Week 2

Good Monday Morning!
This week I am ready to roll. Had a pretty non productive weekend, but I guess the rest was good for me. 


I would like to start with this prayer!


Heavenly Father, You alone know my heart as I start this challenge.  You know the depth of my discouragement and the loss of my hope that I’ll ever be free of the clutter in my life.  So today, as I take this step, I’m asking for Your help.  Help me have Your perspective on the areas of my life that feel overwhelming.  Clear my mind of the negative chatter.  Protect me from an enemy who wants to confuse and defeat me.  Reveal his lies and replace them with Your truth about my worth and potential.  With Your help I believe I can make progress.  In Jesus name, Amen.


Ok lets get started.


Organizing your schedule


A to do list will free your mind from forgetting your tasks.  I have been religiously writing a to-do list every morning and it sure does help. Not only to remember what I need to do but also to actually get them done. I like the satisfaction at the end of the day knowing I checked everything off.


My hubby bought me an iphone for Christmas, I love the darn thing. On my pc at home I found an organizer, planner, calendar called Cozi. It is awesome. I type in all my appointments, shopping list, and anything important into it. The best thing of all is there is an app on my iphone for Cozi as well and they sync together. Now my calendar is on my computer and my phone and it sends me reminders and its FREE!! I love FREE!!
http://www.cozi.com/family-calendar.htm


In the book, Jennifer recommends sitting down with your family and sorting out chores and schedules and what not. Right now that doesn't fit my needs because my kiddo is to little and my husband being self employed works a jillion hours a week and can barely keep his eyes open when he gets home long enough to eat and play with the little man. However he is good about taking the garbage to the dump for me regularly.


She also mentions creating a master To-do list.
Sort these tasks by 
A. need to be done today (pay bills, etc)
B. need to be done this week (send a card, etc)
C. would like to get done in the future (lunch with a friend, paint the house, etc)


I have not yet completed this however I was thinking it might work good on  a dry erase board so I can easily move things from one column to the next and erase as they are completed.  I am pausing from typing right now so I can enter "dry erase board" on my Cozi shopping list.................


Ok, I am back! My mind is now free from trying to remember "hallelujah"


She mentions scheduling all your appointments for a whole year all at once in January.  While that would work for most people it won't work for me. I live an hour away from town if the roads are good and there is no traffic, which means I schedule and cram everything I can possibly cram into one day only once or twice a month. For example, in two weeks I have my mom group in the morning, little mans pediatrician appt and my OB appt scheduled for the afternoon. That is also the next time I will go to town to do errands and groceries. It makes for long days but I know it wouldn't work if I scheduled all this more than a couple months in advance.  What works for me may not work for everyone.


I LOVE this idea! Place a notepad by your bed, when you think of something in the middle of the night, just write it down. Then you don't lie awake trying to remember anything.


Most importantly be REALISTIC about what you can accomplish in ONE day.  The amount of things I can accomplish is much less right now being pregnant than it is when I am not pregnant.


Avoid placing overwhelmingly large tasks on your to-do list. Instead of "plan a garage sale" write down  "clean closets" "sort toys"  "make signs" and so on. You are more likely to get it done in small increments than one large taunting task.


As always don't forget to schedule down time.


Schedule a date with your spouse, child, best friend at least once a month.


Every few months re-evaluate your long term to-do's, you can even set deadlines if you find yourself leaving them on the list for a long time.


Whew! That concludes Week 2. I will work on  a To-do list later on today. Tomorrow we will move right on to Week 3.


Thanks for listening