I decided to tackle the office. First up, I shredded this pile of papers that had been waiting by the shredder to shred.
After doing the shredding, I realized that the shredder desperately needed to be cleaned out.
So, I proceeded to try to dump it out into a bag… and promptly made a mess in the process. By the time the mess was cleaned up and I’d vacuumed the floor, my 30 minutes were up!
Did you do any de-cluttering this past week? If so, how’d it go for you?
You know what? After my decluttering session, I was so encouraged.
Why? Well, recently, I’ve been feeling like the clutter has been creeping in. And as you have probably figured out, I don’t like clutter. Er, more like, I loathe clutter.
So when it feels like clutter is creeping in and multiplying in closets, I can start to feel anxious about it. (I know, I know, I’m sorta weird. But it’s true.)
I figured that this challenge was going to be easy because I’ve not de-cluttered much at all since we moved in May. Well, guess, what? I had trouble finding clutter today! In fact, mostly what I found were things we use on a regular basis or have plans to use very soon.
As I analyzed it more, I think the reason I’ve been feeling like we have more clutter is not so much because we’ve been lowering our standards, but because we down-sized in house when we moved, my husband brought his office home, and our floor plan is laid out so differently here.
This left me feeling so encouraged! And it also made me have new appreciation for those of you who are currently living in really tiny houses or apartments.
Anyway, here’s a picture of what 30 minutes of digging through closets and dressers and drawers produced. A half-filled grocery sack.
I think I might try tackling the garage next week. That should produce quite a bit more clutter than a half-filled grocery sack! 🙂
Did you do any de-cluttering this past week? If so, how’d it go for you?
Note: I kind of fell off the bandwagon with this series in August. My goal-setting post for this week (coming in a bit) will explain why. Thanks for your patience with me. I’m excited to get back to this series again!
One of my goals for 2014 is to focus on my health. It’s easy to let our health take a back burner to everything else on our to-do list. But as I share in my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I’ve experienced what happens when you put your health last… and it’s not pretty!
With this in mind, I’m committed to making my health even more of a priority this year. And I’d love to have you join me for the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge.
We’re be focusing on one challenge area each month — all with the goal of being in a healthier place as a person by the end of next year. My hope is that as we work on instilling one new healthy habit each month, they won’t just be month-long challenges, but lifelong changes.
12 Months to a Healthier You Focus Areas for 2014
Here are the focus areas I’ve planned out for 2014:
January: Exercise Regularly February: Eat More Fresh Fruits & Veggies March: Drink More Water April: Cut Back on Sugar May: Get More Rest June: Create a Morning Routine July: Read More August: Go to Bed Earlier September: Declutter Your Home October: Cut Back on Caffeine November: Keep a Gratitude Journal December: Simplify & Say No
How This Challenge Works:
At the beginning of the month, I’ll introduce the focus area and encourage you to set a small goal for that specific area and I’ll share my goals.
Then, every Friday, I’ll have a check-in post where I’ll encourage you to share your progress & struggles and I’ll share mine, as well. If you want to blog about your progress, I’ll include a link-up at the end of the post so you can share your blog posts on this challenge.
In addition to the Friday check-ins, I’ll also probably share a few posts and guest posts on the monthly topics each month, along with sharing about related books, resources, or websites that I’ve found helpful.
Are you on social media? You can also share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by using hashtag #12MonthstoaHealthierYou.
My Goals for Decluttering My House in September
My goal for September is to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour every week this month focusing on decluttering. I plan to share a post with my pictures and results of my decluttering each Monday this month.
Will you be joining me for this September Challenge? If so, leave a comment letting us know you’re planning to join and what your decluttering goals are — whether it’s an area of the house you plan to tackle or a certain amount of time you plan to spend. Remember to keep them simple and doable!
We’re focusing on developing the habit reading more. I grow and learn so much through the books I read — which is why I included this as part of the 12 Months to a Healthier You challenge. I think filling our mind with good things can transform our whole life — from the inside out.
I’m also hoping to keep up with January’s habit of exercising at least 4-5 times every week, February’s goal of eating a big salad at least six times a week, March’s goal of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, April’s goal of cutting back on sugar, May’s goal of getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night, and June’s goal of sticking with my morning routine
This Week’s Progress:
I read 4 books last week — yay! That’s progress over last week’s 2 books. And since we’re taking a roadtrip this week, I’m hopeful that I’ll have time to read even more. We’ll see!
I hit my water goals six of the days, ate a salad six days, got around 8 hours of sleep almost every single night (woot!), did a fairly good job of sticking with my morning routine, exercised 4 times, and had dessert once. I’m so encouraged with how these challenges are actually turning into true habits for me — and hopefully lifelong changes!
How Are YOU Doing?
Leave a comment telling us how you did on your exercise goals this past week. If you’re blogging about this challenge, leave the direct link to your blog post about the challenge below. Are you on social media? You can also share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by using hashtag #12MonthstoaHealthierYou.
We’re focusing on developing the habit reading more. I grow and learn so much through the books I read — which is why I included this as part of the 12 Months to a Healthier You challenge. I think filling our mind with good things can transform our whole life — from the inside out.
I’m also hoping to keep up with January’s habit of exercising at least 4-5 times every week, February’s goal of eating a big salad at least six times a week, March’s goal of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, April’s goal of cutting back on sugar, May’s goal of getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night, and June’s goal of sticking with my morning routine
This Week’s Progress:
So far, I’ve only read 2 books, but I was also traveling and out of town, so I’m hoping that I’m going to be able to step it up with reading now that I’m going to be home more the rest of this month. We’ll see!
I hit my water goals six of the days, ate a salad six days, got an average of 7.5 hours of sleep (yay!), did a fairly good job of sticking with my morning routine, and had dessert twice. The only area I really bombed was exercise — I didn’t exercise one single day. Yep, bad, I know. But I aim to change that this week!
How Are YOU Doing?
Leave a comment telling us how you did on your exercise goals this past week. If you’re blogging about this challenge, leave the direct link to your blog post about the challenge below. Are you on social media? You can also share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by using hashtag #12MonthstoaHealthierYou.
One of my goals for 2014 is to focus on my health. It’s easy to let our health take a back burner to everything else on our to-do list. But as I share in my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I’ve experienced what happens when you put your health last… and it’s not pretty!
With this in mind, I’m committed to making my health even more of a priority this year. And I’d love to have you join me for the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge.
We’re be focusing on one challenge area each month — all with the goal of being in a healthier place as a person by the end of next year. My hope is that as we work on instilling one new healthy habit each month, they won’t just be month-long challenges, but lifelong changes.
12 Months to a Healthier You Focus Areas for 2014
Here are the focus areas I’ve planned out for 2014:
January: Exercise Regularly February: Eat More Fresh Fruits & Veggies March: Drink More Water April: Cut Back on Sugar May: Get More Rest June: Create a Morning Routine July: Read More August: Go to Bed Earlier September: Declutter Your Home October: Cut Back on Caffeine November: Keep a Gratitude Journal December: Simplify & Say No
How This Challenge Works:
At the beginning of the month, I’ll introduce the focus area and encourage you to set a small goal for that specific area and I’ll share my goals.
Then, every Friday, I’ll have a check-in post where I’ll encourage you to share your progress & struggles and I’ll share mine, as well. If you want to blog about your progress, I’ll include a link-up at the end of the post so you can share your blog posts on this challenge.
In addition to the Friday check-ins, I’ll also probably share a few posts and guest posts on the monthly topics each month, along with sharing about related books, resources, or websites that I’ve found helpful.
Are you on social media? You can also share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by using hashtag #12MonthstoaHealthierYou.
My Goals for Reading More in July
I grow and learn so much through the books I read — which is why I included this as part of the 12 Months to a Healthier You challenge. I think filling our mind with good things can transform our whole life — from the inside out.
My goal in July is to read at least 20 books. I really want to hit my goal of 150 books read this year — and I’m only at 50 books read so far, so I really need to step up my game if I’m going to hit that goal. I looked at my schedule and decided in July I was going to try an experiment: I’m going to try keeping my computer completely off from 2 p.m. until at least after dinner time and use that afternoon time for doing fun things with my kids, reading to my kids, catching up on laundry/housework, and getting in some reading. We’ll see how this goes. 🙂
I’m also hoping to keep up with January’s habit of exercising at least 4-5 times every week, February’s goal of eating a big salad at least six times a week, March’s goal of drinking 8 glasses of water a day, April’s goal of cutting back on sugar, and May’s goal of getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night, and June’s goal of having a more consistent morning routine.
Will you be joining me for this July Challenge? If so, leave a comment letting us know you’re planning to join and what your Reading More goal will be for this month.
