January- Organize Me

Why Organize Me first?

I chose Organize Me as my January project because I have a whole lot to work on. Now, this is not going to all be taken care of in January. Everything I will list below is going to be an ongoing project. The only person you can change is yourself and I feel like some days I don't even know who I am or what I'm doing. I have to control the things I can control so I have time for the things I want to do.

I know I am messy, lazy, sloppy, unorganized, overweight, negative, and a top notch procrastinator. I also know that I don't want to be any of those things.

So my Organize Me month consists of these projects:

1. Set a Schedule - Gain Time

I have fought this one for so long but now that AG is almost 2, I see she needs this structure. Now, it's me, it won't be a super strict schedule but more of a guideline. I also seem to get so much more done when it is written down and then I get to mark it off. It's like it proves I did it :) I have never wanted to have a set schedule because I have always believed it would leave no time for fun things. But now I see, I don't use the time I have wisely and some days I get nothing done because I didn't plan for this or that. Or I made plans and forgot and now we are late and I'm stressed and AG gets stressed and then things are fun. So I will:

• Make a Schedule for our family, cleaning, blog, and work. 

• Tools I am using include an awesome packet of lists, calendars, and fun, cute papers from List Lab on Etsy. She emailed me with the download information within 30 minutes of the purchase. You can get editable ones where you can type on them but they are a little bit more money then I had budgeted for this. Plus, I love any excuse to buy fun colored pens so it was a win/win for me! From now until January 15, 2013 you can get 15% off when you use this promo code: NEWYR15

List Lab Bundle I bought

(I bought this bundle because it includes Home, Blog, and Business. Although technically I am not devoting an entire month to my Blog and Business until April, I have started using those sheets as well, just not as strict.)

2. Declutter - Gain Space and Time (in our home and in my mind)

I lose stuff in clutter. I get frustrated with clutter. The hubby gets super frustrated with my clutter. I get so tired just looking at it and I put it off and off. But I'm going to do it NOW.

• This one kind of goes hand in hand with "Get Organized." As Flylady says, "You can't organize clutter." So to help me tackle things one day at time I ordered this super cute and helpful Declutter Calendar. It is also a download and sold by C3L Designs on Etsy. She was super fast as well and I had it within the hour of ordering. It has check marks next to each item. It also isn't dated so you can use it year after year. And you can skip around. Choose items for the amount of time you have for that day. 

Declutter Calendar

3. Be Healthy - Lose Weight, Increase Engergy, Gain Freedom, Gain Confidence

This always seems to be one for most people. For me, I am at an all time high (without a baby inside). I am not leaving this one as a simple, "lose weight" resolution. These are the steps I am taking:

• The hubs and I just started a Biggest Loser style competition between the two of us. We weighed in on midnight at New Year's. We are doing it from that moment until April 1st. We are using the Largest Loser iPhone app. So far it is working great. It is $2.99 but that's a small fee for weight lost motivation.  You enter your starting weight and then each week you weigh in and it calculates your percentage lost. It doesn't show your weight so it is good for groups who what to keep it private. 
• To make it more fun we are coming up with what the loser will have to do or what the winner gets. But no money will be spent. Examples of what I am thinking: When I win, I will get a massage (back, feet, whichever body part I chose) every day I ask for 2 weeks. And he will have to dust and do the laundry. 

• We are both doing a Weight Watchers eating style plus whatever other methods we choose (no carbs, low carbs, no alcohol, etc.) 

• I am also starting jogging/running. I have to admit I haven't actually started yet. It is so cold. I will get on the ball for this one. I have always admired runners. For a very brief time right before I got pregnant I had started jogging. I loved it. I felt so free. As added motivation for this one, I have a goal to run my first 5k in May. Hopefully with my best friend who is a runner. This makes it extra fun because I get girl time out of it. I have two runs in mind and as soon as we have the dates set I am signing up. 
• To do this I am using the Couch to 5k Plan. I'm starting slow and building up. 

4. Improve Self-Esteem - Be happy with me, Teach my baby girl to be happy with herself

• I have never had consistent good self-esteem. I would have small periods where I was ok with me but never where I was really happy with me. Why work on it now? Because I have a daughter who is watching every move I make and taking in every word I say. I have to change this about myself so I can teach her how to love herself. 
• For this I am reading Beth Moore's book, So Long, Insecurity. I read it a few years ago but didn't follow through on things. I am reading it with a friend and we are going to discuss it together and hold one another accountable. 

5. Find Me - Be a better me, a better wife, a better mom, a better friend

This one is a broad one. I know I can't be the only mom who became a SAHM (and who loves it) yet feels they have lost their identity. I feel like once I had our sweet girl, everything in my life changed and only a few things in my husband's life changed. I am not upset with him over that (well, not most days :)). But if you carried your child inside of you, you had body changes. If you breastfed, you had a kid stuck to your boob most of the day, especially if you had a slow eater like mine who only napped when she was eating. Now that she is a toddler, that's a whole new set of changes. I know what she likes but what do I like any more. To answer those questions:

• I am going to read at least 12 books this year. Reading is a fun escape and opens your mind to new ideas.
• Starting to jog is part of this. It will be me time.
• Volunteer. I love volunteering. I really feel almost guilty about how much I love it. Yet I never do it. For some reason I have so much trouble committing to a schedule that I can't call somewhere and set a date to come. So setting a monthly schedule will allow me to do this.
• Take a self defense class. I hate feeling helpless. I also think this would help with my confidence and self-esteem. 

6. Be Thankful - Appreciate the Now and all I have

• Gretchen Rubin has a one sentence gratitude journal but I just bought cute tiny notebooks with quotes on them from Target. I like the small pages because it makes me feel like I am writing more. 
• Each day I reflect back on a good point of the day in general and I have added my own thing: Write a sentence about something AG did that made me smile. I'm realizing that each day is so precious and so much clouds our minds that we forget things so quickly. So this way, I can go back and read about the day and see what she was doing then too. 
• Good Morning America is offering Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home and her Gratitude Journal as a bundle and it is 60% off!! Go get it!

To keep track of all my goals and track my progress, I am using a free app I found for the iPhone called  Goal Master. It allows you to track daily, weekly, monthly, and years goals. You can have a mixture of counters, check boxes, or targets to meet. You simply tap it once you have met the goal and it keeps a tally. It also has a bar graph that shows you the percentage of times you have met your goals. It's a fun way to look back and see your progress. 

I can't believe I have forgot to ask questions the past few days so please, leave comments and let me know what your resolutions are, are you doing a happiness project, do you have a theme of the year?

What are your goals for 2013?

If you are just joining in, you can catch up on my plan and theme if you would like. 

New Years Resolutions - My Happiness Project

Happy New Year!!! I cannot believe it is 2013! That's just so crazy!

Source: vi.sualize.us via Samantha on Pinterest

I used to always make New Year's Resolutions but I quit a few years back because I would always fail by February or only make it until March at the longest. I hated the feeling of failing so I just quit making them all together. But this year I am making resolutions in a different way. I am doing a Happiness Project for 2013.

What is a Happiness Project? It is a project to get happier ;)

How do you do it? Gretchen's Happiness Project website has the best info but in short, you choose things to work on with a main goal broken up into smaller measurable resolutions.

I will be modeling a combination of both of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project and Happier at Home project. Plus I will be adding my own spin. That's the beauty of them. It's about making YOU happier so you choose the things that matter to you and the schedule that fits your life.

If you haven't read her books, you totally should!! I LOVE them!!

Why am I doing a Happiness Project?

To become happier. I use to be a relatively positive person. I always saw the glass as half full. I loved turning lemons into lemonade and helping people see the best in a situation. Then life got the best of me and brought out the worst.  I started focusing so much on the negative that I couldn't see anything good in any situation. I have begun focusing so much on the regret of an event or a chance I missed that I am missing the good times happening in my life now.

I have spent more "blue" days in the past few years than happy days when in all reality my life is so much better than it used to be. It is just that I am focusing on the wrong things. I am not appreciating the amazing things in my life and I want to change that. I am the only person I can change and I must start now.

As a mom, I don't want to look back and realized I didn't appreciate AG's childhood. I also realize I am being a model for her. So if she sees mommy sad more than happy then that is going to affect her. (Now I am not talking about depression. That is totally different and if you suffer from depression, please seek medical attention and monitor your depression symptoms.) We have an amazing life and I don't want our daughter to grow up seeing things negatively. That is something I have a good bit of control over, at least in her younger years.

When I told my husband he asked if I really think it will make me happier, which is similar to the response Gretchen got from her husband. Personally, all I can think is what will it hurt? I think it will. The items on my list are things that I feel are the most important changes I need to make.

I was also inspired in Happier at Home to have a single word that represents your theme of the year. The word came to me immediately while I was still reading the chapter. Low and behold her last chapter of the book would be all about my word. My word of the year is NOW. As a procrastinator and a relatively negative person, I always put things off and make excuses as to why I can't do something. I also don't do things because something could change in the future. Example: my husband wanted kayaks a few years ago. I told him no because one day we would have children and we couldn't take them out in a kayak. So we never got them. Does that even make since? There will be a whole post on this tomorrow.

Gretchen uses this formula to determine what to add to her list: (taken straight from her book, The Happiness Project)

1. What makes you feel good? What activities do you find fun, satisfying, and energizing?
2. What makes you feel bad? What are sources of anger, irritation, boredom, frustration, or anxiety in your life?
3. Is there any way in which you don't feel right about your life? Do you wish you could change your job, your city, your family situation or other circumstances? Are you living up to your expectations of yourself? Does your life reflect your values?
4. Do you have sources of an atmosphere of growth? In what elements of your life do you find progress, learning, challenge, improvement, and increased mastery?

So here goes my Happiness Project and the details:

My Happiness Project is for 5 months. Why 5 months? Because I turn 30 in five months. I am tackling the big things I need to address and want to change before then.

Here is my teaser list. Check back during the first week of each month to get the details of my plan and then follow along. I am working on each subject for a month and caring it over into the next month.

January: Organize Me and My Family (more to come later this week)

February: My Sweet Girl -AG

March: My Hubby

April: My Business and Blog

May: Family and Friends

There will be some overlapping as with any aspect of life. I am also going to be participating in Gretchen Rubin's 21 Day Challenge which begins on January 14. Learn more here.