Welcome to my January 2021 Favorites!
Hey there, I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy. January is normally a hard month for me with our long winters here but add in a lockdown and tough family circumstances and it’s honestly pretty brutal. Thankfully my faith gets me through as well as leaning into the things that bring a smile to my face. So in this post I’ll share a few of those things with you. Writing them out like this helps me to remember all I have to be thankful for. And I’m especially thankful to all of you for stopping by this little online home of mine. Welcome!
JANUARY 2021 FAVORITES
*I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. All products shown were purchased by me unless otherwise noted.*
currently pondering:
I don’t know if you noticed or not but in January I had no guest contributors. Both Kristin and Morgan stepped down after writing for me for five years. Five years is a long time! I’m so grateful to them for sticking with me all these years and sharing so many great organizing posts with all of us. Now I need to decide if I’d like to bring on more contributors or just do without. I like the idea of bringing on someone that is in a different stage of life than me. Someone with small kiddos to share all the organizing that is necessary with a life of littles. Or if I should just keep on doing what I did for January. Sharing my own organizing journey whatever that may be at the time. I’d really love to know your thoughts on this. Contributors or no contributors that is the question?
Currently Loving:
Okay so there are three things in this category this month starting with my new water bottle! I loved my old water bottle that many of you might remember with the time stamps down the side. I used this one faithfully for a full year.
However there were two things I didn’t like about it. It didn’t fit into my car cup holder very well and I wished it came with a straw attachment. So I set about to find a new water bottle for 2021. And I’m so happy with the one I found on Amazon. It holds 32 oz which I like and has a skinnier bottom so it fits in most standard cup holders. It also comes with two different kinds of tops, one that you lift and pour and this one that I have on that is with a straw. I love it! I had to buy the silicone “boot” separately HERE but I appreciate having it there to protect my surfaces.
Next up I’m loving pretty TULIPS! This year they were out in stores at the beginning of January and I couldn’t have been more happy about it! I seriously could take pictures of their beauty all day long. Love, love, love!
Finally the third thing I’m loving has been something I’ve been loving for a couple of years. However I just bought myself a new one so thought I’d show you it quick before it got all covered in hair. Have you seen these tools to help you remove hair from your hairbrushes? They work so well! I apparently lose a lot of hair regularly so my brushes always get full of hair and with the help of these tools I can easily remove it all so quickly. I sure love products that make my life easier. Check them out on Amazon HERE.
CURRENTLY WATCHING:
Okay this one I’ve really enjoyed this past month. It’s another Youtube channel and it is just awesome. It’s called The Recycled Life and it’s about two best friends, Laura and Selena, that document their thrifting adventures each week. They live near Oregon in the US and their trips are so fun to follow. They both love vintage items but have such different tastes so you get a bit of everything. I think I was just really drawn to them this month as I’m missing my own thrifting adventures with my bestie. Lockdown please be over soon! Anyway check out The Recycled Life on Youtube if this seems like something you might also enjoy. They are almost to 100,000 subscribers!
CURRENTLY READING:
I use Goodreads to track the books I read each year and last year my challenge was to read 12 books, one a month. You guys I only read 10. This is so sad to me because I actually love to read. But I think I just read to many 3 star books in a row and I kind of got frustrated with the whole thing. This year I set the same challenge for myself and I surprised myself by already reading THREE books in January! I found an author I liked, by the name of Katherine Center, so just kept going with her books. I rated all three of these books 4 stars. The writing just flowed and I found myself not wanting to put them down. Yay! Have you read any of Katherine Center’s books?
Here’s what it looks like in Goodreads. Do you use this app? It’s so good. I highly recommend it!
CURRENTLY TRACKING:
Besides tracking my book reading, I’m also challenging myself with other things this month. Each month I’m going to pick a different goal to track each day. Guess what I picked for January? As if being in lockdown wasn’t enough, I challenged myself to not eat chips in January, yikes! Chips are my favorite but they aren’t exactly healthy and aren’t exactly Paleo. But thanks to this handy little tracker I’m doing it! I am conquering NO CHIP January, go me! As for the tracker, I originally saw it on the Sweet Jolie Boutique Instagram page as they are using it to encourage everyone to do 30 minutes of movement each day. I’m doing that too! However I tracked down the original source of the printable and will link it HERE. I always like to give credit where credit is due. Isn’t it fun? It gives me that little extra bit of motivation I need and helps to hold me accountable.
Currently Purging:
I did two drop offs to our local thrift store this past month. Just random stuff from around the house and the after Christmas clean up. There is always something to be donated!
What have you been purging this past month?
Currently ORGANIZING:
Thanks to two posts this past month, my site saw more traffic than it normally does. For that I’m so grateful. In case you haven’t had a chance to check out what I’ve been organizing and cleaning lately, I’ll link those here below for you.
My Go Clean Co Floor Cleaning Experiment
And my freezer organizing post where I used these inexpensive magazine holders.
I hope you’ll check these posts out and share them with your friends. I would so appreciate it!
My Amazon Store:
If anyone is wondering about organizing products and wanting to see more of my favorites, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve got them all together in one place. Check them all out right HERE in my Amazon shop. So many glorious things! And I’ve added quite a few new items this past month.
Current Sponsor:
Finally I want to thank Smead Manufacturing Company for being a long-standing sponsor of my site. Smead is a woman-owned company well-known for its high quality, environmentally responsible products and innovative organizational systems. For more than a century, Smead has been committed to one purpose: Keeping You Organized.
If you are working from home right now, you will find their round up of 20 home office organization ideas that will keep you organized in style super helpful. I especially think the Stadium File is brilliant! You can find Smead on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest as well as on their awesome Podcast and YouTube channel!
I hope you enjoyed taking this peek into my life and my January 2021 favorites. Tell me something that you are currently loving in your life. And if you’ve got any questions, let me know.
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Previous Catching Up posts ~ click on the graphic below to go have a read:
Marcia (OrganisingQueen) says
I love Katherine Center’s books. I’m going to make friends with you on Goodreads; also you should follow my bookstagram @marciareadsalot and see if any of my reviews sound interesting.
Do you like Irish fiction? I think you’d like Cathy Kelly books.
Marcia (OrganisingQueen) says
PS I think you should try find me rather. I added someone with your name but it doesn’t look like it’s you 🙂
Laura Wittmann says
Marcia I’m already friends with you on Goodreads!! 🙂 No I don’t typically like Irish fiction or anything historical actually lol.
Stephanie says
I enjoy reading what you write. I have 5 children (the oldest three are in college) so only two at home. I’m an older mom and our youngest is a teen. I’m finding that there are few blogs and podcasts for moms with older kids. Most are directed at younger moms. I love decluttering, cleaning, home decor, and fashion so I particularly enjoy reading about those areas. I was also inspired by you to stop coloring my hair and embrace my grays! Thank you for sharing with us!
Laura Wittmann says
Yay so happy you’ve embraced your grays Stephanie, very cool! And thank you for your feedback, it means a lot to me!
Laura
Melissa Reyes says
It’s great catching up with you! I want to do and buy all the things! You make being cooped up sound good! I’m sorry to hear that it has been challenging and you are dealing with family issues. I guess we all are. Hope it gets better for you!
Laura Wittmann says
Thanks Melissa and thank you so much for popping in!!
MelanieL says
Hi Laura! Tulips are my favorite, I will try to find some this weekend. That is such a neat little daily tracker! Your “voice” is my favorite and my kids are teens, so I’d say I’m indifferent on guest posts. 🙂
Laura Wittmann says
Are you saying you just come here for my witty personality? Hahaha just kidding!! I appreciate the feedback 🙂
Laura
Michelle says
I’m an organization addict and have been reading your blog for years. I search occasionally for new blogs and everyone of them seems to be geared toward young families or at least families with kids still at home. What about those of us who are empty nesters? Instead of looking for a contributor with young kids, would you consider finding a contributor who is trying to figure out what to do with the “treasures” left behind when the kids leave home or are thinking about downsizing?
Suzanne says
Hi Laura! ? agree with Michelle’s comment,and also enjoy reading these “catching up” posts. Keep up the great work! ?
Laura Wittmann says
Thanks so much Suzanne!
Carly says
I’m a single person who has no plan to have children, an I’m nearing my 50s…and long ago started to accept my greying hair (I actually started in my early teens!)…so contributors wouldn’t be necessary though. But I’d love to hear more on organizing and working with thrift finds. Thanks for the link to the girls on YouTube, I’m sure I’ll enjoy watching them!