Menu plan, week of 1/31/11

The theme of my meals this week will be "veggies." As you may remember, I am trying to fight the fat that has recently appeared in the form of multiple lbs. So, healthy eating rules this week!

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, fruit, cereal
Lunches: Salads with chicken, homemade bread, leftovers
Dinners: Baked chicken, steamed veggies, salads
Snacks: Pudding made with skim milk, pirate booty.

If nothing else, I am thinking I should be feeling a lot better after this week!

2011 Personal Development Goals: January

One month of 2011 is already behind us! How is it possible for time to go so quickly?

So how did I do this month?

2011 Personal Development Goals:
- Read at least 3 books per month. Accomplished this month!

Percy Jackson and The Olympians Book 1-4
Book 1: The Lightning Thief
Book 2: The Sea of Monsters
Book 3: The Titan's Curse
Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth

These books were very entertaining. They are children's books so they are very easy reads but I really enjoyed the story. Now I just need to wait for the library to have the next few available!!


- Try 1 new recipe per month. Huge success here.

Chicken and Dumplings
It was delicious, what can I say?!?! This will definitely be working its way into my meal rotations!


- Attempt 6 "Do it yourself" projects. Half success.
I replaced a towel rack in my master bathroom. But I had done something like this before so I am not sure if this counts. I will count it as half a do it yourself project.

- Volunteer somewhere at least once per month. Fail.
I didn't do any volunteer work this month. But that just means I need to step it up for the remaining 11 months!!

All in all, I'd say this month was a success in terms of my personal goals!

Why I need a schedule

Prepare yourself blogging world, I am about to reveal something to you - my messy house! No judging here folks - this is an extreme example and is not representative of what my house normally looks like.

Anyway, this is why I need a schedule. When I get off my schedule bad things happen. I don't make my bed, laundry piles up, and apparently I just randomly throw things on the floor.

Exhibit 1: My bedroom - view from the door. Obviously this is a disaster.


Here is the opposite view:

Seriously, I must have just randomly thrown pillows around because they are not generally on the floor, even when I am asleep!

The good news is, even when something looks as bad as this mess, it only takes about 5 minutes to put it all back together.



And all is well in the world again.

Seriously though, this is why I need a schedule. When I have a set of goals I need to accomplish in a day, I tend to be more organized overall. I do not write "make bed" as a goal each day but I find that I make my bed automatically on days where I know I have a lot of things to cross off my to-do list whereas things tend to be more of a mess on days where I have no set plan. Moral of the story - having a schedule works for me. It might not be for everyone but it sure makes a difference in my life!

Declutter motivation

I stumbled upon this quote recently by William Morris:

"If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

First off I have no idea who William Morris is and I believe that in order to fully appreciate a quote you need to understand a little bit about the person who spoke it.

Best I can tell, William Morris was an artist and a poet in the 1800's. He is credited with being a central figure in the Arts and Crafts movement which advocated the use of traditional craftsmanship. Pretty interesting stuff.

Another quote: "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."

Both these quotes got me thinking about the decluttering I have been doing and what else I could be doing to live a life that is both minimal and enjoyable. Why would I keep something in my house that is neither useful nor beautiful? What purpose are these items serving other than to create clutter and give me something else to clean. As we work on decluttering our lives I think it is important to look at every item in our homes and ask ourselves what purpose the item is serving.

Is it useful?
Is it useful to me right now or in the near future?
Is it beautiful?
Do I enjoy having it in my home?

I aim to have pretty much everything in my home to be useful (currently or in the near future) or beautiful.

His second quote is also interesting. "The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."

This is so true! When I lose sight of the details of daily life my schedule gets messed up, I become more disorganized, I don't eat as healthfully as I would like, I waste more time, and in general I don't enjoy life as much as I do when I am on top of everything.

While it is difficult to manage sometimes, I think it is important that we all remember how important all the small details are in maintaining a healthy and happy home.

So there is some food for thought on this Friday evening!

Another quick kitchen project

Want a quick and inexpensive was to improve the look of your kitchen? Replace that plastic soap bottle!

Here is my sink with the soap bottle. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look polished either.

And here is my sink after. My appliances are all stainless so this new soap container matches nicely.

It isn't a huge change, but it gives a more finished look. It will look even better once I replace the kitchen faucet with something nicer!

Wordless Wednesday

Happiest place on Earth!

2011 Goals: Financial

I know I have been keeping you all in suspense with my financial goals. I've already mentioned my personal goals and my home remodeling goals but it takes some $$ to get it all done, right?

Without further ado, here are my 2011 Financial Goals.

- Pay cash for all home remodeling goals (so far off to a great start)
- Make an extra principal payment each month
- Pay off 5% of my mortgage this year. Last year I paid off 1.8%. This is ambitious but I like a challenge.
- Up my retirement savings by maxing out my Roth IRA
- Continue saving for a new car
- Pay for all travel in cash
- Pay for Christmas gifts in cash

Maybe some other things will pop up as time goes on, but for now that is what I am shooting for!!!