Hello 2014!

Happy new year everyone! I for one am rather glad that 2013 has finally come to an end. I didn't think my year could possibly be any worse than 2012 was but the past few months have been quite difficult for me. My parents have had lots of relationship issues, my laptop broke, we've all been ill (& we still are), I had an abnormal smear result and my anxiety & stomach issues have spiraled lately. Worst of all there was a death in the family. My family aren't close but it was so upsetting to hear that my cousin had died, he was only 46. As silly as it might sound to some people I consider a new year to be a new start. I want to put all my past troubles behind me and focus on all the positive things in my life. I've always been a fairly pessimistic person but being negative doesn't get you anywhere, it just makes you feel worse. I need to appreciate the things I do have & stop being jealous of others. Chloe is the best thing in my life & I don't want any negativity to rub off on her. After the heartache I suffered in 2012, Andy & I got back together last year. I think it's generally considered a bad idea to get back with an ex but it's a different ballgame when there's a child involved. We're happy together & Chloe is happy that we're together so I guess that's all that matters right now. I don't think my resolutions are too different from last years but I always think it's good to have some kind of reminder of the person you want to be. So here are my new year's resolutions:

Be healthier
I managed to lose some weight at the beginning of 2013 by following the Tone It Up diet but I couldn't keep it up. I ended up gaining everything back & more. I really need to make an effort with my diet and exercise this year. Any day that I have to take Chloe to preschool I will get on with either going to the gym or doing an exercise DVD right away. I need to remember to drink more water & stop eatings Greggs doughnuts all the time. Food prep seems like an important thing to try because if there's a chocolate bar in the cupboard I'll go straight for that. But if there was a nice chicken salad readily prepared in the fridge I'd eat that instead. I might try doing the 5:2 diet because I could easily live off crumpets & miso soup for two days a week. I really would like to get back to 9st this year.

Take care of myself
I did pretty well with this last year. I kept up a consistent skincare routine, took my supplements and looked after my hair & teeth. My skin was horrendous for a while but I think I finally have it under control (touch wood!). I got a bit lazy with my skincare towards the end of the year & just kept taking my makeup off with Bioderma. This needs to stop because my skin only behaves if I look after it properly. So I'm going to try to take my makeup off just before I put Chloe to bed. That way I won't suddenly think to do it at midnight & whack out the Bioderma again. I need to learn to switch off my laptop & go to bed earlier too. I totally failed at washing my makeup brushes. I know I need to do it more often but once a week is just unrealistic for me. I'm gonna aim for once a month because even that rate will be better than before!

Stop procrastinating
I am so lazy & I really need to stop it. I put off everything & it's just such a silly thing to do. I think I might've been a bit depressed lately & obviously that's affected my motivation. This resolution links in with some of the other ones. I think this one is something many people can relate to. I need to be more organised & stop wasting my time. If there's some washing up to do, go & do it. If you need to hoover, get on with it. If there's clean clothes to put away, put them away. If there's an email in your inbox, reply to it. If you have documents to shred, shred them. If you buy or receive a new product, take photos of it right away. If you need to remove your makeup, get in the bathroom. I could go on but the point is just get on with things basically.

Save more money
I think I did okay with this last year. I didn't waste too much money on makeup & clothes (in my opinion anyway!) but I didn't manage to save that much either. This year I want to put a set amount into my savings account & Chloe's savings account every month. I waste a lot of money on food. Feeding Andy is an expensive job. I want to try shopping in Aldi & Lidl more often. I also plan to batch cook food & freeze it for later. As I mentioned last year the Spending Tracker iPhone app has helped me immensely with my finances. I think I need to stick to a stricter budget now though if I plan on upping my savings & not just my current account.

Put more effort into blogging
Blogging is so important to me but I still only managed about 10 posts per month last year. I want to add so much more content to this website so this year I'm aiming for 15 posts per month. I'm going to try to reply to every comment I get, not just questions. I've tried to improve my blog photography but it's difficult when you live in a rented house with awful lighting & yellow walls. I think I've finally found a good spot & setup that allows me to have products upright (which some of you commented on in my yearly favourites post yay!). The lighting is still a bit dodgy sometimes but I've just bought some studio lighting so hopefully that will make things a bit better. I really struggle with emails & have often ignored them for months! I'm aiming to reply to everything I receive on the same day. I also plan on joining in on twitter a bit more. I normally use it for moaning & promoting new posts so I want to get back to talking with everyone & joining in with #bbloggers chats. I want to get back into YouTube too & do some makeup tutorials on there.

I also just want to take a moment to thank every single one of you who reads my blog. It means the world to me that people are interested in the things I have to say. I truly appreciate every comment I receive so another thing I will try to do is comment more on other blogs. I love the blogging community & although blogging itself might be becoming more editorial (as many people have said in their yearly summaries), the people are still the heart of it all. So here's to 2014! I hope you all have a fantastic year filled with happiness & of course, I hope I do too.

twitter / tumblr / youtube / instagram / bloglovin'