A new year, a new year list

I think New Year’s Resolutions have had their day. They can become a bit burdensome, especially if you set some pie in the sky target to lose a stone in a month or give up chocolate (why? it’s so delicious!) and then, when you inevitably go off course, you end up feeling a bit of a failure and forgetting all about it until next January 1st, when you make the exact same resolution again. At least, that’s what I do. So this year I am eschewing the traditional new year’s and making a different type of list. I shall call it, drum roll please, my New Year List.

Renovating with a baby

One of the questions I get asked a lot is, ‘how do you do so much with a baby?’ and the truth is, I don’t do ‘so much’, I just do ‘a bit when I can’. I’m lucky to have been blessed (though not this week!) with a baby who sleeps a good stretch of ten hours or more at night and has done since he was a couple of months old. This makes it far easier to do things in the day when he’s asleep. I am all about the nap time DIY and also, since lockdown forced us to work from home, I have had a lunch hour each day to spend doing bits on the house. I enjoy it, it breaks up the day and I get things done.

The key is breaking a job down into manageable tasks.

Don’t set unattainable goals

Slow Down

Over the summer, I really began to lose my mojo because on Instagram, I kept seeing room reveal after room reveal. I’ve never been a fan of the ‘reveal’ anyway because it involves you having to work incredibly hard to get something done in record time or your audience will lose interest. Most ordinary people don’t have an audience to please in this way anyway, so working that fast is totally unnecessary – if you aren’t being paid to makeover a room in a week, then you really don’t need to.

Also, many of my followers seem to like the realistic, daily dose of DIY that most people could manage, so I like to go for the slow and steady approach. I think it is more realistic, attainable and frankly healthier to allow yourself longer to complete something. No one wants to be wallpapering at 3am and if you work yourself to the bone, you simply won’t enjoy the task.

The kitchen makeover

One of my recent (and still ongoing) renovation jobs has been to update our kitchen. It’s a typical flat pack IKEA carcass and perfectly inoffensive, but the kitchen was tired, needed a bit more personality and generally a refresh. Rather than set myself the task of ‘redo kitchen’ I broke it down. In the first week, I removed the laminate from the kitchen cabinets, a little at a time, two or three a day. Next, I primed the cupboards. Then I painted them. I’ll put a new laminate wrap on the worktops next. Then I’ll pick handles. There’s a few shelves to put up and each of those will be a lunch hour job, one per day.

It’ll probably take about 6 weeks overall to completely refresh the kitchen. So whilst I could have done it in 6 days, I’d have been really miserable and stressed and tired; manageable chunks is a far preferable option for me. The kitchen is still useable in the meantime – it’s not like a bathroom or something.

There’s no reason to do everything at record speed. Just slow down and enjoy the process.

The New List

30 things

So this brings me on to my New Year List. I recently went on a training course with work and although it wasn’t the main focus, one of the discussions we had was around writing a list of 30 things you want to get done by a set date. The date shouldn’t be too soon, so I think a seasonal list is a good idea. That gives you roughly 3 months to work through your tasks. And crucially, the things on the list can just be small things or ‘nice’ things.

Get the little things done

I think writing a list like this is a particularly good way to get little jobs that you’ve been meaning to do for ages done. Only once they are done, will you even realise how much they’d been niggling away at you! Oiling a squeaky door for example, or throwing out the Tupperware pots that have long since lost their lids.

It’s actually not that easy to come up with a list of 30 things to do. This is a good thing, because you’ll be forced to break jobs down into manageable tasks to get to 30. When I began my New Year List, one of the jobs was ‘finish kitchen’, that got broken down into the various different elements I actually needed to do in the kitchen. In the end, I had nine tasks just for the kitchen! Manageable. Attainable. It’s also rewarding because you get things ticked off sooner, and that in turn motivates you to keep going.

So, although your list is longer than a single resolution, it should be easier to stick to.

My New Year List

I thought it would be useful to share my list to give you an idea, but obviously it’s a totally personal thing and your list can include anything from ‘ring gran’ to ‘run 10k’. Whatever floats your boat! You can follow along with my progress on my Instagram account.

Now for your New Year List

So that’s my list! I’ve purposely made it all about the house, but yours need not be. It could have anything in there from making a point to call your best mate for a long catch up to giving yourself a full afternoon for self-care.

How to write a New Year List

I’m not being patronising here, I promise! But your list could end up being the bane of your life if you don’t get those chores down into manageable chunks (I know I keep harping on about this, but it’s important).

Three key goals

A good way to do it is to think of three key goals. They could be anything from ‘finish the kitchen’, like me, to ‘lose weight’. Then you break that goal down into ten manageable chunks. So if you want to lose some lockdown pounds you could put something on there like ‘do online gym class on Sundays’. It’s totally up to you, but it needs to be manageable.

Cheat a bit!

Also, you know the best way to start any list? Put two things on there you’ve already done in the last couple of days. Yeah it’s cheating, but there is nothing more satisfying than crossing through those first tasks and you’ll be spurred on to do more.

#lunchhourdiy

Also sometimes called #NapTimeDIY, depending on the day. It’s the perfect time to do a little bit and it means your evenings will be free. Obviously this is only really going to work if you are working at home, but lots of people are at the moment, so I thought I’d put it in there. The main point is go for little and often.

Bring on 2021

So there it is! My New Year List has been written. I’d best crack on with it then! Let me know what’s on your list. If it’s DIY things, then I think you’d love the new Facebook Group I’ve set up – The DIY & Decor Club. Come and join us! The conversation is already fab and everyone is sharing ideas.

What could be more motivating to tick those tasks off your list?

Happy New Year folks!

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