My January goals & plans!

Happy new year!! I’ve decided that 2025 is officially the year of actually planning things. No more winging it and hoping I remember what I was meant to be doing three days ago. This year I want to be a bit more intentional, not just with big life stuff but with all the little everyday bits too. So I’ve come up with a fun little idea: each month, I’m going to share a post all about my goals and plans. It’s a mix of practical goals, little treats for myself, and some fun things!

Get back into a routine!

After December and Christmas I really need to get myself back into some sort of normal routine. I’m talking simple things like going to sleep at a sensible hour instead of scrolling on TikTok and waking at a reasonable hour, making the bed every morning and staying on top of the housework before it snowballs. I love it when my days have a bit of structure, it makes everything feel calmer and more manageable.

Have a dry January!

After Christmas and all the alcohol, a glass or wine here and a sip of Baileys there I am all for having a month off alcohol and I have decided to have a dry January, I did it a few years ago and really saw the benefits.

Watch movies!

My second goal is a fun one, to watch four movies that are new to me. I have this terrible habit of rewatching the same comfort films over and over so I’m making myself branch out a bit. I might try a few classics I’ve somehow missed or something random that pops up on Netflix. If I find any hidden gems I’ll definitely share them in next month’s post!

Declutter one small space each week!

Nothing says January like a good declutter but instead of tackling the entire house and burning out by week two I’m breaking it down, one small space each week.

Week 1: My wardrobe. After my birthday in November and Christmas it’s overflowing. I’m being ruthless this time, bagging up and donating anything that I've not worn in the past year.

Week 2: My bedside area. It’s amazing how much clutter collects there: random receipts, hair bobbles, maybe a biscuit wrapper or two. It needs sorting!

Week 3: My dressing table. It is chaos. Used up make up, empty bottles and it all needs a good clean.

Week 4: The shoe rack by the front door and the shoes in the cupboard under the stairs. There are shoes there that we never wear so they will be donated or thrown out if they are too tatty.

Go on a date!

This one sounds fancier than it is but it’s really about making time for Stu and me to actually go out together. Life gets busy and we end up doing the usual watching telly and eating snacks but a proper date would be very welcome even if it’s just lunch out and a wander around the shops.

Listen to one Audiobook!

I’ve never really been much of a reader. Give me a book and I’ll stare at it lovingly for about two minutes before putting it down, I much prefer audio books but never make time to listen to them. I have set myself a goal to listen to one a month. This months listen is going to be: A Chosen Destiny: My Story is wrestler Drew McIntyre's autobiography, detailing his journey from a Scottish village to WWE stardom, his dramatic fall due to bad choices and personal tragedy and his inspiring comeback fuelled by grit, reinvention and support from his wife, Kaitlyn to reclaim his championship destiny.

A day with my girls!

Something I really want to make more time for this year is spending proper one on one time with my girls. Life moves so fast and before you know it weeks have flown by. Even something small like a trip into town, a coffee date or a cheeky McDonald’s counts.

Sort photos!

Sort out all the photos that I took last year. They're all in folders on my laptop, even the blurry out of focus one's which need deleting. 

Move more!

I’m not about to become a gym regular but I do want to move more this month. My plan is simple, I’ll cut down a bit on how much milk and bread I buy in the weekly shop so I have to pop out to the local shop midweek. It’s about a ten minute walk each way so that’s 20 minutes right there. I'm going to buy the fruit and veg from the farm shop so that's another 40 minutes walking at least once a week so that’s a decent start.

Rewatch Bridgerton!

And a fun goal to finish! Bridgerton Season 4 is released at the end of the month so I’m going to fully rewatch the first three seasons. Who doesn’t want to escape into a world of fancy balls, scandal and stunning costumes for a bit!

What do you have planned for January?

A photo every day for a year! 21st - 31st December! Week 52 of #Project365

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas or holiday, whatever that looked like for you. We had a lovely Christmas and have had a relaxing time since. Becky has had a few days off work so it meant we could properly catch up, sit around chatting and slowly get the house back to some kind of normal instead of living around piles of wrapping paper and random gift bags.

Here we are at the end of 2025 and the end of posting a photo every day for a year. I think I did well, only missing one day in early November. Today I have a bumper edition, finishing up the year and it will be a short post on Sunday with only a few days for the start of the new year.

I hope you all have a lovely time welcoming the New Year, whatever you’re doing. Here’s to fresh starts, new plans and lots more photos in 2026!

Now for a photo every day!

355/365 - 21st December

I had one last look at my online food order, adding some things and removing some. Asda did a great job! There were a couple of substitutions with my delivery but nothing ridiculous. The big bonus was the beef. They said it wasn't going to be delivered but it turned up and because of a glitch in the system, it came for free!

356/365 - 22nd December

This was a proper family day. I managed to get us all together for a photo while we were waiting to head out to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We went out for a meal and had such a lovely time. Good food, lots of chatting, plenty of laughs and that nice feeling of just being together.

357/365 - 23rd December

This was the start of proper Christmas dinner prep. Things started coming out of the freezer. I know each year I buy a lot of stuffing but this year I bought more than ever. Oops. I'm not even sorry, I do love stuffing!

358/365 - 24th December

Christmas Eve! It was a busy one for me, cooking everything that I could and for tea we just had picky bits! If you are a long-time reader here, I am sure you have seen these trays before. They only come out at Christmas. It started when my girls were little and has continued. They're perfect trays for a picky tea.

359/365 - 25th December

Christmas Day! I didn’t take loads of photos and the ones I did take were very much in the moment and slightly blurry. 

360/365 - 26th December

There were new Stranger Things episodes and I managed to avoid all the spoilers by watching them as soon as I got up! I’ve seen people saying they weren’t as good as the previous block of episodes but I really enjoyed them.

361/365 - 27th December

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a tub of Quality Street but I have to say, I’m not impressed this year. I know there’s a big push to reduce packaging and help the planet, which I do support but I really miss the shiny wrappers. They were part of the experience!

362/365 - 28th December

This was a big tidy-up day. Presents finally found proper homes, bags were folded away and the living room started to look like an actual living room again. The sofa did need a big reset, fixing the cushions and the throw.

363/365 - 29th December

It was time to pack Christmas away until next year. This year I was so organised and wrote on the boxes where everything should go. The future me is going to be so grateful when December rolls around again.

364/365 - 30th December

I finally got around to re-watching Ally McBeal. I haven’t seen it since it was on TV back in the late 90s and wow, it’s a blast from the past. Some bits have aged better than others but I’m really enjoying it.

365/365 - 31st December

And here we are, the final photo of the year. My dress for tonight. I had options, one I liked and this one that I love. It’s sparkly, fun and it feels perfect for seeing the year out!

The best bits of 2025!

Happy end of the year!! Is it just me or did 2025 absolutely zoom by? I was looking through the photos that I have taken this year and realised I’ve already forgotten half the cool stuff that happened. So before the New Year begins I wanted to sit down and remember the good things from the last 12 months. I know I shared my favourites from the last year on Sunday but I had more and some thoughts from 2025. I have also included my favourite photo from each month. There's no order to this, just random thoughts and moments.

Ellie's 18th birthday in August was so special! She had such a wonderful day and was spoilt rotten! Everything I’d planned came together and then some. She got more presents than she expected, we went out for a lovely meal and she made a full weekend of it by heading into town with her friends for a proper night out. Watching her get ready, seeing how excited she was and knowing she was stepping into this new stage of life felt massive. The fun didn’t stop there either because her sister whisked her away for a night and a mini concert thing which they both absolutely loved.

In fact we all had amazing birthdays this year! Stu and Ellie's in August and Becky's in the first week of September. It gets no easier having 3 birthdays so close together but we did something special for each one and on my birthday in November we visited York Christmas Markets.

Since January my mindset’s gone from powering through no matter what to actually stopping to ask if something’s worth my energy. I used to think pushing myself was the only option. Now I’m much more do I need to care this much and that feels like progress!

The best meal I ate this year was steak and chips which surprises even me. I’ve never been a steak person but Stu and I went out to the pub when they had an offer on. Steak and chips for two and a bottle of wine for £30. Absolute bargain considering a bottle alone is usually about £15. The steak was cooked perfectly, the chips were proper pub chips and I followed it up with Baileys profiteroles for dessert. They were made fresh that day and I still think about them. It was one of those meals where you sit back afterwards and go that was worth it. Sometimes it really is the simple things.

Both my girls are adults now which still feels a bit surreal to say out loud. I’m learning that my role isn’t to fix everything anymore, it’s to listen, support and trust that I’ve done enough to let them figure things out in their own way. It’s hard, and I don’t always get it right but I’m trying. I’m still here just more in the background cheering them on and resisting the urge to interfere.

There were so many moments this year where I caught myself laughing with my girls and realised how much our relationship has shifted. Less mum mode and more we’re just hanging out. Baking, kitchen chats, laughing at something that probably wasn’t even that funny, all those moments were special!

Stu and I had a night away just the two of us on Valentine’s Day and it reminded me how important that is. We’re so used to being in parent mode that it was nice to switch that off for a bit and just be us. Walking, talking, eating without rushing and not worrying about anyone else for 24 hours felt like a reset.

This year I have realised that I am never going to be a domestic goddess with all my ducks in a row. I muddle through with the housework, there might be a pile of clean clothes on the dining room table most days and the living room always needs vacuuming but I'm doing my best. This house is lived in, it's never going to be a show home and that's fine!

I started doing a bit of skincare at the start of the year and shockingly I stuck with it. No miracle transformation but my skin is less dry and just feels better. That’s a win in my book. It turns out doing small things consistently actually works. Who knew?

My denim jacket and white trainers were the best things that I bought myself this year. I wore them right through the summer and felt good in them.

Becky and I had a night away and out seeing Whitney - The Candlelight Concert and we then had a lovely time. She took me to a few bars afterwards. One of them the music was too loud, full of what seemed like kids, the drinks were overpriced and they had a smoke machine which made me feel sick! I am too old for wild nights out so we ended up back in the hotel watching Wrestling on her phone.

My girls have found new interests this year and I have enjoyed watching them explore them. TV shows, movies, football, Formula 1 racing and different computer games that they play.

Not all people but some people see a line and cross so far over it that they forget the line even existed in the first place, then act shocked when they get called out on it and act like you’re overreacting. This year taught me that you really can’t control how someone behaves but you can control how close you let them get! Some folks just don’t do personal space or common sense!

TikTok stole a chunk of my life this year. I reckon I spend about an hour a day scrolling. It's not ideal but I do learn things and laugh a lot. I’ve accepted it for what it is, a bit of entertainment and a bit of learning.

Over the past year I have discovered so many new blogs to read and each day I go and read those blogs and it really is like catching up with a friend.

Some of the best moments this year weren’t events at all. They were slow mornings. The first cuppa of the day, no rushing, doing things at my own pace and sometimes even eating breakfast like a proper adult. Those mornings feel like luxury now and I appreciate them so much more than I used to.

We tried Haggis earlier in the year! I don't know what I was thinking but I thought it would be a good idea to get it as a meal with our Gousto box. It wasn't the taste which put us off, it was the texture. At least we can say we tried it now!

There was a little drama in someone's life and in the past when drama has happened I did not handle it well, I wasn't eating, losing sleep and stressing a lot! This time around the only way I can describe is I thought F**k it and F***k them! I was not going to let people ruin my peace.

Usually I would say my dad has been the biggest support to me throughout the year, he has of course been amazing but this year the teachers at Ellie's college have been the real MVP's. They have been fantastic with her, helping her get onto the course she wanted, pushing her when needed, keeping in touch with me about goings on and being a massive support when there were some issues. I can't thank them enough.

When I look back at 2025 it doesn’t feel dramatic or stressful like last year did. It feels full of little shifts, small joys and moments that mattered more than I realised at the time. I laughed a lot, learned a lot and protected my peace better than ever.

What has been a highlight from your year?

Our weekly meal plan! 29th Dec - 4th Jan! #MealPlanningMonday

Are we all enjoying the time between Christmas and New Year? It's that strange little bubble of time where I don't have a clue what day it is. There’s no routine, no alarms but it is nice to take things slowly. We’re still very much in Christmas mode until Friday and then apparently we’re meant to click our fingers and return to normal. New year, new routine, sensible meals and all that but I’m not ready. I think sensible eating can wait until the 5th. There’s no rush, and I refuse to spend the first few days of January being grumpy over healthy food! Hehehe

I didn't do a meal plan last week, it was all about our Christmas dinner. Since then we have eaten leftovers, picky bits out of the fridge and nothing much else. It was perfect! We still have lots of Christmas snacks to keep us going this week and plenty of chocolate to eat so all is good!

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Breakfast for tea!

Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes and toast.

Tuesday - Corned beef hash!

A nice and hearty meal. I will add mushrooms because I add mushrooms to pretty much everything and we’ll have it with baked beans because that’s just how we like it. 

Wednesday - Party food and snacky food or a meal out.

New Year’s Eve food is a bit up in the air. Sometimes we plan it properly and sometimes we decide at the last minute, this year is a last minute thing. It could be pizza, sausage rolls, sandwiches and lots of snacky bits spread out on the table or we might go out for a meal if we feel like it. We haven’t decided yet.

Thursday - A roast dinner of some sort!

Starting the new year with a roast dinner feels like the right thing to do. We have roast potatoes, stuffing and some veg in the freezer.

Friday - Fish, chips and mushy peas.

Might be home made or it might be from the fish and chip shop.

Saturday - Home made pizza.

I will buy ready made dough and then we will just add our own toppings. I will have BBQ sauce, smoky sausage, mushrooms, onions and a little bit of cheese.

Sunday - No idea!

I have no idea what we will have on Sunday. I think it’s going to be a fend for yourself day. Leftovers, toast, freezer bits or whatever people fancy. By then the fridge will probably be looking empty and it will be time to get a food shop delivered.

What are you eating this week?