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: 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: Weekly Financial Meeting

This is an idea that DH and I had flirted with for months, ever since he started his own small business in October 2014. Now, with the onset of my 90-Day Life Challenge, we are finally going to do it. 

*Alert: FREE Weekly Financial Meeting form HERE.

What Is Covered in a Weekly Financial Meeting?

I took quite a bit of time to develop the form, I worked on it all morning today. I realized that I needed to start with a few important questions:

• Begin with a review of our monthly budget. I complete these the last week of the previous month.
• How much money is coming in this week?
• How much money do we already have available?
• Which bills are due this week? Which account is paying them? We each have checking and savings accounts to make it easier to sort DH's business responsibilities.
• Where is the rest of the money going after bills?
• Discuss our short-term needs and our long-term goals.

Of course, this is just our personal "spit ball" at the key topics to cover. Every family will have their own twist on what is important.

3 Components of a Successful Financial Meeting

Here is an image of the Weekly Financial Meeting form that we use here at "Keen Enterprises." The downloadable form (linked above) is exactly the same except for the family-specific header. 

As you can tell, I like for forms to look a little quirky and strange. It makes me feel more relaxed because I know it doesn't have to be perfect, just functional. The 3 main categories I pulled out for the form are: Review, What's Going On This Week, and Future Planning.

REVIEW

Look at any relevant notes from previous financial meetings

Pull out the copy of monthly budget and update with bills paid

WHAT'S GOING ON THIS WEEK?

How much money is in our accounts, and how much is coming in?

What bills need to be paid this week?

Have any other expenses come up (i.e. car maintenance)?

FUTURE PLANNING

DH is paid weekly and I make some side income, so we need an accurate account of our money weekly

What are our short-term financial goals? i.e. Birthday gifts for Wee-One
What are our long-term financial goals? i.e. Retirement

Well that's it. We will be using this form every Monday or Tuesday (whenever DH receives his payments) for now until the end of our careers. Please take advantage of the FREE form, linked again HERE. I sincerely hope that it helps you feel a little more in control of your financial future.

Happy reading,

Your Devoted Friend