2022 Goals & 2021 Year Review

Join me as I look back on the changes 2021 brought to An Oregon Cottage and what we’re looking forward to in 2022. Plus, get tips and inspiration for laying out a few goals/dreams of your own.

Here we are again at the end of one year and the beginning of a new one!

Even though I know I can review, set goals, and dream at any time of the year and January 1st isn’t a magic date, I can’t help but see the blank slate of a year ahead. It just makes me want to dream and plan.

And after all these years I recognize that I’m more of a dreamer than a doer, so it’s the planning I love the most, ha!

BUT, even with dreamers like me, writing down goals has been SO helpful.

They are in my mind and help guide plans and projects throughout the year, even if I’m not perfect about revisiting them throughout the year (#truth).

I’ve shared goals every year since the first full year of this site (way back in 2010) for two reasons:

1. The first is to show the process of planning and how it relates to living a simple homemade life.
2. The second is to (hopefully) be an inspiration to you to see how being intentional with our time can move us forward to a life we want.

(You can go to this page to see all the years past goals and how they’ve related to the site and our lives.)

2021 Year in Review

To review the previous year, I use the Year In Review page in The Flexible Planner. It makes it easy and the yearly goals page is the next, so it’s all in one place.

Of course you can grab any piece of paper and use the questions above to do your own review.

Highlights of 2021

January – March: We worked like crazy (along with my brother and sister-in-law) to get the main floor of the farmhouse ready to be moved into on April 1st.

Nights, weekends, and saying no to lots of other things – it was hard, I’ll be honest. We finished walls, floors, had cabinets installed (and installed a few of our own), finished counters and painted and grouted so much. Just so much.

BUT.

April: We were able to move in to the farmhouse 3+ years after buying the property!

April also saw us start monthly short trips to someplace we could drive to (no big trips because of Covid – we postponed our flight to Arizona from March to November).

We went to the Oregon coast, a mountain lake cabin, a new-to-us city, and to see far flung friends and it was SO good after 2020.

They gave us things to look forward to so it wouldn’t feel like all we did was work on the house, lol.

May-June: I finally got the side sunken garden laid out and planted, which was a big goal for me (one moved from the previous year when it didn’t happen!) – using only plants deer won’t eat (mostly).

We also finished exterior projects in preparation for painting, including installing battens to finish our board-and-batten siding sections, adding wood to the porch ceiling, removing rotting porch rails and beefing up the columns.

July-August: The farmhouse finally got its coat of paint that helped blend the original house and the back addition. SO pretty.

We also had the remaining roof redone to coordinate with the addition roof – AND I got my dreamed-of metal porch roof.

Seriously, every time I drive up, I can’t believe I get to live here!

All that work? SO WORTH IT.

Lesson: Hang in there! 😀

September-November: The vegetable garden harvest came in and I was a preserving maniac, even though our garden is smaller here at the farmhouse. You can see in the tour here that you can grow a LOT of food in a smaller – and low maintenance – footprint.

One of the preserving methods I use a lot is freezing food, so I shared all the EASY ways you can freeze produce in this freebie and the ebook you have the opportunity to buy through the freebie or as a physical product here.

We spent a sweet week at the coast in September and then flew for the first time in two years to Arizona at the end of October for three weeks.

As for my business, I updated the website homepage, and worked on opening a Shopify shop where I could house all the products I’ve created – or wanted to create – over the years in one place.

This was a BIG deal and feels good to have it open the end of November!

You can visit the An Oregon Cottage shop here.

I also released the 2022 version of The Flexible Planner which you can again purchase as a downloadable, print-at-home product OR order it printed and coil-bound. These are also available in the shop.

December: I got to decorate the farmhouse for the first time for Christmas! You can see the tour here (the theme was cream knitted cables which I had been working on since the summer…).

The day after Christmas saw our first measurable snow in the Willamette Valley in a number of years. Thankfully we still have power as I write this (though that can change…).

2021 Goals Recap

Personal: I met most of my personal goals except being consistent in keeping a gratitude journal and completing the cookbook challenge. Both were mostly met, but I definitely lost steam for these as the year progressed.

Home/Financial: We reached all these goals – yay!! We had to move the Arizona trip from April to November, but we did go.

Biz: These goals were half met as well – I completed the homepage redo and updated more content for the site-wide audit. I switched courses from the one mentioned to a different one and was able to complete 2 products out of the four I hoped for, so this is still a big win in my book!

Remember, any movement forward is better than nothing!!

2022 Goals & Dreams

For this next year, my goals are again determined by our 5-year “big” goals (easy to list in your Flexible Planner!).

Ours surround continuing to fix up the farmhouse, plans to travel, work on predictable income and funding retirement, plus investing in relationships.

For my goals, I choose 3-4 things I want to work on in three main areas. This feels doable to me because many of them are things we will be doing anyway.

Choose what works for you – even one goal for the year is better than nothing!

Personal:

1. Write at least a line in gratitude journal 5 days a week (minimum).
2. Take daily afternoon walks (weather permitting) in addition to continuing 3x/week online Barre workouts.
3. Low-sugar January and 1-2 plant-based meals each week.
4. 2-4 monthly friend/family meet-ups.

Home/Financial:

1. Finish farmhouse upstairs bath, landing, my office, and stairs.
2. Plan and create a back door patio area and kitchen door patio.
3. Tighten budget and reevaluate.
4. Continue monthly(ish) travels and plan for possible trip to Europe.

Business:

1. Plan 3-4 quarterly product launches.
2. Move more products into An Oregon Cottage’s shop.
3. Use large wall calendar (and Post Its maybe) to plan better long-term.
4. Organize biz financials and have a yearly review.

Curious about my past goals? You can see them all here.