Small organizational project

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I always seem to be on the lookout for ways to organize and streamline my life. It is amazing how much of a difference a small change can make.

Recently I installed some hooks in my closet to hold belts. I initially purchased this set of hooks as a key hook but I ended up using something else to keep my keys organized.

I only have 2 belts - one black and one brown - but it is amazing how easily I can misplace them! Prior to installing these hooks I'd just keep my belts sitting on the top shelf in my closet. I can't reach things up there very well so it wasn't a great storage place for them.

So now they are easily accessible right inside the closet door.

Why I make my bed

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently about motivation and why people are motivated by different things. It really got me thinking about why I do the things that I do.

It is no secret that I am motivated by setting goals and making lists. I am much more likely to do something if it is written out in front of me. Accountability is also important to me, but I don't need it for everything. For financial goals I like to have an accountability partner (thanks Jack's mom!) to keep me on track. But for cleaning, I am fine being accountable to myself.

It seems that I am in the minority for my love of having a clean and tidy house. It is not difficult for me to keep up my motivation for this.

My friend asked me why I make my bed every day. I took a little while to think about this and the best answer I could come up with is that it makes me happy and starts my day off right. Yes, I could absolutely survive without making my bed every morning. However, I find that when I start my day with an act of organization such as making my bed, I am committing to continue my day in an organized and purposeful way.

You may remember what happens when I don't follow my schedule. It is bad. Could I get through life with a messy house and disorganized life? Absolutely. But I would probably end up wasting money, wasting time, and in general not having as much fun.

To some it may seem silly that the simple act of making my bed can make all the difference in how my day goes, but for me it makes perfect sense. Maybe I'm in the minority on this one but it works for me and that's all that matters!

Organizational System Update

So I've been using my new organizational system for about a month now and I am LOVING it! Seriously, why didn't I do this before? I love seeing exactly which chores I still need to do. Also, knowing that I can pick and choose chores depending on my schedule/mood that week really helps to keep my motivation up.

Anyway, since I do most of those chores once every 2 weeks, I have found that I am starting realize it would be nice to know how long it has been since I last did something. From my list I can easily see that I've accomplished it during my 2 week period but I don't remember exactly when I did it.

So I have tweaked my system. Instead of just putting a mark to indicate that I've finished something, I am now putting the date.


I think this will really help me stay on top of things a lot better.

I've also realized that it is important to allow myself the ability to change things. What works for me now might not work for me next year. Similarly, what works for you might not work for me. Being efficient is all about figuring out the best system for you at this moment.

CVS Trip

I am really trying hard to maximize my grocery dollars this month to see if spending $20/person/week is a realistic goal for me. One way to do this is to play the drug store game. I tend to focus on CVS because it is the closest store to me and it is much easier to pay attention to only 1 store at a time. There are only so many hours in a day, you know!

This challenge is different than a typical "eating from the pantry challenge." I am not trying to minimize my spending. I am still shopping as I typically would and when possible I am building my stockpile so that I don't pay full price for items in the future.

So, with $3.50 in ECBs and a $3/$15 coupon burning a hole in my pocket, I headed to CVS with the goal of adding to my stockpile.

This is what I got:


Grand total: Around $7 including tax plus I earned $2 ECBs back that I will roll into another deal. Not bad considering each laundry detergent retails for $7.

I haven't bought laundry detergent in over a year and these bottles combined with what I still have left will probably last me close to that long again. So cross laundry detergent off the list of things to buy in 2011 :)

Menu plan, week of 1/7/11

I am sticking with my "veggies, veggies, veggies" deal this week. Especially since I still have some veggies to get through so they don't go to waste!

So what am I eating this week?

Breakfast:
Cereal bars, oatmeal, fruit

Lunch:
Salads, chicken sandwich, leftovers

Dinner:
Baked chicken with cous cous and steamed veggies
Curry Chicken with steamed veggies and naan bread

Snacks:
String cheese, apples, skim milk chocolate pudding

Sounds good right?

Two important lessons

I had 2 really important lessons reinforced for me this weekend as I cleaned out my car for the first time in a ::ahem:: really long time.

You'll never believe what I found in my trunk - treasure!! Seriously! I found 2 tins full of coins. I vaguely remember packing these up at some point but obviously I had completely forgotten about them.


Finding these coins gave me some motivation to head to my nearest CoinStar machine to see how much this treasure was worth.

Ready for it? $80. I had $80 in coins sitting in my car and I had no idea. WOW!



This really reinforced to me how easily little things can make a difference. The majority of those coins were pennies. Do you know how many pennies it takes to make $80? A LOT! Individually they aren't worth much but together you can end up with a lot more than you expected.

This is a great reminder to keep on top of the cleaning and to limit the clutter. When things are cluttered, important things (like $80!) get lost.

Home Remodeling: Faucets, part 2

On the heels of my successful master bathroom faucet project, I decided to tackle the half bathroom. This bathroom has a pedestal sink and started with a chrome faucet and chrome drain.



Since the pedestal sink has very limited access to the plumbing components, I decided to go with a new chrome faucet so that I wouldn't have to touch the drain. I am very glad I decided to do this because it was definitely challenging to access everything.

Anyway, here is the finished product! I love how it turned out. I am not generally a huge fan of the chrome finish but in the half bath I think it works really well. I still need to replace the toilet paper and hand towel holders so I am thinking I will choose something with a chrome finish to compliment my new faucet!