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Mongan Moments

  • Home
    • All Holidays Home Ownership

      New Festive Romances to Read This Winter

      November 1, 2022

      Lifestyle Changes for our New Home

      March 5, 2020

      Our Kitchen Renovation with Howdens

      July 31, 2018

      Before & After: Our Bathroom Renovation

      May 2, 2018

      New Festive Romances to Read This Winter

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      How to Host an Unforgettable Friendsgiving

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      Explore New Genres with the 2023 Diversify…

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      New Festive Romances to Read This Winter

      November 1, 2022

      Announcing the 2022 Diversify Your Reading Challenge

      November 10, 2021

      Explore New Genres with the 2023 Diversify…

      November 3, 2022

      New Festive Romances to Read This Winter

      November 1, 2022

      Announcing the 2022 Diversify Your Reading Challenge

      November 10, 2021

      It’s Here! The 2021 Diversify Your Reading…

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      My Sephora Favorites & Where to Find…

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      Black Boots on my Luxury Wish List

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      Luxury Shoes on My Spring Wish List

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      5 Fall Wardrobe Staples Every Twenty Something…

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      12 Lessons From 12 Months of Marriage

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      Should Your Pet Be Part of Your…

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Lifestyle Changes for our New Home

written by Kelly Mongan March 5, 2020

I think that moving provides a great opportunity to press reset on a ton of things – your daily routine, your cleaning and eating habits, your exercise routine, etc. Whether it’s the idea of a new space or new surroundings that gives me the ‘fresh start’ mindset, I’m not completely sure. However, I know for a fact that I feel different in our new home and that there are some changes I want to make now that we live here.

I know I only recently shared my personal goals for 2020, but I’m rebooting them with a focus on lifestyle changes I want to make now that we’re in a new house. They’re not all necessarily “goals”, but I do think each and every one of these will contribute to us having an even happier life in our new home.

1. Become a Morning Person

For some reason, this has already naturally happened since we moved into the new house. Part of it is Giorgio’s fault – he’s been quite the nuisance recently, jumping out of bed super early. But, once I’m up, the natural light in the house rejuvenates me and I love starting my day a bit earlier. I have mainly been using the extra time to treat myself to some reading time, but I can see myself becoming more productive as I get more used to it.

2. Reduce Food Waste

This is one of the 2020 goals that I am most passionate about. I don’t consider myself an eco warrior at all, but I do try to cut out single use plastics and make smart environmental choices whenever I can. Last year, I was shocked at how much food we threw away each week and I want to do more to cut that out. So far, my plan for this year is:

  • Utilize meal boxes whenever we can. I love our Gousto/HelloFresh/Mindful Chef deliveries so much, but I also love picking out recipes from the cookbooks that we own. I don’t picture us getting a meal box every single week, but I would like to order them consistently. The meal boxes are great because everything is pre-portioned, so there is absolutely no food waste. They’re also perfect for when I’m away – Sean orders a two person box and it cuts out the need for him to do a shop, plus covers all of his dinners & lunches for the week!
  • Get creative with food staples & leftover produce. I want to remember to shop our pantry before we go grocery shopping. By taking stock of what we already have, I can come up with creative ways to use up those items instead of just buying more. We also just signed up for Oddbox – I absolutely love this concept and think it will force us to be creative when it comes to meal planning. Oddbox delivers surplus fruit & vegetables (i.e., the stuff farmers couldn’t sell to stores) straight to your door. The contents will be a surprise each week and we will need to build our meal plan around them. I’m sure we won’t get it 100% right the first couple of times, but I hope that we’ll eventually use absolutely everything in the box. If you’re interested in trying Oddbox (London Only), this referral code will get you £5 off your first box.
  • Composting! This actually scares me because I have no idea what to do. But we have a garden and composting is good for plants and it’s a way to use food waste. Might make this one Sean’s job though…

3. Exercise at Home

We have been floating the idea of purchasing a Peloton for awhile now and we’re finally going to go for it this spring. I’ve never been big on working out from home, but I love spin classes and hope that the Peloton is the encouragement I need to do them frequently (and in my own backyard). We’re not planning to go overboard on our home gym (we’ll just have a set of weights, resistance bands, and the Peloton), but I really want to get into a routine of exercising more frequently. And, with my new ‘morning person’ status, I actually have time in my day to do so.

4. Learn to Keep Plants Alive

Yes, it’s true, I really want to become a plant person. I love the look of house plants and, now that we have a big garden, want to add some outdoor plants into the mix, as well. However, I cannot for the life of me keep a plant alive. So I’m going to ease myself into it and use sites like Patch that will help me understand how to take care of each plant. We bought a little plant for the downstairs bathroom and will add a few more around the house over time. Eventually, I want to throw in some herbs, too. Wish us luck!

5. Start Journaling

Writing is one of my passions, but for some reason journaling and I just do not get along. I really want to work on our relationship, though, because I think it could ultimately be really good. So I’m going to try to start journaling…again. Maybe it’ll stick this time!

6. Date my Husband

Sean and I have decided to start dating again (each other, of course!). We moved in together 4.5 years ago and have maybe been on 6 actual dates during that time. But, whenever we have a proper date night (dressed up, making actual plans, effort involved), we love every second of it. So, this month, we are kicking off a round of Alphabet Dating. Each week(ish), one of us will tackle the next letter of the alphabet – I’ll be sharing all of our dates on Instagram stories, so follow me there to see what we get up to for each letter.

7. Create a ‘No Phone Zone’

I haven’t decided if I want this to be a space (e.g., the bedroom) or a time frame (e.g., after 8pm), but I really want to restrict phone usage, especially at night. My initial plan was to keep all devices out of the bedroom and charge them downstairs, but then I got paranoid that there would be an emergency and we wouldn’t have phones nearby. But I do want to eliminate the temptation of the phone on the bedside table – it’s way too easy to check the time in the middle of the night and end up scrolling.

8. Hire a Cleaner

I recently read how important it is to outsource where you can, even in your personal/home life. I absolutely hate cleaning, but I hate living in a dirty house even more. While I’m keen to become better about everyday tidying and dusting/wiping things down, I really want our house to feel truly clean. We talked about hiring a cleaning service 1-2 times per month in our old flat and, now that we have a bigger space, I’m going to go ahead and do it. If anything, it’ll mean a good dust and scrub a couple times per month, which will make the everyday tidying that much easier.


I knew that this move would be a big change regardless, but it’s crazy how much happier I already feel in our new space. There’s so much light and so much room and I can actually nap without hearing Sean watching one of his dumb cartoons in the next room. This move has already been a huge improvement to my everyday life, but I’m looking forward to it getting even better.

Leave a comment if you have any tips on how I can make the above happen!

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Kelly Mongan

Kelly Mongan is a full-time professional with a pure blogging obsession, running two blogs and countless Instagram accounts. While she's always tied up from 9-5, Kelly spends her free time exploring London (or Europe) with her husband, dreaming up ways to improve her house, or having a crazy cuddle sessions with on the couch with her dog. She's passionate about writing, reading, wine, and travel. She blogs about her travels on A Pair of Passports.

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Welcome!

Welcome to Mongan Moments, a personal and lifestyle blog and home to the Diversify Your Reading Challenge.

About Me

About Me

Hi, I'm Kelly!

I'm a lover of coffee, wine & craft beer, and all things American - baseball, summer BBQs, and Thanksgiving, to name a few. I'm a traveler with a desire to get to know every corner of this earth, but nothing makes me happier than curling up with a good book and a glass of wine at home.

I currently reside in South West London with my husband, Sean, and our dog, Giorgio. Join us as we renovate our home, navigate marriage, prance about town, and attempt to live the best life possible each and every day. And stay tuned to hear about all the books I read along the way!

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