90-Day Life Challenge: The Daily Dozen [Productivity Edition]

Day 14 of the 90-Day Life Challenge is going to bring another Daily Dozen, but this one is a Productivity list. Everybody needs a list like this, and I'm finally creating one for myself that keeps me from being a completely ineffective scatter-brain.

1. Rise before the sun. I have chosen 4:30am as my rise-and-shine time. It seems insane, but I do seem to naturally wake up before the 5am alarm I've always set. So why not push it a little? 
2. My 3 Most Important Tasks [MITs] must be completed/addressed before I do anything else. In the daily planner, this section is indicated by the "Must Do" section.
3. Follow the Pomodoro method of productivity. This one is a personal favorite at the moment because I have a tendency to scatter-and-flounder when working on important tasks. Then my time management and effectiveness suffer and I feel crappy about the amount of time I put into my tasks. A separate post detailed the Pomodoro method will follow, but the basic idea is that for every 25 minutes for focused work, you take a 5 minute "brain break" to boost efficiency and productivity.
4. Get organized. I'm definitely not yet, but I am actively working to improve my organization. Right now, I spent 10-15 minutes every day focusing on a specific area that needs improvement. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I will be working on our household paperwork.
5. Prioritize my "to do" list. This process is 2-fold. First, I needed to select the perfect set of planning materials--for more information, please read my posts about creating my Daily Planning Binder. Second, I need to prioritize my tasks. This harkens back to my first experience with Franklin Covey when I was in high school, nearly 15 years ago. Basically, tasks receive a lettered priority rating (i.e. A = crucial; B = important; C = flexible). Then, once tasks are given a rating, they are then ranked in order of importance with numbers.
6. Whenever a new task crosses my plate, use the Eisenhower Box. This copy of the Eisenhower Box was retrieved from the Huffington Post (article linked HERE). It is extremely easy to understand, and as long as you follow the guidelines for each task, you will never have more than you can handle at any given time.
   
7. Use the "just one more thing" rule. I made this one up myself, and am a big fan. The idea is that whatever I'm doing, be it scrubbing the toilet, or tidying up the kitchen, I will find one more 2-minute task to complete. For instance, I am scrubbing the toilet, so I will take 2 minutes to spray a rag and wipe down the outside of the toilet or a few spots I see on the tub. Saves time during the weekly cleaning later.
8. "Chunk" my tasks together. Simply put, when I begin to work on emails, I will only work on emails across the board until they are finished. No shifting gears.
9. Set aside time for a "2-minute rush" at the end of the day. Any small tasks that have accumulated through the course of the day, spend 20-30 minutes at the end of the day and knock about 10 off of your to do list.
10. Stop multi-tasking. Turn off your phone, put on some light ambient music, and clear your space of distractions when beginning to work on a task. In the short-term, it might feel better to have the TV on in the background--believe me, I'm there--but it won't help you get the work done any faster. 
11. When you are feeling overwhelmed, smile. I mean it, smile, and say, "I forgive me for struggling, but I'm not done yet." This is a very difficult thing for me to do, but I am slowly learning to allow the bad feelings to happen, and to let them pass through me. I will survive them, and I will complete my goals as planned.
12. Reward yourself for a job well done. Positive reinforcement will always keep you coming back for more. 

I hope you found some of the tips helpful, they have been tested on my end and I am happy to report some success in my personal life. Let me know if you have some suggestions too. I'm all ears :)

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Daily Planning [Creating My Life Binder]

Ah, I am nearly done with my Daily Planner, and now the last step is the finding my perfect daily planning form. I think I did, and it's also by Eliza Ellis Beautiful Organizers (linked HERE). If you are interested in seeing my choices for the Monthly and Weekly planning pages, you can view these posts HERE (Monthly) and HERE (Weekly).

Materials I Am Using For My Daily Planner

From her exquisite set of FREE printables, I have selected the "Oh Happy Day" planner in the color "Happy" (light, sunny yellow). This day planner is a two-page planner that I have printed back-to-back. The two pages have 4 columns of organization:

• Column 1 - Appointments to be scheduled during a 16-hour day
• Column 2 - Gives you space for your 3 most important tasks of the day, plus additional space for notes
• Column 3 - A "To Do" list for whatever I hope to accomplish in a day
• Column 4 - Is entirely about personal care, with spaces for meal-tracking, water intact, workout, daily habits, and groceries to purchase

Basically, it's a little bit of everything, so I always feel like I have a way to organize my thoughts and random items that suddenly appear on my "To Do" list as the day progresses.

Putting The Daily Planner Together

Alright, that pretty much covers the planning components of my Daily Planner, but there are just a few small details to attend to: First, I need binder covers and a spine cover for the planner. And second, I need a few accessories handy so I can stay organized.

The cover was easy. All I did was grab some taupe-y cardstock that I had lying around and go into Microsoft Word to create my cover. I wanted simple, non-specific in terms of date--I am far too lazy to keep remaking a cover annually--, and also something briefly descriptive of the contents. Obviously, I did not go creatively overboard, but I am pleased with the finished product.

The only change that I would make to my Daily Planner is to purchase some cute washi tape in 3 different styles for daily, weekly, and monthly pages. I can line the outside of the page to easily access the section I am looking for.

Hope this inspires somebody to plan their day!

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Weekly Planning [Creating My Life Binder]

As promised, I am back today with the Weekly Planning installment of my quest to create my Life Binder. I mentioned this in the previous post about Monthly Planning (linked HERE), but I'll reiterate--I needed to make my planner a more portable and separate item from my all-encompassing Life Binder. I chose a simple 1/2-inch white binder that fits neatly in my satchel.

Materials I Am Using For My Weekly Planner

The "Family Weekly Planner" and the "Weekly Schedule" are both printed from Easy Life Planners (linked HERE), which cost me $19.99. To make this two-sided form, I just print two pages from the "Life Planner" section back-to-back. The second form entitled "This Week" is a FREE printable from Eliza Ellis Beautiful Printables (linked HERE). Luckily, if you are not a fan of the exact style--or the color I've chosen, for that matter--then you can select from 9 styles and 6 color options.

I've chosen these forms from -- for the following reasons:

• As with the Monthly Planning pages, these pages are not date-specific and once owned, can be used indefinitely.
• The "Family Weekly Planner" is used to list the main appointments, events, and work engagements for myself, DH, Wee-One, "Other" (family, etc...), and a final column for notes (babysitter-needed, switch cars, etc...).
• The "Weekly Schedule" allows me to block off the total amount of time I'm spending on these engagements and make time for my family and friends.

I absolutely adore Irma's "This Week" form. I should mention that she has numerous FREE printable weekly and daily planners. "This Week" is a two-page document that I print as another double-sided form. The form acts as a perfect complement to the previously mentioned forms by --:

• The front page is a 2x4 grid blocks for all seven days of the week and an extra notes block. Rather than list appointments/events/work engagements, I list all of the daily events that can't or shouldn't be scheduled, i.e. blogging tasks, special friends/family time, side income tasks, chores, fun things to do with Wee-One or DH.
• The "notes" section allows me to list items that I have not assigned to a day yet.
• The back page has a "To Do" list, weekly dinner planner, and additional notes section.
• "To Do" list items are singular tasks or steps of a project that take no more than 10-20 minutes each. Ideally, I prefer to knock out 3-5 per day.
• The weekly dinner planner is nice because it keeps me from wasting food that I have on hand and time spent trying to figure out what we are going to eat.
• I love the additional notes section that gives me a space to list my successes with goals

*Action: The Weekly Planner will be finalized on the Sunday of the previous week, and reviewed nightly for 2-5 minutes while I am working on my Daily Planner.

Developing The Home Management Binder

The 1/2-inch binder will serve wonderfully for my Daily Planner purposes. I will store the items in order of daily, weekly, and then monthly planning forms. The reasoning being that this will be in order of most-to-least referenced forms. 

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Monthly Planning [Creating My Life Binder]

This is a rather obvious step for a person to take when he/she is trying to achieve peace and organization, so I don't know what has taken me so long. I'm such a micro-managing, OCD person by nature, and I just can't seem to settle on any one design that I like. Since I am not talented enough to create my own printables now, I will use resources that I've gathered and link all the materials I've used.

The "Creating My Life Binder" series will come in multiple parts--hopefully, culminating in a beautiful personal management system that will be completed by the end of my 90-Day Life Challenge.

Today, I am beginning with my Monthly Planning.

Materials I Am Using For My Monthly Planner

The "Month at a Glance" form (linked HERE) was purchased from SecretOwlSociety's Etsy shop. It comes as part of a larger purchase called the Ultimate Life Binder. I really appreciate this printable for several reasons:

• It isn't date-specific. Once purchased, it can be used indefinitely.
• The categories listed are: Top 3 Goals, To Do, Appointments & Events, Bills to Pay, Income and Savings Goals, and an End of Month Review.
• This form is a wonderful complement to a standard monthly calendar, which gives me the dates and perspective, while this form allows me to prepare better for these events and reflect on my successes/failures of the month.

The "Plan Ahead 2016-2017 Monthly Planner" was purchased at CVS for $6.99, and it's well worth the purchase. The blocks on the calendar are large enough to use a small Post-It Note if I need to highlight a specific event. 

*Action: The Monthly Planner will be briefly reviewed daily for 2-5 minutes to remind myself of upcoming events.

Developing The Home Management Binder

Upon further reflection as I was discussing the monthly planning feature I am using, I realized that my Home Management Binder will ultimately be 2 binders: a small 1/2-inch binder for the "Day Planner" that comes with me, and the larger 1 1/2-inch binder that contains the blog planning, home maintenance checklists, etc...

Hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to creating my personal organizational system. My next installment will be introducing the Weekly Planning choices, so stay tuned.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Create A Cleaning Routine

I am seriously loving my 90-Day Life Challenge, so much is being accomplished--and I feel relaxed about it. Since we will be moving in a little over 2 weeks, I think now is a great time to start developing a household cleaning routine. We can start fresh in our new apartment.

Let me begin by saying that I am--by no means--the first person to blog about this, let alone provide materials. However, I have always been a little wary of trying to use a routine created for someone else's house. It's not made for my house, so could it possibly cover everything I need? And while I appreciate every tip and trick I have read over the years, I always wished that a website would teach me how to create my own. If this is you, look no further.

Steps to Creating Your Own Cleaning Routine

Step 1: Brainstorming - This step will take a little time. Personally, I sat down for a quiet hour or so in the morning to work on this assignment. Below, I have posted a pdf link to the form I am currently using for my own brainstorming session. The tables are divided into indoor, outdoor, and miscellaneous chores sections. Fill in as much of the form as you can, thinking about what you want to be completely daily, weekly, monthly, etc..., and when you have finished, proceed to the next step. 

Brainstorm Household Chores Form

Step 2: A Closer Look - Now that you have jotted down your thoughts, take a walk from room-to-room in your house, pausing to revisit the list of chores you just finished. Did you include everything? Is there something you have left out? Remember, this is not a perfect system. You can always add, subtract, or change. Repeat this process for each section on the form.

Step 3: Review - Did you make unreasonable demands for yourself? Look at what you have listed for your daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual chores. Double check that you haven't over-committed, or been unrealistic in what should be completed in the allotted time frame. For example, you will rarely need to launder your curtains on a weekly basis, but on the other hand, you may want to mop your floors more than once a year. Just double-check yourself. 

Step 4: Get Feedback - If you choose, now is a good time to have your partner, roommate, whoever, look at your chart and see if you have left something out. 

Step 5: Creating the Daily Routine - Now, you are finally ready to create your routine. Your day-to-day routine naturally divides itself into segments, and I recommend you do the same. On a separate sheet of paper, make 4 columns with the headings: Morning, Afternoon, Dinner, and Bedtime. Now, looking at your "Brainstorm Household Chores Form," take each chore you have listed in the "Daily" column and place it into the Morning, Afternoon, Dinner, or Bedtime categories. Once you have finished, create an ordered list for each time of day, and voila, you have your Daily Routine.

Step 6: Creating the Weekly, Monthly, Seasonal, and Annual Routines - Following the same process, you are going to create your other routines. The columns headings are as follows:

Weekly Routine - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (leave at least one day off, and I recommend leaving )

Monthly Routine - 1st Friday (e.g.) of the month, 2nd Friday, 3rd Friday, and 4th Friday

Seasonal Routine - Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter

Annual Routine - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December

Step 7: Make it Beautiful - Now here is the fun part. Take each list you have just made and type it up in a format you would be proud to display on your refrigerator. Some people may prefer to display the list in multiple formats in a binder, single-sheet display, and a pocket version for your planner. It is completely your call. Use colorful paper if you would find that more visually pleasing. 

If I have missed anything or there is another printable you would find helpful, please, let me know. I welcome every comment, criticism, or suggestion I am given.

Happy Reading,

Your Devoted Friend

90-Day Life Challenge: Savings Goals

This was a big step for me today. I have a tendency to refrain from planning out my financial future because I'm too worried about having the money that I need on a daily basis. I've always saved for the future, but I don't typically feel like its ever enough or that the saving would ever end. The fact of the matter is, there should be measurable goals that we work towards as a family.

My 7 Essential Savings Goals

At the moment, I only have around $500 per month to devote to savings, but I know this won't be the case forever. I've got extra work becoming available starting in September, and DH's business has started to pick up, so he's able to contribute a few hundred dollars a month to our financial freedom. 

1. EMERGENCY FUND - I set our emergency fund goal at $2,000. My thought process was that this would cover tires for both cars and a month's worth of rent at the same time.
2. 6-MONTH JOBLESS FUND - Sometime around 4 am a few weeks ago, I happened to catch the Suzi Orman show. She suggests upwards of a 9-month fund, but that isn't really realistic to me. We are a 2-income household with a lot of family support in the event of an emergency. To cover 6 months of essential spending, we would need roughly $15,000.
3. HSA - Ideally, I would like to see at least $25,000 in a Health Savings Account. This would help with any surprise medical bills that I--or my little "dare devil"--might accrue.
4. 529 PLAN - Obviously, DH and I will want to be prepared with Wee-One is old enough to go to college. Like his father and I, Wee One will be asked to live at home, work part-time, and attend a local university, which will definitely help with the overall cost. In addition, we invest in a small personal account for him on a regular basis, and his grandparents have set up a custodial account as well. We settled on $25,000 as a reasonable goal.
5. NEW CAR FUND - Another $20,000. We are not specifically saving for a new car since both of ours are running beautifully and just had tune-ups, but we want to have a large lump sum set aside for major necessary purchases (i.e. new car, air conditioner, family emergency, appliances, etc...).
6. HOUSE FUND - Now, this is where it gets personal for us. This would be a good place for anyone to store their down-payment savings, but we have decided to go another route if possible. We want to buy a foreclosure property outright. No mortgage, just standard bills. Considering that a 2 BR/1BA, 900 sq. ft. home on 1 acre in this area goes for around $110,000, we feel that $90,000 should be able to purchase a reasonable foreclosure and allow us some wiggle room to fix problems or customize as needed. 
7. RETIREMENT - The most important piece of future planning in anyone's savings portfolio, but easily the most daunting. I highly recommend reading Retire On Less Than You Think by Fred Brock. It's a wonderful read, and gives great perspective about how to prepare for retirement logically--as opposed to catastrophically. I'm aiming for $500,000.

Here's an image of my own Savings Plan. As you can see, I used grid paper and a simple "bullet journal" style of charting. It just seems to work better for me if I am visually pleased by the charting process.

Cute, But How Is This Going to Work?

So good of you to ask, I asked myself the same question the instant I finished the Savings Plan. I'm restarting with my Emergency Fund. Like I said, I have $500 each month (approximately) to put towards savings. I am going to split this and put $400 towards my Emergency Fund, and $100 towards my 6-Month Jobless Fund. I generally do prefer to work on more than one thing at a time and have a little bit of that Dave Ramsey "snowball effect." It should take 7 more weeks to finish filling up the Emergency Fun, and then I get to deposit the full $500 into the 6-Month Jobless Fund. In October, I will begin depositing $25/month into each of HSA, 529 Plan, and New Car Fund accounts. It's not much but I will still be able to feel like progress is being made.

As more funds become available in October, I will immediately begin depositing $150/month into my local Credit Union Roth IRA. Why a Credit Union? So I can never lose the original investment. Why a Roth IRA? So I won't be taxed on what I withdraw from the account during retirement. As the other savings goals are met, I will end up deposit their full amount into the IRA, roughly $750/month. Of course, this is assuming that my income is fixed.

The last component of my savings is the House Fund. It's easily the most daunting because we so desperately want to find somewhere to call home. Everything else we bring in goes here....Who knows? Maybe this blog will take off...

Thanks again for "listening" to my pontificating and supporting me on this journey. As always, I welcome criticism and suggestion, from anyone.

Happy Reading,

Your Devoted Friend

When Life Gives You Lemons...

So, there we were...minding our own business, paying bills, making ends meet, and BAM--we're homeless. Hyperbole aside, it happened over the course of two weeks because our *dripping with sarcasm* super-cool landlord realized that he could rent the house for far more than he was getting from us. 

So, here we are...living with my grandmother in her upstairs apartment, desperately trying to save enough money for my Dear Man, myself, our beautiful baby boy, and our 3 dogs to get a new place.

At first, I was predictably upset and scared, but truthfully, it's not all bad. In fact, there are a few very important lessons I've learned as a result of this upheavel:

1. Stop romanticizing and buckle down
2. Income minus future planning equals "actual" income
3. Enjoy each moment for what it is, not what you want it to be
4. "More" makes you tired, not happy

Lesson 1: Stop Romanticizing and Buckle Down

While we were living in our rental property, we behaved as though we were going to live there forever. We didn't overly worry about savings, we made repairs to the house out-of-pocket, and we planned for a life we couldn't realistically afford. Our finances--and our dreams--needed a harsh wake up call. Ideas do not equate to ownership, and are useless without a solid plan to achieve your goals.

Lesson 2: Income - Future Planning = Actual Income

Yes, what you just read is correct. Dear Man owns his own "Start-Up" business for which he cannot yet take a salary, so we decided to only take my income into account. In the interest of transparency, my income is divided between 3 part-time jobs (preschool teacher, program coordinator for a local non-profit, and church nursery worker), and totals $2,200 for 10 months out of the year. The 2 months that preschool is on Summer Vacation, I only make $1,300 per month. 

What's the equation all about? I decided that we would pay ourselves first.

Right now, $100 per month will go to building our $1,000 emergency fund. An additional $400 per month goes to our standard 3-6 month emergency fund. Right now, Sweet Baby's savings account is comprised of all of our $1 bills and change that we scrape together and deposit at the end of every month. Doing the math, that means we don't have $2,200 to work with, but rather $1,700 ($800 in my Summer months). This is a big shout-out to Dave Ramsey and David Bach who outlined simple, logical, doable plans for the Average Joe who wants to live without financial fears.

That's Us!!!

Lesson 3: Enjoy Each Moment For What It Is

Fun and relaxation are now an important, and coveted commodity in our home. Whether we're talking about a free community event, or a chance for a family outing to the grocery store, it's not just the mindless spend-fest it used to be. Our son is 11 months old--big and beautiful--and all I want is for him to grow up happy. So maybe some of this living in the present is related to guilt that we feel, but who cares? In the end, he's only going to see how hard his parents worked, how grateful they were for the work, and how much he is loved.

Lesson 4: More Makes You Tired, Not Happy

My typical day before we moved consisted of taking my son to Preschool with me, having my Mom watch him while I went into the non-profit office for a few hours, pick up my son, cook dinner/play with Daddy, put Sweet Baby to bed, and crash. Guess what? Nothing's changed, except for my attitude. Now I care and appreciate the time with my son, the work that provides us with money for food, and the family that has supported us through our challenges.

Working towards shared family goals (financial or otherwise) is energizing!

We take great pride in watching our debt decline, our savings increase, and our lives declutter. Each month, we grow stronger as a family and take a few steps towards the future we want.

CHALLENGE: This week, think about whether or not you are putting your family first. If you aren't saving the way you want, is there a bill you don't need? If you don't spend enough time together, is there an activity you don't need?

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely,

Your Devoted Friend

The Joy of a Shiny Sink

Let me begin by saying that I will not be following her plan point-for-point; however, I am finally going to attempt to "Fly." I am referring, of course, to the brilliant teachings of FlyLady.net.

I am in no way affiliated with FlyLady, but I appreciate the effort that this free resource has made to bolster any busy woman's confidence in gaining control over her home, schedule, health (both mental and physical), and happiness.

Today, I have started with her first "Baby Step," which is: Shine Your Sink.

Here's What I Did

1. I closed the drains in the double-sided sink and poured 1/2 cup bleach into a sink full of hot water, and let it sit for 30 minutes. She recommends an hour, but I have a newborn and couldn't really take the time.
2. After I let the bleach sit, I drained the sinks and sprinkled baking soda on the rim, faucets, and base. Then I scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed.
3. Finally, I put a drop of Dawn dish liquid on the end of a cleaning toothbrush and went to town on the base of the faucets, etc, to get the grime out. It worked so well!
4. Lastly, I dried the sink with a towel and polished.

(the result of my hard work)

What's Next?

I will move onto Step #2, and make sure that at the end of every day, the dishes are taken care of and that I go to bed with a gleaming sink.

Why Am I Doing This?

I have a 3-month-old son, who takes up quite a bit of my attention and energy. I also have attempted to breast feed him while working nearly 50 hours/week, which does not leave me much time for regular cleaning. I tend to start in the same place each time and end up with completed laundry, a straightened living room, and not much else. It always feels like running up a hill, and I'm ready to take back control of my house.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend