New Year's Resolutions - Keeping It Clean

In the list of New Year's resolutions, right behind losing weight and eating healthier, is keeping the house clean.  Unfortunately, this will be an example of doing what I say and not what I do.  Consistent house cleaning has always been a impossible challenging task for me.

Although I have struggled with maintaining a clean house, I have found a couple of great sources for getting into the habit.  Most systems describe three types of cleaning tasks - daily, weekly and less frequent.  There are variations on this theme, but getting the first two under control is the difference between being overwhelmed or getting it done.  If you are just getting started, find a program that gives you some suggestions about managing daily and weekly tasks.  Make sure whatever you do works for YOU.  You'll find plenty of routines that focus on accomplishing a specific daily task, but you may question why you are cleaning your kitchen sink when you can't walk through your bedroom.  You need to control the cleaning routine - it shouldn't control you..

Remember the rules of learning a new habit because house cleaning routines are perfect examples of habits that need consistency and persistence.  Keep that in mind as you look at these websites.  They have great routines, but it can be very overwhelming as you start.  Figure out your daily routine and try that for a week or so.  Then you can decide how detailed or complicated you want to be.

Flylady

This was my original exposure to cleaning systems.  She is incredible.  Clean your kitchen sink everyday.  If you aren't ready for the detailed "fly journal," or life overhaul, it's OK, just follow the basics and refrain from the complicated stuff. 

Clean Mama

This is a similar to FlyLady, but maybe just a little more modern.  Do you want some basic ideas to develop your own cleaning routine?  She has them.  Do you want a detailed cleaning routine that tells you exactly what to do and when?  You got it.  Do you want to watch her videos or read her books?  She has that too.

Better Homes & Garden

If you are looking for instruction on particular cleaning tasks or how to create your own cleaning routine, the BHG website is awesome.  There are so many suggestions and articles on housekeeping, including cleaning.  It's a little like Pinterest, so be forewarned about the black time hole you will encounter. 

Good luck - and keep it clean out there!

cindy

New Year's Resolution - Be More Charitable

Maybe 2017 is the year you give back.  There is so much personal satisfaction in helping others and making the world a better place.  (I know that sounds corny, but it is true.)  But how do you start?  It's all about time, talent and treasure.

Time

While financial contributions are important, time may be the greatest gift you can give.  If you don't have disposable income or if you just want to give in a more personal way, there are plenty of shelters, food banks, Boys & Girls Clubs and other institutions that are grateful for volunteers.  Your donation of time can be a one-time event or a continuing relationship with an organization that will put your time to a worthy purpose.  Don't limit yourself to the obvious volunteer opportunities!  Don't forget nursing homes, animal shelters, libraries and neighborhood clean up events.  While it might not give you a tax deduction, the personal pride in knowing you have given from your most precious resource might just change your outlook on life.

Talent
You might be thinking you should skip this type of charity because you don't have any special talents, but you are most certainly wrong.  While you may not have artistic abilities (although you can volunteer those too), you might have untapped talents that are even more useful.  I have a friend who has a great speaking voice and an understanding of science and math terms.  She volunteers reading and recording text books for the blind.  Perhaps you have some untapped skills that might help others.  Are you an accountant, hair stylist, attorney or outdoor enthusiast?  You can help seniors with taxes, provide salon services at homeless shelters, offer free legal services or volunteer at local parks.  Maybe you could be a Scout leader, train service dogs or teach English as a second language.  If you have a hobby like knitting or sewing, you can use those talents to make things for the needy.  It may take a little more effort to find your talent, but everyone has a talent they can offer to others.

Treasure
This term might be a little unfamiliar to you, but it's the most common form of charity - giving money.  If you want to contribute to a specific cause, it's easy to find an organization that will accept your donation, whether your passion is animal welfare, disease research, environmental protection or international child relief.  You can also donate to umbrella organizations, such as the United Way, that will spread your money around.  If you belong to a church, your denomination may have a charitable arm that provides humanitarian services worldwide.  There is no limit to the number of organizations that will accept your money.

If you are looking for less traditional opportunities, check out GoFundMe and similar sites that offer unique causes to support.  In doing the research for this post, I visited GoFundMe and was overwhelmed by the sheer number or worthy causes.  What was even more amazing to me was to see the amount of money people contributed to creative grass root causes.  Very cool.

Please remember a couple of points about monetary giving.  If more than 8% of your donation is going to a charity's administrative expenses, you might want to find a more efficient organization.  Also, beware of telephone solicitations, regardless of the worthiness of the cause.  The solicitors frequently take a percentage of your donation as payment.  Finally, don't give out your credit card or bank account information over the phone.  Ask them to send you something in the mail or through email so you can see the website and check to see if it's legit.

Regardless of how you do it, you can make a big difference in the world, one cause at a time.  There is no amount too small, no time too limited or no person who lacks talent to do something special.  Be that person who practices charity and change your life in 2017!

cindy

New Years Resolutions - Bring God Into Your Life

If you are a believer, you understand the desire to bring God into your daily life.  While you may be accustomed to attending a church on Sundays, spending time with God during the week is more challenging, especially if you don't attend additional services.  Praying can be difficult if you aren't in the habit of doing it, and if you are waiting to "feel" God, you might be waiting for a while.  You can discover God in your daily life, but only if you look for Him.

Believe me when I say I'm not preaching.  This is one of my goals for 2017.  Mother Teresa went through long periods of her life where her walk with Jesus was "dry."  She didn't sense His presence, but she persisted in her prayer life.  It's a matter of habit, so I want to follow my own suggestions to get into the habit of bringing God into my daily life.

I think the most obvious is prayer.  As a Catholic, I have lots of formal types of prayer available to me - the Rosary, novenas, chaplets and many formal prayers.  That does make it a little easier.  But I think the essential part is setting a time every day exclusively for prayer.  There are many places you can get suggestions for how to pray, but generally, you should start with quiet.  Clear your mind.  Then start with praise and honor to God.  It's a little like saying hello.  Next, thank God for your blessings.  It can be mundane or the big things - family, health, life itself.  Only after you have praised and thanked God should you ask for anything.  Don't just ask for yourself - ask for others.

My next strategy will be reading the Bible.  I'm going to try to use a program to do it in a year.  There are multiple websites with suggestions for how to do this and you can find apps to read the Bible to you.  If you want to go deeper, there are countless Bible studies you can do yourself or find a group.  Finally, read some spiritual books.  There are too many to count and they come in all shapes, sizes and beliefs.  Find some that inspire you.

Finally, the best way to bring God into your daily life is just to open the door to Him.  Talk to Him while you're doing your daily activities.  Did you get a green light or a break in traffic?  Thank Him.  Did you lose your keys?  Ask for help.  Pray before meals.  Pray when you wake up and before you go to sleep.  These don't have to be long or complex.  If you're talking to someone all day, you will tend to think about them throughout the day.  God's not just hanging out in the church building.

Please pray for me and I will pray for you.

cindy

New Year's Resolutions - Is It Time for Bed?

Are you getting enough sleep?  Probably not.

Adults generally need 7-9 hours of sleep every night, teenagers need 8-10 and younger children need more than that.  If you're like me, you're not getting close to that much sleep.  As it turns out, sleep is not a luxury, but a necessity to good health and daily functioning.  Sleep deprivation can lead to chronic health problems, including heart disease and diabetes.  The most surprising fact to me is that there is a direct correlation between sleep deprivation and obesity.  So, if your resolution is to improve your health, lose weight and get fit, improving your sleep is a must.

So now that you are resolved to get more sleep, how do you make it happen?  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Set a bedtime and wake up time and stick to it.  Sleeping in on weekends is OK, but don't overdo it.  "Catching up on sleep" is no substitute for good sleep patterns.
2.  Keep your bedroom quiet, dark and cool.  White noise machines work very well to block out undesirable noise, such as snoring.
3.  Quality sleep is as important as adequate time.  Try to avoid food and drink (alcohol and cigarettes) for 2 hours before going to bed.  Also, avoid unnatural light (TV, cell phone and computer screens) for 2 hours before bed (whew - that will be tough!)
4.  Make sure you're sleeping on a decent mattress.  Maybe this is the year you invest in a good mattress, especially if you haven't replaced it in the last 10 years.  A bad mattress can exacerbate chronic pain and cause back and neck pain.
5.  If you are taking a vacation, take the opportunity to get your sleep in synch.  Follow that fixed bedtime and sleep without an alarm.  This isn't required, but it might help you get a jump start on your resolution.

Making 2017 the year you improve your health.  Get some sleep!

cindy

New Year's Resolutions - Break and Build Habits

This topic had to be the first because you will need the tips here to accomplish most, if not all, resolutions you may make.  Whether you're trying to break a bad habit or acquire a new one, the rules are basically the same.  Effort, especially while you are making a lasting change, is the primary requirement, as well as a commitment to building or breaking a habit.

Use these tips to self improvement through making and breaking habits:

1.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  That might sound a little negative coming as the first suggestion, but you won't be perfect all the time and you need to be ready for that.  Write down your goal - be specific about the habit you are trying to make or break.  When the goal is not specific, there is a tendency to water it down, or add more to the original goal.  You can't win a game if you change the rules in the middle. Finally, have a plan for what happens during a setback. 

2.  Focus on one habit at a time.  Don't try to diet and quit smoking at the same time.  There is actually scientific evidence to show that the human brain only has enough will power to attack one habit at a time. 

3.  Give yourself at least 30 days.  Set a firm date to begin and commit to the entire 30 days.  Set that 30th day as a milestone and not just a vague aspiration.  It takes about 3 weeks for most people to adopt or break a habit.  If you have other behaviors, people or situations that are associated with your bad habit or stand in the way of your new habit, make an effort to avoid them during the time you are trying to make or break a habit.  It might not be realistic to change your commute route permanently, but if it helps break the Starbucks or McDonalds habit, do it for 30 days and give yourself a chance.

4.  Be accountable.  If you keep a record of your progress, it can keep you focused.  Better yet, find an accountability partner who will keep you honest on your progress.  That person will encourage you whether you are progressing or not.  It also makes you more likely to persevere through the 30 days.

5.  Reward yourself.  Sometimes the new habit is a reward in itself, but when your efforts pay off, give yourself something special that you would not otherwise have.  It's a great motivation to start/break another habit!

Regardless of the resolution you make, if it includes a new practice or activity you don't already do, plan on following these steps to a positive change.  Good luck!

cindy

New Year's Resolutions

Let me start by saying I'm not great at New Year's resolutions.  My 2017 resolution is pretty simple -  to make time for things I enjoy.  However, I know many people make significant resolutions or otherwise want to make a commitment to better themselves in a new year.

I've put together some posts this week to offer ways to choose a resolution or succeed in many common resolutions.  I've scoured the internet for the best tips and information (and added a few of my own).  This week, Straddling the Gap is your New Year's Resolution Central!

First, let's start off with a short list of worthwhile resolutions (just in case you need one).  I will be writing more detail about some of these this week:

1.  Improve your sleep.
2.  Improve your fitness level
3.  Change your diet
4.  Break a bad habit
5.  Start a cleaning routine
6.  Simplify your life
7.  Make (and stick to) a budget
8.   Be more charitable
9.  Organize your life
10. Incorporate God into your daily life

Whatever your resolution(s), make 2017 different and special.

cindy

It's Just Another New Year's Eve ...

... and my husband is playing Barry Manilow on piano.  That seems to be one of our New Year's Eve traditions.

Many New Year's Eve traditions revolve around food.  We don't really do it every year, but in my family that means black-eyed peas.  In another tradition we developed with some old friends, it also means Scotch Eggs (Heart Attacks) in the morning.

This year I'm looking forward to being home together.  Someone has been in Rome in the last 2 years.  We won't have a big party, just the four of us eating junk food and watching a little television, maybe a movie.  At midnight it will be silly hats and noise makers.  It's not much, but it's what we do.

It's also time to make resolutions.  At my age I've seen too many resolutions come and go, mostly resolving to being healthier, exercising more and losing weight.  Yeah, sure, those apply again this year so I'll give them a cursory nod. 

This year I resolve to make time for the things I love to do.  Mostly that means sewing and crafting for my Etsy store.  With my busy schedule, I have to made the effort to doing in small doses.  Crochet is good for that and I can break up sewing projects into small tasks (cutting fabric, sewing a couple of things at a time or stuffing a nursing pillow).  I also want to be a little more consistent blogging now that I have a dedicated Surface Pro that I don't have to share with anyone else. [big smile on my face right now.]

Let's see what 2017 brings.  Happy New Year!

cindy

2015

Here it is, a new year.  Watch the ball drop.  Kiss your honey, blow some horns and sing "Auld Lang Syne."

Remember to write the correct year on your checks.  Start gathering the tax information.  Watch the endless commercials for weight loss plans and gyms.  Make a resolution.

No thank you.  I'm fine.  I've been thinking about it for days.  I can't think of a single thing I want to define my 2015.  Last year I said "peace."  If that's still my resolution, do I need to say it again?

I guess we need a stopping point every now and then.  I like the idea of looking back to remember important things that happened, people we lost and lessons we learned.  January 1 is a good day for that.  I'm just not a resolution kind of girl.  I have things I resolve to do daily, weekly and monthly, but I can't in good faith try to think of one thing I resolve to do for an entire year.

So Happy New Year!  I'm thinking back through 2014 and looking forward to life in 2015.  I'm having a big birthday this year.  My son will start high school {gasp!} and a dear friend is having a miracle baby.  I will spend much of the year working toward getting our youth choir to Rome for New Years 2016.  I'm looking forward to all of it.

2015 is bound to be a year full of joy and sorrow, hopefully more of the former and less of the latter.  I'm still praying for peace, both for myself and the world.  I'm also praying for wisdom so I can discern more of God's plans for me.

Happy New Year.

Cindy

2014 - A More Simple Resolution

I hate New Year's Resolutions.

I don't know if I've ever kept a New Year's Resolution.  Why can't we make resolutions on our birthdays, or summer solstice or Labor Day?  Making resolutions at the end of the year right after the excesses and "highs" of the holidays pretty much blows any chance at realistic goals.

Instead of making resolutions for the New Year, I have a better idea I remember from a song:

Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now.
With every breath I take let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Be peaceful and make 2014 the best year you can have.

cindy

My New Year's Resolution

I said earlier this week that I wasn't revealing my resolution until a little later.  I've been procrastinating a couple of days now, probably because if I post it, it means I will have to do it.  My resolution is not original, but I don't think I've ever made this one.

I want to de-clutter my house.

I think getting rid of so much stuff will help me start to see my home in a new light.  We've been in this house for 10 years and I still like it very much, but after a while it's hard to see through all the stuff and get back to the features I liked when we bought it.  That may sound strange, but I think it's that inability to see past things that have been sitting in the same place for years that keeps me from working on decorating changes.  After 10 years, it might be time to plan for a few changes.

There are so many resources out there, so if you are one of those people who can't imagine where to start, I'll be happy to share some of those resources now and through this year as I find them (I'm always happy to hear about others too).  Here's a few I've found.

Flylady

Marla Cilley (a.k.a. Flylady) is da bomb of de-cluttering, cleaning and organizing your home.  I first found Flylady over ten years ago when my kids were babies, and I became a "Flybaby" follower of Marla.  The best part of +Flylady is that you can take as much as you want.  She has a fun little program to de-clutter your house over time, one room at a time.  If you want more, you can go much much much deeper into cleaning (I mean cleaning), organizing and menu planning.  If you master the Flylady system, you can pretty much do anything!

If you have a profile on Google+ you can check out the new community +Keep It Clean.  It also covers everything from de-cluttering to cleaning to money management, time management and even weight loss.  I'm just there for the de-cluttering part (I can't even wrap my head around doing another one of those worthy goals), but so far there is a nice community going there.

I'm fascinated by how people have come up with so many methods to de-clutter!  They make it downright fun to say goodbye to those things that are taking up your space!  

Joshua Becker and Becoming Minimalist has some great tips and links in 10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home.  He also has a great little digital book called "Simplify" that you can find at Amazon for your Kindle.

If decluttering is your 2013 dream, now's the best time of the year to get started.  There are so many links and Facebook groups and articles about this topic.  This is one of the "hottest" resolutions every year, so early January again brings lots of advice.  I'll keep you up to date on how I'm doing.  It won't be fast, but hopefully it will be steady.

cindy

2013 - It's Here, Are You Resolved?

Congratulations - we made it another year.  2012 was good, but 2013 will be better, right?  January 1 - the day of resolutions and reality.  We're thinking of diets while indulging in junk, and making fitness goals while watching football.  I've been dreaming of self-improvement during my daytime nap.

Yeah, I have a resolution, and a magic word for the year, but I'm not telling until later this week.  It might just jinx me.  Instead, let's examine resolutions generally.

The top 3 resolutions for 2012:
1.  Lose weight
2.  Getting organized
3.  Spend less, save more (hey, that was MY resolution last year)

Sound familiar?  You probably also know that less than 8% of people keep their resolutions.  Here's a great blog post from Forbes with a break down of how that happens.  While the post was a little discouraging with the statistics, I really loved this illustration from a 1915 prayer card:

Want to be successful in keeping your resolutions?  Good news - it can be done!  First, stop telling yourself it's a resolution, especially a New Year's Resolution.  Calling it that is just an excuse for blowing it within the first month.  Instead, look at it like any other goal, and be SMART!

S      Specific (or significant)

M     Measurable

A     Attainable (or Action-Based)

R     Realistic (Relevant)

T     Trackable

If you want to "be a healthier person" this year, what does that mean?  How will you determine what "healthier" is?  While making your whole family lose weight is a great resolution, is it something YOU can do?  If you just had knee surgery and want to run a marathon, is that really something you can accomplish in a year?  How will you track improvements of your "fitness" during the year?  Use the SMART metric to see if your goal (resolution) is a good one.

While your goal is a yearlong effort, you need to have smaller bites to get that done.  Set milestones - maybe every two weeks, maybe every month.  Keep your goal in mind - write it on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror.  Better yet, put it on your Facebook page and update your progress regularly.  (Using a blog might not be as effective - it didn't really help me last year.)  

Finally, if the whole idea of a New Year's Resolution is just too daunting, just don't do it!  While people who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to make a change, that's only because they set a goal, not because they set the goal on January 1.  Wait a week or a month and then set a GOAL.

OK, maybe I inspired you a little (or myself a lot).  I'll reveal my goal (resolution) later this week, and maybe I'll be SMART about it.

Happy New Year!

cindy

Fit Friday - You Gotta Have A Plan!

I'm learning that it's not enough to say "I'll lose weight" or "I'll exercise more."  Those are great resolutions, but with no execution of the resolution you've got no solution.  Enter - a plan!

More than half Most Almost all of what I write here is encouragement for me.  I'm certainly not in a position to be speaking from a place of knowledge.  Having said that, a plan is in order - for me or whoever wants to be successful in getting healthier.

It takes 3 weeks or more to develop a habit.  Until then, you probably need a strong routine.  For exercising, it means scheduling a specific time each day during the upcoming week when you will exercise.  In fact, you should also plan exactly what exercise you will do.  Hopefully, after the 3 weeks of the routine, you will be in a place where you will know when and how to exercise regularly.  I'm still waiting for that to happen.

With weight loss for me, it's all about accountability.  I need to weigh myself every day at the same time.  I know many people strongly discourage that, but for me, if I don't do it every day I won't understand and recognize that the extra helping of mashed potatoes I ate yesterday resulted in the extra pound today.  It can also go the other way - that hour on the treadmill resulted in a bonus pound loss.

Most importantly, you need goals.  The long term goal of 30 pounds by next November is great, but how do you get from Point A to Point B?  How do you know if you're on track?  I recently sat down with a calendar and determined how much weight I wanted to lose.  I don't have a particular timeline - a class reunion, a wedding, whatever, so I don't have a specific date that I need the weight gone.  I do know that I wanted to take a slow, sensible approach (especially after a stint on HcG).  I figured that for the first half of my weight loss I could do a rate of 2 pounds per week (which is pretty ambitious over time), but the second half I would do at 1 pound per week.  I figured out how long it would take me and marked the ultimate deadline on my calendar.  Then, I wrote the goal weight for each week on the calendar.  Now instead of thinking that 6 months is a long way off, I know I need to lose 2 pounds before next Tuesday.  Every "Tuesday" I plan to mark down my actual weight under the goal weight for that week.  If I'm ahead (I lost 3 pounds instead of 2 this week), I just got a cushion!

The same is true with exercise.  (I'm really paying attention to my own advice here.)  Identify the days this week you will go to the gym and the time.  Initially don't worry about what you do there or how long - just GET THERE.  Later you can set the goal for time and exercises you will do each time.  Finally, you can just identify the number of hours per week you need to exercise - how much cardio and how much strength training.

Wow, I have a lot of work to do.  Get out that calendar and get a plan!

Don't forget to check out the Fit Club every Monday for more inspiration.

cindy

It's a Fit Life

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have been in a weight loss journey since October.  I am just finishing the stabilization phase after my first round of HcG shots.  I'm a little over where I should be, but I have been maintaining a fixed weight.  Next week I start round two.  I wasn't sure I was going to do another round, but knowing I could lose up to 20 pounds in less than a month (if I'm strict) is too enticing, especially because I would see a weight I haven't seen in more than 10 years.
In the meantime, Kim from "It's a Crafty Life" has started Fit Club so bloggers can offer support and suggestions for each other to get healthier in 2012.  I'm excited to be part of her effort.  There's still plenty of room on this bandwagon for anyone else who wants to join.  I'm going to be doing "Fit Fridays" to show my progress (even if it's only to myself) every week.  If you want to see more suggestions and maybe inspirations, come on over!




cindy

2012 The Year of Frugality

I've been blogging a little over 6 months now and I'm starting to understand that if I write it down here, I'm making myself publicly accountable to do what I say.  With that in mind, I'm committing as my New Year's resolution to jump on the bandwagon (although I'm a little late) in cutting our costs and living more frugally.  This isn't just a nice idea.  Our home is now 15 years of and it's going through that first wave of replacement needs.  Moreover, we're going to have some fairly substantial costs this year for home maintenance.  We want to stay out of debt (and may have to dig out after the holiday excess).

Each month I'm going to focus on areas where we can save money.  This month we are going to go back through the last year and get a baseline of our expenditures.  (Notice I didn't say "expenses" but "expenditures.")  We'll use that baseline to track our spending each month compared to last year.  By the end of January, we should be able to pinpoint some areas where we might be able to save money this year. I'll report here the area we're focusing on and the progress in reducing costs.  I'm sure I will be reading more blogs on this topic to get some ideas.  I'm also happy to take some suggestions.

Wish us luck!

cindy