31 Days to a Happier Life - Day 4

I'm kinda impressed that I have make it to Day 4 (a little late, but I made it none-the-less)! Woot!! Okay, a little bit premature, I guess, for any celebration. Or not!!

By celebrating small victories we boost our confidence to be able to tackle the bigger challenges.

I have finally finished painting my closet. My hands are barely functioning. My back is permanently bent. I'm so tired (I also have two sick kids, and an anxiety-ridden husband, but that's all for a different post) but I did it! And it looks AWESOME!

Next up is the floor, then the dreaded clothing declutter, aka dump, aka less stuff more quality, aka get-it-out-of-the-bedroom!! I am not good at decluttering my closet - too sentimental. I'm okay at getting rid of the items I don't wear, outdated stuff, etc, but then my closet is full of sentimental items that I never wear but cannot get rid of! And I still have nothing to wear!!! So I need a better solution - a smarter storage answer for this dilemma. I also want more room in my closet so it doesn't look like I have crammed everything-and-my-grandma in there. I want it where you can go in there and breathe and relax AND find something to wear. Sounds doable, right? It.is.just.a.closet. OK :) I can breathe now.

Closet Makeover Before and After

So when I am in the middle of a project like this everything else pretty much flies out the proverbial mind window. I'm so lucky I remembered to put something out for dinner this morning, otherwise it would have been toast for us. And by toast, I mean actual toast! So how can I control my head, my days, my house and my life? With LISTS!

We have already established our long-term and short-term goal lists, now we need to implement them and all our everyday chores into a Daily Goal List. At the beginning of the week print out 5, or 7 pages and keep them all together. Each night you will write out your list for the next day - listing three daily goals - the main important things you need to accomplish that next day. Get a clipboard, hang it up where it is easy to see and access. Refer to it all day, everyday.

Being organized and not missing anything makes me happy!

P.S. I'm going to try to figure out a good program to use to do a Daily Goal Schedule printable - this may take me awhile!! Or I may just freehand it and scan it in...mmmm...stay tuned :)

 
Solutions - great tips for closet storage solutions.

Art - I'm so excited - I ordered this beautiful print for my closet.

Goal Chart - found this lovely goal chart/daily planner - worth starting with until I figure out my perfect solution.

New Daily Schedule

I took all last week "off" to sort out my house, and get to some of those nagging things that always seem to just want to hang around, all in preparation for my new daily/weekly schedule. I'm pretty excited with it so far. It is achievable, manageable and has some great things to look forward to do each day.

I must remind myself that I am just one of those people that needs a daily schedule - I forget things so easily, and I need a schedule to stay focused. Achieving something in my day, especially as a stay-at-home-mom, is so important to my mental well-being. At work, I was always able to set goals, achieve them, and feel good; but at home it is so easy to lose that with all this craziness of having kids involves.

This new schedule took a while to get set up, thought out, organized, revised, categorized, typed-up, printed out, edited, and, finally, approved and ready-to-go!

Basically, I have an excel spreadsheet for each day, printed out and stored in a folder. Each day consists of:

Top 5 to dos
For School
Appointments
Kids' Extra Activites
Kids Daily Lesson
Daily Routine (from 5:30am to 10:30pm)
Today's Chores
Blog
Exercise
Me
To Wear



I have a weekly spreadsheet for all meals - I print out 4 and schedule out a whole month at a time.

And I also have a spreadsheet that lists at the kids' lesson plan (have two month's worth).

On my daily sheets:
- the top 5 to do are the top 5 things I want to achieve today.
- For School - I list anything we need to remember for school that day (like change for the lemonade stand, hand in homework, etc)
- Appointments - must write these down as I make them - so forgetful!!!
- Kids' Extra Activities - gymnastics, ballet, playdates, etc
- Kids' Daily Lesson - these are short little things I put together to do with the kids - can be a craft, reading a book together, etc
- Daily Routine - list it all out so I know when to leave to get somewhere on time
- Today's Chores - I do a room each day - 1/2hr to 1hr max - this is in addition to general pick-up/tidy-up
- Blog - trying to plan :)
- Exercise - list it out, tick it off = feels good = more motivation to keep going
- Me - yep! ME! reading, do nails, put on face mask and listen to music, etc - this is my time and I'm scheduling it in!
- To Wear - this is to try to break free of the exercise pants/t-shirt/sweatshirt outfit that I love to wear around the house and thought looked great out of the house too. But alas, it does not!! So I need to make an effort and Pinterest is providing tons of inspiration :)

The Monthly Meal Planner
- has breakfast for the girls listed (I'm a cereal girl, husband eats a banana)
- lunch to pack for girls for school
- dinner
- and one dessert for the week

Most of my recipes come from the internet - I print them out and categorize them into Vegetarian, Meat, Chicken, Fish, Dessert/Other. My weekly plan is:
Monday - Vegetarian
Tuesday - Meat
Wednesday - Chicken
Thursday - Fish
Friday - leftovers/ take out
Saturday - Casserole
Sunday - Casserole leftovers


I know it probably sounds confusing but once it is all set up it really works well. I have not included my spreadsheets on purpose, because every time I see someone else's example it does not work for me. So I think it is important to sit down and work through what will work for you.  This is just a brief outline of what works for me. And I hope it helps me work through some of my issues, and maybe helps you get started on your own path to an organized schedule :)