Pre-February Challenge: Task 1

The February Challenge will be organizing your finances. Now, I am by no means claiming to be a financial guru. I definitely am not. But we can get our finances in order, together, so that our homes will run more smoothly each month when it comes to paying bills.

Here's the schedule:

• Week 1: Tracking Everything Down
• Week 2: Organize the Paper Clutter
• Week 3: Create a System/Schedule for Bill Paying
• Week 4: A Look at Some Online Tools That I Use

So, to start you off - if you'd like to begin just before February 1 - I'm giving you a monthly budget worksheet printable. It's one of the best sellers in my etsy store. The version I'm giving you, for free (just for the first week of the challenge - it will disappear on February 8) is blank and not editable, unlike the one in my store. I'll show you mine, with all of the categories I use, tomorrow. This document is 3 pages. Download it below.

download the blank monthly budget worksheet

Before filling in the categories in the left column, you may want to make a list of how/where you spend your money. You can look at receipts, your bank account online, or bank statements. If you have credit cards, look there, too!

I want to keep typing and getting into the challenge...but I won't. More tomorrow. =]

January Challenge: Report Your Progress & E-Mealz Giveaway - CLOSED!

This month we tackled prioritizing and scheduling our time. How are things going? Has this month's challenged helped you? I'd love to hear about your progress from the challenge!

This giveaway has ended and commenting is closed. 

Chosen by the random integer generator at random.org, the winner is...

Congratulations to #19 JoDell.

(Please check your email and respond within 48 hours to claim your prize!)

Thank you to E-Mealz & everyone who entered! =]

E-Mealz has teamed up with me this month to offer you a wonderful prize! It goes perfectly with this month's time management topic, and will go great with next month's *soon to be revealed* topic.

I have been using E-Mealz service for the last two weeks and it has really been a time saver for me. I used to be really into meal planning and it saved us time and money every week. Now with my lack of time, I've put meal planning and couponing on the back burner. No good. E-Mealz has made meal planning so easy for me. All I need to do is log in to my account and print the menu each week. All of my meals, along with their ingredients and instructions, are on one page with a categorized grocery list on the second page. There's a section on the grocery list for me to add other items I need as well.

I honestly though that a meal planning service wouldn't be of good use to me because Chris and I are picky, and most recipes have too many servings and we end up with a fridge full of leftovers we'd never eat. E-Mealz has meal plans for two, which is genius. There's enough for leftovers for my lunch for the next day, but not enough to feed an army. And the recipes are surprisingly meals that we've both really enjoyed so far. Love it.

There are lots of options to change your meal plans according to your needs: you can specify what grocery store you shop at and they'll base meals off of what's on sale (if they cover your grocery store) or you can specify dietary restrictions (low-fat, gluten free, low-carb, portion control, and more). Something for everyone.

Here's the blurb E-Mealz gave me to share, giving more info about their company:

E-Mealz relies on a team of experienced meal planners, writers and editors to create new dinner menus every week that are designed around grocery store sales, seasonal specials and diet preferences. For $5.00 per month, subscribers download a recipe plan for the week with a matching aisle-by-aisle grocery list. The easy-to-follow recipes usually contain fewer than seven ingredients to allow for prep times of less than 30 minutes. It also helps families stay within a predictable budget by being prepared with a detailed list to use at the grocery store.


The E-Mealz program provides a consistent and reliable approach to food budgeting by factoring the weekly cost of ingredients into each menu plan. Menus are created around a budget of $75 per week for families and $35 per week for couples.


E-Mealz was created by sisters Jane DeLaney, mother of four, and Jenny Cochran, mother of three. The sisters were frustrated by the challenge of coming up with healthy, budget-conscious meals for their own families and inspired by their own mother’s frugal ways, they launched the program in 2003. 

For more information, visit their blog (www.maketimeforfamily.org) or Facebook page.

E-Mealz has kindly offered to give one reader a three month membership to their service ($21 value).

To enter (mandatory entry):

• Leave a comment on this post (not on Facebook and no email entries) telling me:
• How did you do with the challenge this month? Did you complete all parts of the challenge, or just some? I'd really love to hear what you learned! If you have a blog and want to write a post about it, leave the link to your post!

Optional entries (leave a comment for each extra entry):

• visit the E-Mealz site and tell me which plan you're most interested in
• like E-Mealz on Facebook
• follow E-Mealz on Twitter

Giveaway rules:

• You must be a follower (through Twitter, FB, GFC, or RSS/email) of The Nest Effect to win.
• The winner will be chosen by random.org.
• Please make sure your email is either linked in your profile or on your blog OR that you include it in your comment. If I can't find your email address, I can't contact you as the winner. 
• One entry per person - no extra entries for this giveaway.
• Giveaway ends February 2 @ 9 PM (MT).

Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored. The prize, information, and giveaway have been provided by E-Mealz. Any opinions about products stated in this post are completely honest and purely my own.

How I... Make My Printables

I often receive emails or comments asking me how I make my printables. It's easier than you think.

Microsoft Word for everything basic, Adobe Acrobat to make them editable.

The secret is out!

I didn't take a class to learn how. I'm self-taught. I've loved technology since I first used a computer when I was a child. Ever since I've been curious about everything, so I explore and play and practice with it all. I love lists and forms, so I started creating my own about 4 years ago.

I love sharing what I create, which is why I have so many free printables available. My husband says I offer too many for free since I have a "talent". Whatever. I like sharing - and it's a lot easier to share on my blog than go through the hassle of listing it on Etsy.

To be honest, I opened the Etsy store to make money when I was unemployed and searching for a teaching job. Now that I've found one, every dollar earned goes into my classroom, which is so helpful since our paychecks go to our student loan debt (yuck). Therefore, if you buy from me, you're supporting my classroom. {My students thank you.}

Questions?

Crazy. Busy. Sick.

I totally spaced time this week. And now, as I sit in bed, typing this on my Kindle Fire, I realized tomorrow is Thursday. The day I'm supposed to have up the final January Challenge post with the giveaway. Forgive me. It will post on Friday morning instead. I was at a seminar all day today on leveled reading groups. I need some sleep so I'm ready to return to my little sponges tomorrow. Hopefully they were on their best behavior for the substitute! Have a great Thursday.

Have 5 Minutes? Create a 2011 Tax Document File

Tax season has creeped up on us again. Tax documents are now arriving in the mail and inboxes, and I need a place to keep them in order. This year we're going to attempt filing together as a newly married couple. We'll see if we really save any money.

I added my taxes file to my mail station. In the hanging folder I added 3 file folders, labeled: Tiffany, Chris, Deductions.

Yeah, I know - that was a lot of pictures, but my desk looks a bit differently now than it did last time I showed. =]

So go ahead and find a convenient place to store your tax information as it comes in. Organize it in a way that makes sense. File your taxes when you receive everything!

Good luck!

How do you organize your taxes before filing (so you don't lose anything)?

January Challenge: Check In and a Free Printable

It's about time to wrap up the January Challenge. If you've been following along all month, then you probably feel ready to begin bigger challenges within your home in the coming months!

I don't have a challenge today, but have some info and a free printable to give.

If you have forms that you've used this month from the challenge, and you don't want to keep them, go ahead and recycle them. No need to keep paper clutter around that you no longer need!

While this month's challenge wasn't one that required you to organize or clean anything in your home, it was a nice way to start off the year with a fresh perspective on what is important to you, and how you can conquer what you need and want to get done by scheduling it in. Do you feel at least a little bit less overwhelmed by what's ahead of you? (I know I do!)

This week I felt the need to create a mini to-do today checklist. My school to-dos each day are just piling up, so this will be super helpful. This document has 4 mini checklists on one sheet. You can easily print the sheet and cut the lists apart if you wish.

to-do today lists

On Thursday, January 26, I'll be back with a giveaway post. You can enter the giveaway (which nicely goes along with this month's challenge and next month's) by reporting your progress from this month's challenge. I am SO excited for this giveaway...and next month's challenge. Here's a hint: it was one of the most requested topics for a challenge.

where I'm linking up this post

Wedding Planning Organization

At the request of reader, Meagan, today's post is about wedding planning organization.

My wedding was pretty basic. I did as much myself as possible, to save money and to fulfill my need of wanting to do it all myself.

I bought Avery Easy Peel Address Labels to print the mailing labels for the shower and wedding invitations and thank you cards. This made things so much easier to manage because I didn't forget anyone, and all I had to do was print after typing all of the addresses in to the free templates available on Avery's website.

To track all of my wedding guest information, I used a free wedding guest list Excel document that I found on Microsoft Office's website. I added extra tabs to the document to track other wedding info so it was all in one place.

I kept a binder with pictures from magazines and things I printed from the internet for wedding ideas. Now with Pinterest up and running, I would have used that instead.

My step-mom kept all of the contracts and everything that was on paper organized in a folder. It was super basic, but worked great for our needs.

To go along with our list making theme this week, I've updated my free wedding to-do list printable. Here's the new version:

wedding to-do list

I would love to hear any wedding planning organizational tips or ideas that you have!

Have 10 Minutes? Donate (Or Sell) Old CDs

Silly me. Back when I was in high school, I feel for the CD buying fad. Now I'm stuck with 160+ CDs of music I never listen to. What's more, I have everything digitally on my Zune, and I subscribe to Zune Pass. The CDs are taking up space in my bedroom right now, and I want them gone.

The trouble with CDs is they're not worth anything anymore (at least not the ones I have). I've looked into selling them online, but the most I could get is $0.25 a piece. Sure, it would be nice to get something out of them, but I would have to type in each individual UPC to sell them. Not worth my time. I'm also not interested in "swapping" them for other CDs online.

Over the holidays I went through my CDs and put them back in their cases (I had them all in a CD book). I have decided to just donate them all.

So go on, do a quick sweep of your CD collection, and decide what to get rid of. Inspect the disc to see if it's in good condition. If a CD is all scratched, just throw it away. If they're still in working condition, donate them.

Not ready to give up your CDs? Find a nice/easy way to store them. I like these ideas provided by other blogs...

A Bowl Full of Lemons :: CD storage boxes

Making It Lovely :: CD storage sleeves and drawers

The House Undone :: media storage in a basket (Ashlie did this with DVDs, but it could easily be done with CDs as well!)

Ready? Go organize your CDs today!

January Challenge: Planning and Delegating Tasks

Sometimes tasks and projects become bigger than we can handle on our own. They require one or two things: a plan and/or someone to help you.

Planning tasks and projects can be as easy adding it to your to-do lists or something that takes more thought and preparation. 99% of my tasks and projects are simple enough that I don't need to plan them out. I've created a project planning page to help you with this planning process. I know down the road when I have a house I'll use this project planner all of the time.

The project planner document is perfect for planning out an actual physical project (such as building a new desk) or planning out an organization overhaul on a specific room (such as your office that looks like a tornado came through). The last box on the document - called "envision it" - can be used for more notes, photos from magazines, or a sketch or diagram that you've come up with.

project planner

Delegating tasks and projects can make your life easier and less stressed. Sit down with your spouse and/or family and decide who can do what to help take the complete home work load off of you. After all, you made a list of things you'd like to spend more time doing. If you try to do everything yourself, you may never get to do what you enjoy. Delegate! Take advantage of your children being able to complete some tasks themselves or for you if they're old enough. It teaches responsibility and it's a great way to get them involved in helping out the running of your household. {On a side note: I love how Dave Ramsey talks about his children helping out around the house when they were young and earning a commission. What a great way to teach children about money and responsibility. (You can read more about it here.)}

Delegate tasks to your spouse. After all, there are truly some things that our spouses do better than us. Why shouldn't we take advantage of that? Here's a free honey-do list for delegating tasks to your spouse.

honey-do list

Ladies: pay close attention, because I'm about to let you in on a little inside tip. Men need and want a "complete by" time for tasks we're delegating to them. My husband sent me this article that was linked via Yahoo, and told me that tip #3 was definitely one of the most important things he wanted me to remember. Since I've read this article from Woman's Day, I've been telling that tip to people all of the time, and they think that it's not really something that's as important as I'm leading it on to be...until they ask their spouse. Then I'm told that I was right. Trust me on this one!

So, your homework for this week's challenge is to finish categorizing and creating your lists (from Monday's post), plan out tasks and projects that need more than just a reminder on a to-do list, and delegate tasks to others in your household. I know you can do it!

Only one week left before the January Challenge comes to an end. Remember: there will be a post on January 26, allowing you to share your progress and enter a giveaway for an amazing prize that goes along with this month's challenge, and will fit hand-in-hand with next month's challenge (which you will all love by the way). To share your progress you can simply leave a comment telling me what you've accomplished this month, related to the challenge. If you have a blog and want to post about it on there and share the link, I'd love to see what you've been up to!

Keep up the good work! Get ready for monthly organizational challenges for the rest of 2012 by finishing up January's challenge with a great schedule, to-do lists, and sense of relief from fixing your time crunch hunch. I'll be back next Monday with the last January Challenge task post!

Quick Tip: Fix Shrinking (Or Enlarging) Web Pages

You're browsing the internet, looking at your favorite blogs, and next thing you know, everything shrinks (or enlarges) beyond what's normal. There's a quick fix for that. (Sorry, these tips are only good for PC users. I know nothing about Macs.)

'ctrl' + '0' (zero)

This simple two key combination will reset your brower's zoom to default and you'll now be able to view websites how they should look.

Is the font on a website too small?

'ctrl' + '+' (plus)

This two key combination will enlarge a website's content for you. And with the opposite, you can make a website smaller:

'ctrl' + '-' (dash)

If you use the scrolling wheel on your mouse while online, and hold the 'ctrl' key while scrolling, it also makes the page shrink or enlarge. This is how my page often changes size on accident.

Hope this quick tip helps! Have a great Tuesday!

January Challenge: List Making 101

One of the biggest reasons people become overwhelmed when it comes to completing projects/tasks is from not planning effectively. Many people choose to make lists of things they need to accomplish, whether it be goals, tasks, projects, or events. That's a good start.

When I used to make lists, I would do so on a simple lined piece of paper. No title at the top to tell me what the list was, just a list, filling every line, in multiple columns...it was exhausting to look at. I'd create the list and keep adding to it all week, setting the goal to accomplish the tasks/projects on the weekend. By the time Friday rolled around, my list was huge and I had no idea where to start. I spent more time reading over the list to choose what to accomplish next, than I did actually accomplishing anything. (Sound familiar to anyone?)

The secret to great list making is simple...

Start off thinking about the different parts of your life that require you to complete tasks/projects and make a quick list. I have chosen the following areas to focus on: school (work), organizing & cleaning, blog, etsy, and general. (General isn't the best "area" of focus, but for me, it works. I know exactly what is "allowed" on the list, and what isn't.)

You can also choose to categorize your lists by thinking of the following questions:

• Who? Who needs to complete the tasks or projects? (This is where delegating comes in handy!)
• What? What needs to be completed? What category can you place your tasks under?
• Where? What areas of your home or life do these tasks/projects belong to?
• When? When do the tasks/projects need to be completed by? You could always create monthly to-do lists for something like this. "When" lists can also be as simple as time of day or day of the week.
• Why? For some people, categorizing by the "why" (reason) they're completing the tasks/projects is more motivating. For example, a travel to-do list...the motivation is your vacation, the tasks are those that you must complete before going.

Each area that you chose needs it's own list. I have created some basic to-do lists for you to have for free. (Click the photo or caption below the photo to download.)

organizing & cleaning to-do list

to-do list

work to-do list

Now that you've created your areas of focus, you can begin making your lists!

Here are some additional tips for list making:

• Categorize. If you don't have the need to create large lists like these, then you should at least categorize the smaller lists you have. It allows you to focus on one area at a time, and not become so easily overwhelmed.
• Prioritize. When I have projects on my list that I absolutely must complete ASAP, then I will highlight the tasks on the list. You can also use Post-It flags to accent what tasks you need to complete ASAP if you don't want to highlight.
• Laminate the lists. If you laminate your lists (or even just slip them inside a clear page protector), you can use a dry erase marker to write on the list and erase when your task is complete.
• Start with a clean list every month. At the end of every month, I start over with a fresh, clean list. If something has been sitting on my list for a whole month, I reevaluate whether or not the task is actually something I need to complete. If it is, I go and complete it right away (if I have the time). If I don't have the time to complete it, I write it on a Post-It note and put it on my PC. It's not worth it to keep "recycling" the same task over and over again each month and never complete it.
• Don't clutter your lists with daily or weekly tasks/routines. Only use your to-do lists for things that you need to accomplish presently, not things that you do every week anyways. Those tasks belong on a daily or weekly plan.
• Cross or check off what you've completed! It's a nice feeling to do this. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, especially when you look at your list and see all you've done throughout the month.

If a large list just isn't for you, you could also use Post-It notes of different colors to categorize the tasks and then stick them in a designated place. (I, personally, prefer the super-sticky kind of Post-It notes. They're less likely to end up on the floor.)

There are also several note taking apps for smartphones and tablets now. You could always use Evernote, Cozi, or any other note taking app you can find in the app market that works for you. You definitely won't ever lose your lists...unless you lose the password to your account.

I have a program on my PC called Sticky Notes that I've been using for the past week. I really like it because I have different color notes for different parts of my life. I can easily delete what I've done and add new tasks. The downside - no gratification for what you've accomplished. Sometimes it just seems like a never ending list and I forget how much I've actually done.

Using a planner or calendar is also an option for tasks/projects. This may be a good option for you if you're better at completing things if they have a "due date".

Storing your to-do lists is just as important as creating them. You don't want to create a list and then lose it - so you need to choose a place to store them. I keep mine on a clipboard on my desk. The only time they leave my desk (still on the clipboard) is when I'm going around the house, completing tasks. Find a place for your lists, and keep them in that specific place so you can always find them!

I was going to go in to planning tasks and delegating today, but this post seems long enough, so I'll be back this Wednesday with those two topics!

Are you a list maker? How do you keep everything straight without becoming overwhelmed? I'd love to hear how you keep your to-dos in order so they get accomplished!

 

where I'm linking up this post

College Course Organization

Last week I received an email from a reader named Jennifer with a question about college organization. She wanted to know if I had any tips on organization related to taking courses at a university/college level. You bet I do!

I just graduated from college last year in May. I was always good at keeping things in order in school, but came up with a really good "system" last year. I really wish I had pictures for my post, but unfortunately I don't.

I first chose some quality 1" binders, all in different colors. I chose colors that I also had the same color pens and highlighters for, so that I could color coordinate on my calendars. (I also ended up color coordinating Post-It notes after awhile.) I bought colorful tab dividers for the binders as well. Each class typically had the same tab names: class info, notes, handouts, assignments, resources.

I would use these "assigned" colors for each course to add assignments/test dates/etc. to my planner with corresponding colored pens. It was easier for me to relate colors with courses and than anything else. It became really easy when I had reading and math courses every year, because I would keep the same colors for those courses. I also used Google Calendar to add important test days or when big assignments were due, and set up email reminders so I wouldn't forget. You can color coordinate in Google Calendar as well.

In the "class info" section, I had this class overview form (below, download it for free) that I would copy the important information onto from the syllabus. Sometimes the syllabus is just too confusing and all over the place. This allowed me to have all of the important info up front, in one place. I also kept any documents (such as the syllabus and assignment list) that were important for the length of the course in this section.

class overview

I kept a copy of the my monthly calendar in this front section, too. I wrote out all important class dates on it so I could easily see what was due for this specific class on the exact date.

Yes, I was a bit overly obsessed with calendarizing everything several times, but I never once ever missed a thing. I really think I actually need to get back in the habit of doing these things.

I made sure my binders had front pockets on the inside so I could easily and safely stash papers that I'd received in class until I could get them home to hole punch them.

I had a specific spot designated for my school binders and books (on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf), so I always knew where they were.

I was always the one in class who knew when things were due, what was handed out when (because I also put a date on the top right hand corner of every single handout), and what was going on. I felt really nerdy at first, but then didn't care after a few weeks because I was on top of my game.

I enjoyed being organized for school because I liked my system. It was bright and colorful, so it made it something I wanted to keep up with.

And a tip for saving money on books: don't buy them from your school store unless they give you an amazing discount. The only time I ever bought books from my school's bookstore was when they were written by the professor I was taking the course from, so they weren't available elsewhere. Check Amazon and Half.com for books. That's where I bought all of my books during my 6 years in school. I also used my books carefully and never wrote in them or anything, that way I could resell them after the semester. I was able to get most of my money back each time, so it was worth it.

Not in college? Apply some of the tips by using different color binders to organize family members' information or household tasks (cleaning, bills, menu planning, etc. all in different colors). Then use corresponding pen/marker colors on calendars.

Do you have any college course organization tips to share?

Inside My Purse

It has been requested, several times, that I write a post about what's inside my purse. Sure, why not?


I apologize in advance for the not-so-great quality of pictures. Taking them at night, with terrible lighting doesn't guarantee anything great. The flash went off for some, and not others...and I couldn't help that because my batteries are about dead.

I am in love with Vera Bradley bags and accessories. I love the variety of colors and patterns. I love how each item is made with the OCD organizer in mind. It's perfect.

The current Vera Bradley purse I'm carrying is called "Squared Away". The print is called "Watercolor". I'll be honest - I did not like the print at all when I bought the bag. Over the summer a local store was having a Vera Bradley clearance sale - 50% off everything - and I loved the bag design, so I bought it anyway. Now I love the pattern. I guess it just grew on me. There are two side pockets on the front corners. I use them for my sunglasses, keys, and cell phone.

The inside of the bag opens nice and wide without loosing everything. There is a zip pocket on one side and 3 slip pockets on the other. Plenty of storage. (Yeah, none of my VB accessories match. Used to drive me nuts, but now I love all of the colors.)

This wallet is awesome. It's called the "turn lock wallet".

Plenty of card slots on the inside.

And even more slots and space on the back end.

The top bag (black) is my cosmetic bag - holding tissues, floss picks, chapstick, nail clippers, bandaids, Shout wipes, and antibac. The other two zip pouches are for gift cards and rewards cards.

 

We received a lot of gift cards for Christmas, so the ended up needing their own pouch.

This accessory bag is from Thirty-One. I'm currently using it to store my coupons for stores and restaurants. When I'm going shopping, I put the ones I plan on using (along with gift cards and rewards cards) in the outside pocket for easy access.

There you have it! Not too exciting, but definitely organized. =]

How do you keep your purse organized?

January Challenge: Creating Schedules and Routines

Why do people use schedules and routines?

Anyone...?

To make life easier! Ya know - less stressful, more relaxing, allowing more time to do what you'd like, etc. (I know, it sounds easier than it seems.) Truth is, it can be easy.

So many people thing a schedule has to be something that's concrete. Sure, when you were in college (or high school), your class schedule was something you had to follow if you wanted to be successful. But again, I use mine as a guideline...or scaffold. It's simply there to help me accomplish what I'd like, but it's not the end of the world if I don't follow it to a T. And it's flexible, so I can change it whenever I want. It's my schedule, after all.

Through the first week and a half of this January Challenge, I've been talking about prioritizing and figuring out what's important to you, and how you'd like to spend your time. Yes, there are things that you must do...especially if you have children. But making time for what's important to you in life will help you accomplish your goals as well.

Think about it - when you're happy (and doing things you enjoy and want to do), you can accomplish more. You're likely to have more energy and motivation to do things in life that will continue to motivate you, make you happy, make things easier for yourself (and your family), etc.

Take out that list of "how I'd like to spend my time". Did you prioritize in order of importance? This can be hard to do, but once you do this, it will be easier to see what your goals are.

I'm not an expert. But I do know that goals are what motivate us to do our best and want what's best for ourselves. Sure, I'd love to lose some weight. (Don't we all want this?) But, I currently don't have a true "goal" or reason for losing it. Last year, I wanted to lose weight for my wedding. It was the easiest goal to accomplish because I had a reason to do it. The wedding was my "goal". I completed this goal, and then felt like I no longer had a goal...so the weight went back on. I don't currently have a goal for losing weight, so it's not a priority. I have other things in my life that are currently more important.

Looking at my "how I'd like to spend my time" list...the most important thing for me is spending time with Chris. The whole "goal" for me is just simply spending time with him. We could be out to dinner, playing a board game, or watching a movie. I really don't care, as long as we're together, enjoying each other's company.

The next goal on my list is planning for school. Now, as much as I want to do this, I need to look at why I want to. I could spend hours planning. I love everything about my job. I especially love looking for things to do to my classroom to make it more "student friendly". Therefore, I'm spending time looking for posters/signs/decoration ideas/learning charts/organization ideas/etc. But, when I sit down and think about it, I have bigger goals in mind. I want to look at the up coming curriculum and find enrichment activities to go along with my lessons. I want to find resources and books to read that will give me insight on ways I can make my writer's and reading workshops more student friendly and effective. It's no longer all about what my classroom looks like. It looks great. It's now more about what is going to be best for my students and help prepare them for third grade. I'm so glad I've found my goal so now I can focus on what I need for my classroom, and stop wasting the extra time on the unnecessary "bonus" stuff. (I'll spend time on things like this when I have time off, not during the week when I have more important things to worry about!)

I could keep going about each goal of mine from my list, but I won't. It would just make for a long post, and it's not getting to the point of this post: creating schedules and routines.

I'll assume that you included things you need to get done on your list - such as cleaning/organizing/paying bills/etc. Sure, you may not want to do them, but you know they're things you must do in order to keep your home a happy, enjoyable place to live. But, if you don't care about having a clean or organized home, don't include it. (Honestly.)

Seriously consider sitting down and scheduling out your time for each day of the week. First put in the tasks/events you absolutely cannot go without doing (children's classes you have to take them to, weekly appointments, sporting events, classes you attend, etc.), then see what you have left for opening time. Create a really loose schedule so that you can move things around and make it work for you and your family. One of the biggest reasons for creating a schedule is so that you can schedule in the things you want to spend your time doing. Fill in those empty spaces with personal goals or things that will make you happy.

This schedule you're creating will help you "do it all" in your home. You'll be able to find the right balance between things you need to do and things you want to do. A happy mom/wife/woman = a happy home. =]

Having trouble creating a schedule? Take a look at your time tracker from the first week's challenge. Is your new schedule matching up with what you were spending your time doing last week? If not, are there some spaces during the week that you've found yourself "wasting time" that you could add in things you'd like to focus on? You may write down "cleaning" every day at noon for an hour because it's "what you've been doing for the last few months/years"...but did your time tracker show that you've been online pinning everything you can find and only spending 15 minutes cleaning? Maybe that time block doesn't work for you with cleaning if you're constantly being distracted. Think about task placement. Perhaps cleaning would be best done early in the morning, or all on one day? Write in pencil and change/rearrange/reevaluate all week!

On a side note: over the summer, I was famous for creating schedules for myself and then setting a kitchen timer so I wouldn't get carried away. This was a life saver...especially when it came to spending time online. Whenever the timer went off (every hour), I would get up and go organize something. I had nothing else to do since I was home all day, but it got me up and moving and doing something I wanted/need to do.

I've created a daily schedule document for you to create a schedule for yourself. I suggest using pencil and changing it as you "live" through your week. Use your schedule as a scaffold or daily reminder of what you'd like to be doing during each time block.

daily schedule

As for routines, use them for creating weekly or daily cleaning plans for yourself. A routine is "a fixed program", something you do over and over again regularly. I like to do laundry every Sunday, so it has become a routine for Chris and me to do so on this day. The sooner you create a routine for yourself (and add it to your schedule), you'll be motivated and willing to keep up with it.

My personal goal this week is to create a schedule for my time after school and add some routine tasks into that schedule. I plan to include cleaning tasks, blogging, reading, spending time with Chris, etc. (other things that are on my "how I'd like to spend my time" list). I will share my schedule with you on Monday.

So...can you handle the challenge and create a loosely based schedule? I know a lot of people are going to have a hard time with this, but just try it. You may surprise yourself and end up enjoying what you've created!

I'll be back next Monday with planning out tasks and projects with lists and by delegating!

Good luck! If you have any questions, please comment or email! (Make sure your email is linked to your profile or leave it in the comment if you'd like a response!)

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Have 10 Minutes? Clear Out Magazines and Newspapers

Sound like an obvious fast task? Yeah, it is. But who is guilty of letting this become an issue? I am!

Since getting back into the classroom, I have had ZERO time to read magazines. Last priority...even though I'd like it to be a priority in my life. I'm guilty of subscribing to around 30 magazines (most I don't pay for - found free subscriptions online). My.bad.

Don't worry - I didn't take this picture recently...I do not still have October 2011 magazines in my home.

I'm also a double newspaper subscriber - ya know, for the Sunday coupons. I'm pretty good at keeping up on getting rid of the newspapers.

Okay, so...my house...it's kind of a mess...still. These 5-10 minute challenges help me as much as they help you.

Here's how I did...

This is my pile of "I'm going to take those to school to use for projects" magazines. Not happening. Gone.

This is my pile of magazines that have arrived in the last week -- I suppose I'm too lazy to stash them with the other "current" issues.

This is where I keep my "current" issues - bad place to do so. I never look down there, so therefore, they're forgotten about.

The pile on the left are my "I want to read these" from November/December 2011 and the pile on the right are my "current" issues...which, when looked closer at, seem to be a mix of January and February.


I decided that I'm sick of the extra clutter, so I sorted my mags into 3 piles...

Cancel the subscription immediately.

Don't cancel immediately, but do not renew at expiration.

Must reads - A.K.A., keep subscribing.

So proud of myself. Honestly. I don't know how many years I've been telling myself I'm going to unsubscribe from magazines, only to add more to the list of subscriptions. Tree killer...that's me. Sad part is...the magazines pictured in this post aren't all of my subscriptions. Some are every other month or seasonal subscriptions. Once I get another round of those, I'll be deciding upon their fate as well.

Your turn!

1. Grab a basket/bin/bag/whatever you need to, and walk around your home, gathering magazines and newspapers in your container of choice.
2. Sort out magazines/newspapers and decide what you'll cancel immediately (go on the magazine's website and click on "customer service/guest service" to access your account - you may need your account number, located on the address label), what you'll let expire, and what you'll keep subscribing to.
3. When you decided what you're going to keep subscriptions to, use the printable below to keep track of your magazine subscriptions so you don't let them expire! I like tracking mine because then I can make sure to watch for good deals when I see they're approaching expiration. Magazines.com, BestDealMagazines.com (subscribe to their email newsletter to get their weekly/daily specials...that is how you score a deal on this website), and Amazon tend to have the best deals on magazine subscriptions. I rarely ever pay full price for magazine subscriptions.

magazine subscriptions log

Good luck!

P.S. I'd love to know how you did! Share your progress in a comment!

Also - I'm posting over at Mom it Forward today and next Tuesday. Come check me out (under "me" --> "time management")!

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