Goals for 2012

I'm not one for New Years resolutions, but I've only today worked out why. To me a New Years resolution implies changing something at the start of the year, then loosing motivation a couple of months in. Resolutions also tend to be vague (eg. lose weight, get fit), they don't provide a finishing point. So next year I'm setting goals. I have found if I set SMART goals, I am much more likely to achieve them as I know exactly what I am trying to achieve and have a finish line by which to judge completion.
I'll probably come up with more as I go through the year based on where I'm at, but for now I have:
1. By the end of 2012 I will have completed or removed from my house all craft projects that I consider small or medium sized projects.
2. By the end of 2012 I will have organised and de-cluttered to the point that downstairs is a usable space again.

I have so many craft projects on the go. One's I've started and for one reason or another not finished. By the end of this year I aim to have created a list with every single unfinished project currently in my house, along with whether it is a small, medium or large project. I'm not yet sure what exactly will determine what makes a project small, medium or large, I suspect it will be based on a time estimate to complete. I'm hoping that the satisfaction of getting my smaller projects completed will provide the motivation to get through my larger projects.

We have a reasonably large downstairs area. There is the laundry, a small bedroom and a large lounge type area that opens onto a deck. Currently it is filled with stuff. Some of it is useful stuff, like the camping equipment and my preserving jars. Some of it needs to be gone, like packing boxed from when we moved in nearly 2 years ago. Some of it is things that I need to let go of. At this point I should admit that most of the things down there are mine, not my husbands, and he is justified in getting annoyed with me having not done anything thing with them in the nearly two years since we moved into this place. So, back to the letting go. There are things down there, like my old school books (I don't need all of my books from 20 years ago), or  my mum's bobbin lace equipment (if I haven't found the time to learn in the past year with no child, I'm not going to find the time in the next year having recently had a baby). Things I am hanging onto just in case I need them, which I haven't in two years. Some in closer to eight years, as they were stored at my parents place, and I hadn't even realised. This is why I aim to do it by the end of next year. Sure, I'd like it done sooner, but it's hard to let go. I figure if I let go of some things, realise I don't miss them, I can then let go of more and bigger things. If I do this consistently over the course of the year, I should have a usable downstairs that only stores things we actually use. Laura over at Organizing Junkie said that "Your home is your “living” space but that can be difficult if you are designating large portions of it to yesterday."   and I've realised that is what I'm doing with downstairs.

Now to think on my other goals for next year.