Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Let's reach some goals!

I actually made some resolutions this year. I started working on them in December when I decided that I needed to make some changes, so I've been at it for 2 weeks now, and I notice such a difference. 


My first resolution is: just do something. Do a little something productive each day to keep the house clean and my life in order. It took me a few days to get myself into a rhythm of what this exactly means for me. I typically get very overwhelmed when I have a lot to do and I end up doing nothing and then our house ends up looking a mess. When I sit around in clutter, I get sad. I had an awful cycle going. Lately, I've started just looking at and handling little chunks. When I go down to refill my water bottle before bed, I'll give myself 10 minutes to straighten up down there. If I can't finish it in 10 minutes, it's ok, I can do some more the next day, but at least something was done. If I finish before my 10 minutes is up, I go straighten up the living room. Since I've been staying on top of all the housework in my 10 minute window I can normally put away any clean dishes, wash whatever is in the sink, wipe down, the counter, sweep the floor, and put away anything we've left out in the living room. Yesterday I wanted to take down the Christmas decorations. I started during Judah's nap. When he woke up I fed/played with him and didn't do anything else until I put him down for bed. Once he was sleeping I told myself I'd work for an our and then be done. I finished putting up my decorations in 30 minutes and used the rest of my time to sweep, dust, and clean the kitchen. I've always known I work better with time limits, so I'm going to get back to that this year. Another thing I started doing (I think I read it in Good Housekeeping Magazine) is immediately handling anything that will take me less than 30 seconds to do. The author of the article said she tackles anything that takes less than a minute, my lazy brain will talk me out of 60 seconds of work, but who can deny a 30 second task? Instead of throwing my coat or purse down on the couch, I take the extra 5 steps to hang it up. Instead of throwing my clothes on a chair and letting it pile up for 2 weeks (seriously, I've been doing that for the past 3 years, I've had enough) I put them where they need to go. It's something so simple, but it's really helped me not have any clutter hanging around. 

My second major resolution was to get our finances in order. We're going to do the 21 day financial fast again starting on Sunday, and use that as our starting point to getting our financial house in tip top shape. One of the goals I want to accomplish is going on vacation at the end of the year. In order to reach that goal, I need to be more diligent with our money. 

My blogging time for tonight is up, but I'll probably keep blogging about the finance aspect. I'm going to talk to my money savvy twitter pal Singlema tomorrow about some stuff.

Also, pray for Judah today y'all. We're going to get a gastrointestinal test done today at 1:30 at Children's Hospital. I pray they find absolutely nothing wrong with my sweet baby. Go on ahead and touch your computer screen and agree with me :)

7 comments:

Jameil said...

Touched & agreed! I love your 10 minute and 30 second rules. I tried a little when NG wrote about it and liked what I saw. I'm doing it again starting before I go to bed tonight! Thanks for the reminder! I'm ready to wrangle our finances as well!

Adrienne said...

Touching and agreeing!!
Praying for "OUR" little guy lol

When I first became a SAHM I used the flylady system. Since I enjoy email so much I got an email reminder to go and do some task. It was the best thing ever. I still use some of the tips today.

unityfalls said...

Prayers up for Judah. Glad you've got a system that's working for you.

Anonymous said...

Send the prayers up for little man!

Nerd Girl said...

Prayers said.

I so agree - when the house gets out of control, it gets waaaay out of control and then I'm irritable and witchy about it. I have been pretty good about doing a little every day, but still have some major stuff to clean up and out - here's to getting it done!

My main goal this year is to gain more control over my mouth.

InnerDiva said...

Praying for little Judah!
I'm going to try your "do something" method. I look around the house and I feel so overwhelmed...or I start one thing and then start 4 other things at the same time, lol.

K. Rock said...

Yes I have definitely had to learn that something has to be done EVERYDAY toward keeping the house clean. I think I am making a turn for the better. You can too!

Glad to read that everything was ok with Judah.

 
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