A New Year Mini Episode with Ellie

Welcome to a fun mini-episode where I share a bit about the rituals I try to do around the New Year.

In this episode, you’ll hear how I use the week between Christmas and New Year to get organized, plan for the year ahead, and reflect on the past year!

Some expanded notes on the Episode!

Getting Organized For 2024 - The In-Between Week

Cleaning out toys - My husband and I really leaned in this year on cleaning out the house for the new year. We hadn’t done it in nearly a year, so it was really time to get the toy situation in order with all of the new toys from Christmas, and now that our youngest has outgrown the truly baby toys. We rounded up EVERY SINGLE toy in the house into our family room and went through EVERYTHING. Put missing things back together, made new homes for things, and sorted out toys we’ve outgrown, and toys we wanted to save. It took about 2-3hours but was so satisfying when we were done.

Cleaning out closets - I will never not hear the Eminem song in my mind, but that’s what we did. I tried on EVERY SINGLE thing in my closet, as inspired by Christina Tumminello’s tips for How to Make Getting Dressed Easier, and together, we donated 6 bags of clothes. We donated to a local resale shop that benefits people in need, and specifically to their Career Closet for women getting back into work.

Dates - It is such a luxury to have the kids in daycare while we’re off of work, so my husband and I took the time to sneak in some dates and some fun time just the two of us.

Setting Intentions/Goals for 2024

Family Planning Session - Using my ever-favorite Shared Notes feature on the iPhone, I created a shared note with the following prompt for my husband and I to separately reflect and brainstorm. We then met for a lunch date to review and plan.

• What are your goals for 2024

  • Relationship

  • Travel

  • Financial

  • Work

  • Kids

  • Health

  • Personal

Using that shared note, we took down action items and notes that we will add to our longer-term Shared Note. After we had our meeting, a friend of mine shared how she used ChatGPT to generate an agenda for her “summit” with her husband, and I absolutely loved it. Check it out below.

Reviewing my Intentions and Making New Ones

My friend Laura shared a longer form process for manifesting last year that got my mind thinking about manifestations/intentions, and while I didn’t do the full version, I used a Google doc and jotted down several intentions or “In 2023 I want to: <fill in the blank with something very specific>” and I reviewed those before starting my intentions for 2024. Sharing some High-Level ones below as well as my Ins/Outs and some thoughts/inspiration behind them.

Budgeting - This is a holdover from 2023, but Mint is going away, so we need to figure out a new approach. We are planning on continuing with Copilot even though it has some limitations with our specific bank and using the Wealth Planner from Money With Katie. We haven’t found a process that works well for us yet, so challenging ourselves to stick with this.

More Dates - We are making date night more of a priority. This includes date nights at home more, and making those nights more special instead of just eating without the kids and going to watch a show. We used to use the check-in framework Hitha shared a long time ago, but fell off, so we are going to begin using this again this year. We are in a phase where much of our “together time” is with the kids, so very transactional and logistics-oriented, and I am excited to re-prioritize this. Love my Shared Notes for this too :)

Ins and Outs

I think these are so fun, and I am loving seeing these on Instagram recently. Some notes on mine are below:

Movement - I want to feel balanced and strong for as long as I can - easily until I am 90, but if I don’t prioritize more movement, I know it’s going to be an uphill battle. I love Range by Kara Duval, and I am going to make a concerted effort to get back into a rhythm that keeps me feeling strong.

Dinner Parties - I feel like I used to host quarterly dinner parties (at least) and now I don’t think I have had friends over for dinner in years. I am committed to getting past that in 2024, and I want to whip out the China, Silver, Crystal, all of it.

Stitching and Bitching - I love a stitch and bitch, and this year I signed up for Claire Wiley and Allie Hoffberg’s Stitch Club! Check out Allie’s Instagram Highlight on Needlepoint if you’re interested!

Reminding Myself I am Doing a Good Job - You are too. Just a reminder.

Voting - I love an even year, but it also means it is always an election year. Your vote counts, so make it count.

Generative AI - I feel like a grandmother asking “what the tiktok is?” but seriously, I really want to learn how to use Generative AI to make my life easier. If you’ve got any tips and tricks for how to do this, comment below or send me a message.

What I want to hear from you:

• How are you learning Generative AI?

• What do you want to hear in 2024 from A Day In Her Life

• How are you setting yourself up for 2024

Comment below/send me a message/DM! I’d love to hear from you!