Balanced Life Monthly Goals: June Review and July Goals

My overall goal is to live a life that feels well balanced to me.  To that end, I have created several areas of importance to me to focus on.  I try to evaluate each area, rating my satisfaction in that area of my life from 1 to 10, with 1 being most dissatisfied and 10 being most satisfied.  Ideally, all the areas get equal rating, but, lower satisfaction ratings indicate that these areas need more work.  My ratings for each area are shown within the parentheses, with the beginning of the month ratings in (black) and the end of the month ratings shown in (blue). 

These are the individual areas of my life and their ratings for June:

Spiritual (10)(10):   The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life:
I continued with daily prayers, meditation, etc.  I feel that I am living a spiritually meaningful life in accordance with the teachings of my religion.  I am happy with this area of my life.

My goal in July is to continue to live a spiritually meaningful life.

Daughter (10)(10):  The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her:

Daughter and I continued to keep in touch by phone, texts, and video chats in June.  I was able to send her a care package with home grown produce and home canned preserves thanks to two friends who drove up and visited her one weekend.

She isn't planning to come for a visit in July, but that is OK.  My goal in July is to continue to have a close, if long distance, relationship with her!

Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies (10)(10):  The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.

In June, I continued to repair the second quilt and I knitted myself a second pair of socks with leftover wool from prior projects.    

I will continue to repair the quilt in July.    

Finances (9.5)(9.5):  The goal is financial security:

I continued to budget and spend mindfully, with purpose, in June.  There were higher than expected pet expenses as I had to take Dancer to the vet a couple of extra times, but, he's worth it, isn't he?  

I will continue to budget and spend mindfully in July, too.

Garden (9.0)(9.0):  The goal is a garden that is productive, yet drought tolerant:

- Maintaining (water, fertilize, and weed); M will continue to visit twice a week

- Focus on the winter vegetable and fruit plants

The garden did very well in June!  I've had a bumper crop of blueberries and peaches!  I've started picking green beans, green chilies, and tomatoes.  Unfortunately, the nectarine tree dropped both fruits that were growing on it and the persimmon tree lost all but two fruits.  The pomegranate tree had lots of flowers but not a single fruit set.  It can't be helped; the weather was unusually cold and I don't know if that had any impact or not, but, I'm thankful for what I was able to grow and harvest.

July garden goals include tending to the fruit trees and keeping the plants watered, etc.

Family/Friends/Community (9.0)(9.0):  The goal is to have a close connection with family and friends and be involved with my community:

- Regular phone calls and emails, etc., to keep in touch

- Participate in the blogging community and the online organizing community

There were regular phone calls, texts, emails, etc., with family, neighbors, and friends in June.    I received many gifts of food and some household items from neighbor S and I was able to gift her with peaches and blueberries, etc.  I also received some items from neighbor T when her children held the yard sale and cleared her house; I purchased some of the items and the others were given to me and I thanked them with fresh fruit from my garden and some baked goods.  I shared more of the peaches with a few other friends and received dinner from one of them.  Other neighbors "treated" me to an evening of extremely loud music, but, I was a good neighbor and tolerated it!    

Goals for July will remain the same.  

Health, Self-Care & Well Being (8.5)(8.5):  The goal is good health:

- Focus on continuing to improve my health through diet, hydration, adequate sleep, etc.
- Attend my medical appointments
- Continue to take my medications as prescribed

- Continue to take necessary precautions against viral infections

As I've stated before, improving my health through diet, hydration, etc., is an on-going effort!  I received my latest Covid booster in early June and have taken a few trips to stores in person when needed! 

Health goals for July will be to continue improving my health.   

Time Management (7.5)(7.5): The goal is to spend my time in a mindful manner:

- Spend time purposefully, mindfully

- Continue to focus on making my schedule work for me

- Procrastinate less

I felt that external factors, such as Dancer's vet appointments and the peach harvest, directed my time management in June!  There were things that had to be done according to a set time - appointments to be kept and peaches to be preserved before they spoiled, etc.  I don't think it improved my time management skills, but, at least I got the important things done!  I let other things, like housework, slide, though!  

The goal in July is to continue to improve my time management skills!  

House (7.5)(7.5):  The goal is a home that is pleasant, comfortable, and welcoming:

- Clean - Clean the house as needed 
- Organize - Continue to find a place for everything and keep everything in its place
- Well maintained - Keep "erasing the evidence"; implement daily and weekly cleaning schedules
- Decluttered - Continue with the decluttering process

June housekeeping slid back a little bit as I was busy doing other things!  I kept on top of things for the most part, however, until I hurt my toe and walking became painful for at least a week.  It was easier to leave things out than put them away and I didn't do a lot of cleaning, either.  The house didn't get dirty, as such, but, it has become a bit messy, again.  Only the two coffee tables remain clear - there are canning jars on a side table, canning equipment on the big dining table, and some files and paperwork have accumulated on the small dining table!  

I joined in on the declutter 50 items challenge in June, but, I brought in some 17 items, including a filing cabinet, a bookcase, an occasional table, a patio table and chair, a set of 4 bowls, and 2 sets of new kitchen towels!  I was hoping to declutter 50 +17 additional items to make up for that, but, I just barely managed to declutter 50 items. 

I decluttered:
1 kitchen towel

1 blue and white china bowl

1 cardboard box the stationery items (from T's yardsale) came in
2 cardboard boxes that had been used for storage

1 cardigan

1 sweater

2 magazines (I was hoping to declutter more magazines, but, I still enjoy looking through them from time to time, so I kept them!)
14 plastic containers (2 recycled, 12 small ones sent to daughter for sorting out her beads)

2 books
9 crafting supplies items (ribbons, bows, floral picks; I am not counting the box of beads I sent to my daughter as she'll probably return it with any unused beads, later)

6 canning jars with jam and chutney in them (plus another 6 sent to daughter, but, she'll probably return the empty jars to me)

2 frying pans

1 patio chair plastic (it broke)
1 pair of socks

1 jigsaw puzzle

2 plastic scoops

3 kitchen utensils (spoon, spatula, ladle) 

= 50 items decluttered

Not the kind of items that will make a big dent, but, every little bit helps, right?

My July decluttering goal is to keep at it and declutter a minimum of 31 items.

Once again, certain areas continued to get a high satisfaction rating and others remained the same.  None of the areas decreased in my satisfaction ratings, which is good.  All in all, June was a very good month, I think.  I'm hoping that July would be, too.