Project 66 - Update 2

It's day 8 of my experiment and sad to say I'm feeling a bit challenged. Some things are easier are than others to accomplish. During the school week, I had no problem getting up early. Unfortunately, the weekend was not. I slept in both days until 7 am. Not good. But if at first you don't succeed...so I will keep trying despite the little set back.

Drinking a full gallon of water every day is challenging. I'm the kind of person that pretty much thrives on coffee, so drinking straight water in any sort of volume has always been hard. Drinking a whole gallon takes will power.

Budget Friendly Storage

I've been slowly working on giving my closet office an update since it looks like...well, a closet. It's cluttered, messy and really has no aesthetic appeal. Every time I sit down to work, I'm so distracted by the mess that I can't get much done. Unfortunately, our budget hasn't allowed for a full-scale renovation so I've been on the hunt for affordable storage and easy DIY projects for my décor.

I don't shop at the Dollar General often, but I'll occasionally pop in there and see if there is anything that catches my eye. This week, I happened across these adorable decorative storage boxes. They are pretty sturdy and I couldn't believe the price. The boxes ranged from $2.00 -$4.00 each. The entire set cost me $8.50.  They are not big enough to store paper or anything like that, but we keep a number of odds and ends in my office. We've actually been storing our batteries in a recycled baby formula container and quite frankly its hideous. This is quite the upgrade.



If you need a cheaper price than that, you can always make storage yourself using recycled materials. We buy all of our diapers in bulk so I usually have an empty box kicking around the house. I used an exacto knife to cut off the flaps along the top. Using scrapbook paper and tacky glue, I covered the outside and inside edges. It took less than 10 minutes, but looks great on a
shelf.

      




Or if you have some basic crocheting skills, you can make your own basket. I used a thick wool, doubled up the strands and followed an easy pattern I found on Pinterest to make a basket for the dog toys. It's a bit floppy, but I'm sure if I sprayed it with starch it would stiffen up quite nice.

Project 66 - Check in #1

Good morning! Here we are day 3 into the first round of my personal experiment. So far so good, but really anyone should be able to do make it 3 days.

 

Here is what I've challenged myself with and why:

 

Get up an hour before the rest of the house:

Since deciding to leave work and be a stay at home, I've become lazy. I sleep late (in terms of late for having young kids that need to go to school). I set the alarm clock with the intention of getting up but once it's screaming at me to wake up, the sleepy Christina  (an agent of Satan), begins whispering things like "you don't really need to wake up now. What's another 20 minutes? You deserve more sleep." It is to the point that I literally do not wake up until I have exactly enough time to wake up the kids, feed them, brush their teeth, pack backpacks and get them out the door. Once they are off, I begin my own wake up process of casually drinking 2-3 cups of coffee over the morning news show while scrolling Facebook. It's almost 9:00 am before I'm even ready to shower and get dressed. The late start has a domino effect into the rest of my day, making me much less productive.

I've successfully been able to get up on time for the past 3 days. Yes, throw me a parade now for how awesome I am. How have I done it? First, I am setting my clothes out the night before. The idea is that when I do get up, I can just grab my clothes pile and hit the shower right away. Pretty much making sure that I wake up before my tired brain convinces me to go back to sleep. I also set the alarm clock an hour earlier than my hour early time, if that makes sense. My autopilot continues to hit snooze for some time, but when I'm finally semi-alert and can actually wake up I'm not late.

 

It's unbelievable how just getting an early start has helped. I've been able to get showered, dressed, blow dry/style my hair, put on my makeup (ha! my husband will think this is a case of the body snatchers), and put the coffee on all before anyone else wakes up. And because I'm motivated and moving, that inertia continues throughout my morning. I have only watched the first 15 minutes of the news over coffee and then jumped right into my daily chores.

 

Clearly the process itself works. It is just a matter of following through for another 63 days.

 

Drink a gallon of water every day:

This is pretty self-explanatory. Everyone knows that staying hydrated is good for your health. I bought a 32 oz. cup with a cover. I'm drinking four of these cups a day. I have a habit of reaching for a snack when I am bored or stressed out, so whenever I get that urge, I just grab my water bottle and chug. I'm spending more time in my bathroom - guess I'll be adding a few home improvement projects to my list this year.

 

Cut down on my calorie and sugar intake every day:

I'm terrible at dieting. Even though I've never been a junk food junkie, I still indulge in some hearty snacking. I also LOVE bread, wine and coffee. Whenever I jump on a new diet, I struggle because I feel like I'm depriving myself which makes me want to eat/drink even more.

 

Instead of dieting, I figured that I could make some small changes to reduce my calorie and sugar intake. First, no more bread. I've switched to low-fat whole-wheat wraps for sandwiches. Skip the toast with breakfast. Second, adjust my coffee. I usually drink 2-3 cups every morning with 2 tsps. of sugar and a heavy hand of hazelnut creamer. Do the math and see how many of my daily calories and sugar are consumed just in coffee. I purchased Splenda to replace my sugar and unflavored non-dairy creamer at 10 calories a tsp. Easy enough way to cut down. Granted the coffee does not taste nearly as good, so I anticipate my caffeine intake is going to be cut down as well since I won't be drinking as much coffee.

 

As far as the wine is concerned, well... not sure that this Momma is ready to part with her friend. But since its not something I drink every day, I'm okay with that.

 

Write every day:

I've always wanted to be a writer. I can still remember my first word processor as a young girl. While other girls may have been playing with Barbie, I was up in my room pecking out short stories on a tiny 3 line screen. I excelled at writing in both high school and college. Unfortunately, since then I've let it slip. As you tell from reading this blog I'm quite rusty.

Thus, this blog was born. I hope to use this blog as exercise - a way to sharpen my skills and find my way back to my writer's voice. In time, I hope to dive back into short stories and work my way up to the novel I have always intended to write.

So there we have it.

It doesn't seem like much when I put it down in writing.  But, trust me considering everything else I do in my day to keep my house clean and my kids properly cared for, these are challenges.

Project 66

I may have started a little late into the New Year, but I'm ready to tackle those resolutions. I made a ton, as most of us do, in the hopes of becoming a better all around person. But unfortunately, again as most of us do, I usually end up failing at achieving the majority of my yearly goals. Not for lack of trying, but simply the idea of making so many life changes all at once and committing forever is unrealistic. I am essentially setting myself up for failure. So this year I have decided to do something different.

I'm calling it Project 66. Maybe some other blogger out there has done this, I don't know. I read somewhere that it takes 66 days of repetition to make something a habit. And since many of my goals this year are centered around creating better habits, I am going to try to attack my yearly goals in small chunks, 66 days at a time.

My hope is that by the end of the 66 day period, I will have established a few good habits and be ready to start adding more challenges for the next 66 days.

I may fail miserably. Or I could do great and finally be closer to the version of myself I've always wanted to be.

I'll be checking in periodically to update you on how the challenges are going. Wish me luck!