called them a side hustle all so I could save face. And it still stung a little a bit even when I called it my side hustle.

It’s call a part-time job for a reason. It’s part of your life, not all of your life. Never be ashamed of it.

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Repeat after me: I only get better with age.

This post may contain affiliate links to some TERRIfic sites you should check out. Learn more about it here. 

If you follow me on instagram, you know that just over a week ago my husband and I celebrated five years of never falling in love with each other. In the last five years of marriage, we’ve learned, expanded, we’ve traveled, and we’ve developed a taste for wine!

It being our fifth anniversary I wanted to do something special. It is a milestone anniversary after all. However, I wasn’t really a fan of any of the ideas I found online. They were all either dull, too expensive or just didn’t sound like us. So we turned to wine…

Don’t let the price tag fool you. These cheap wine bottles are packed with rich flavor perfect for any celebration!

Thanks to my side hustle as a brand ambassador, I went from hardly ever drinking alcohol to a pseudo wine connoisseur (according to my husband.) So when I came up with up with the idea to celebrate the days leading up to the big day by toasting with a glass of wine that has been aged for five years, it seemed like a natural fit. Plus, the traditional gift for the fifth anniversary is wood and corks are kind of wood-ish… My husband wanted to have a glass of wine from all five bottles every night, but there’s no way I could drink that much at once! Of course that would leave the issue of of a bunch of unopened cheap wine bottles but I just used cork stoppers like this one to help keep it fresh as well as refrigerator wine organizers similar to this one. 

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