Hey Friends,

It’s hard to believe I am writing my goal list for September. Last year at this time I was busy finishing up wedding plans and excitedly waiting for our big day! Now, our first anniversary is right around the corner! We have a little getaway planned for the week of our anniversary and we are so excited!

Just this week I started a new nanny job with an adorable baby girl, and once again, I’m adjusting to a new schedule. This is this our busy season – my husband’s work is very seasonal and he’s up to his ears in work. I’m so proud of my man though – he’s been working 6 days a week and those days are often 10-12 hours long (not to mention the hot weather we’ve been having!).

All that to say… I hope September slows down a little bit! A week away for our anniversary will do us some good, and we can’t wait!

Now, let’s get started with goals for the month of September!

September To-Do List {Monthly Goals}

1. Study the Gospel of Mark

I am just finishing my study of the Gospel of John, so I think I am going to back-track and read the book of Mark. Since a lot of Jesus’ miracles are fresh in my mind, I want to get the perspective of another Gospel writer.

I hope you will join me in studying a book of the Bible this month!

As I’ve mentioned in my posts before, I recently purchased a KJV Creative Bible and I could not recommend it more – I love it! You can find it for less than $30 on Amazon right here. The beautiful verse illustrations are so fun to color, and it’s helpful to a have a Bible with wide margins and pages that can be colored and highlighted to my heart’s content! It definitely motivates me to dig in and study the Word more often!

2. Do Once a Week Cooking

Since starting a new job, I now work more days and longer hours. In order to keep my sanity and ensure that there is a hot and satisfying meal on the table every evening, I’ve started doing once a week meal prep/cooking. Let me explain.

At the end of every week I plan out five meals for the following week. I only plan five meals because it’s not uncommon for us to go out at least one night a week – and if we don’t go out to eat, there are usually leftovers in the fridge. Sundays we always eat spaghetti (or we eat somewhere with family). Once I plan my five meals, I do my grocery shopping and then I plan to spend a couple hours in the kitchen on Friday or Saturday, cooking and prepping those meals. I make a lot of crock pot meals (this crock pot is a life saver because it a has a timer!) so it’s easy to throw supper in there and let it cook while I’m at work. It’s also really easy to make a larger batch of certain things (like pizza dough) and freeze the extras for another week.

So far I’ve only had one week to give once-a-week cooking a try and it was a huge time saver! I hope to continue this idea and try to make it even more efficient this month.

>>> Here’s a helpful blog post that explains even more about once a week cooking – from a healthy perspective. 🙂

3. Make Three Healthy Dessert and Snack Recipes

Now that I need to pack lunches for my hubby and myself, all of our snack-y, lunch-appropriate foods get used up really fast at our house! The family that I work for have cabinets filled with snacks and I’ve been told to help myself, BUT I really don’t want to get into the habit of eating junk food. Not to mention my husband appreciates a sweet treat on long, hot days. My solution? Make homemade treats from scratch that are healthier and just as tasty!

My all-time favorite cookbook for healthier treats and sweets it the Chocolate Covered Katie Cookbook. Katie has so many great recipes for healthier sweets – her recipes are almost always a WIN! I will be pulling out her cookbook as well as my Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook to find some healthier treats to make and pack in our lunches this month!

4. Workout Once A Week

Since getting married, my workout routine has been – well, nonexistent. It was one of my yearly goals to workout like 5 times a week, but that hasn’t happened. I just downloaded one of my favorite workout apps to my new phone, so I am excited to jump back into the Pilates workouts I used to do (and actually enjoyed a LOT!). My problem right now is finding the time to workout. It would be pretty hard to fit a workout into our morning routine, and after work it’s meal prep, packing lunches, blogging, and anything else that needs to get done. I think that my workouts may need to be a weekend-only thing for now – until I learn how to squeeze them into my daily routine.

If any of you are really good at fitting exercise into your day, please share your tips with me!

5. Declutter the House

Have you noticed that decluttering is never a one-time thing? I really wish it was! However, just a few months after a decluttering session and the house needs it once again.

Our house isn’t super cluttered – but I know I need to stay on top of the stuff in our house before it becomes a problem. With the holidays just a few short months away, Fall is the perfect time to declutter the house! Here are the main areas I need to focus on decluttering:

• My hair, makeup and beauty supplies – they always get cluttered after months of use.
• The office – my craft supplies and blogging info has been getting a little out of control, so this area definitely needs some work.
• The spare bedroom – it’s the catchall for things we don’t know what to do with.
• The laundry/mud room – this room get cluttered and dirty because it’s the first room we walk into – as well as the dumping grounds for my husband’s work clothes!
• The freezer – I sometimes forget about the items that I freeze, so there are some old items that need to be tossed!
• My closet and dresser – they’re getting a little disorganized. I’ve been updating my wardrobe so that means I need to take the time to purge some old items.

• My bookshelves – I do a lot of book shopping! I will probably end up doing more re-arranging with my books than decluttering. 🙂

Well, those are the main areas I want to focus on this month (when I have time!).

6. Decorate for Fall

September is the perfect month to decorate for Fall. I am so excited to pull out my Fall decorations and give the house a cozy, autumnal feel. I don’t have lots of Fall decorations yet, however, I found some really cute fall items on Amazon that I added to my All Things Autumn Idea List!

7. Schedule A Fall Photo Shoot

My husband and I want to have photos taken for our first anniversary, but that may not happen until October. However, I still need to figure out the best date for our photo shoot and confirm it with a photographer.

8. Do Some Fall Shopping

I love shopping for Fall items – plus Autumn is the perfect time to start shopping for Christmas gifts and get ahead of the rush. Fall items will probably go on sale before too long, and that’s the best time to pick up Fall home decor, clothing, and other Fall items.

For some really fun Fall-themed shopping, I put together an Autumn Idea List on Amazon. Just looking over this list gets me all excited about the Fall season!

You can browse and shop my Autumn Ideas List by clicking this link. Have fun!

Final Thoughts

Well Friend, those are my goals for the month of September. 🙂

I also hope to do a lot of reading this month – but decided not to add that to this month’s to-do list. What are your plans and goals for the month of September? I would love to hear – please share them in the comments!

See you next week! ♥