Inspire me. Have you made big changes?

[crazelion]

I made a big change last year. I think read some where that old things contains energy. Okay I am new age os bare with me. I I hurt my spring last year was on crutches. I about kill my self because everything was on the floor. The I sick with flu for two weeks and was bed rest. I could not sit on counch with it was clutter. I vow when I got well that I declutter the house.

I have been declutter ever since. I love it. I still have along way to go. I am taking steps to handle the problem.

 

[lattemomof3]

New poster here. I think this is a great idea for a thread and we should keep it going, posting our goals and what steps we take each day to accomplish them.

Welcome to the DIS! You will soon become addicted.

 

[lattemomof3]

It's fun to read everyone's goals. Today is "catch up" day for me, meaning laundry & more laundry, then at 12:30 I'm riding bikes w/ dd's 5th grade class to the cemetary (I know, strange field trip, I guess we do some measuring/mathematical activitites). Tomorrow dh is taking the kids camping for overnight w/ his parents, so I will, for the 1st time ever, be child free AND home for 24 hours! You guys need to keep me honest because the goal is to clean out dd4's closet & clean and rearrange her room, so if you see me hangin' around on the boards kick me off! I also need to make a meal for a friend who lost her brother, so hopefully I can get this all accomplished. It will be a "Cinderella Saturday", working all day, with the reward of going out to dinner and a movie with my mom.

 

[southern_redhead]

My daughter had 4 American girl dolls- why? One would have been enough.

I don't buy books anymore, they clutter up my house and cost money.

(Just Kidding! ) In all seriousness, though, these are two of my favorite things. We have 3 floor to ceiling bookcases FULL of books, 3 bookcases 1/2 that height that we have to fill up (some books in boxes are coming back out to help with that.) DH and I love to read, we read many of the same things. We love our book collection and had our bookcases custom made, we consider them part of our interior decorating

DD has my 2 AG dolls so those are "heirlooms" I guess and she got her own for her birthday this summer. She is getting another similar doll for Christmas. Excessive? Maybe BUT she loves and treasures them...she doesn't ask for much else and we consider them a reward of sorts for her maturity and overall good behavior.

I guess what I'm saying is that most anything costs money and takes up space, you just have to decide which things matter to you. In our case it was our books and a doll collection that may someday be handed down to a granddaughter making it a three generation thing. There are many things I'm not sentimental about - most notably my kids clothing LOL I saved one or two important items from each child but gave away/sold the rest of it. OTOH, I have a friend who literally freaks out at the idea of getting rid of any of her two kids clothing items. She stores them in boxes, I can't imagine BUT this is what makes her happy. I was NOT however judging you just illustrating a point.

Everything I buy I pay for with cash.

I want more experiences in my life like traveling

x 1000!!! We totally abandonded any idea of using plastic. We tried it twice. Both times we were doing really well, got cards, charged up and then DH lost his job. Honestly, twice was enough to teach me a HUGE lesson (the second time we figured the first time was a fluke.) Paying things off was a long process and nerve-wracking. DH said the other day "maybe we should get a CC ... just for emergencies or travel." My response was "Are you insane?" LOL

We also love to travel. We live in a tiny, rural area. I want my kids to see big cities and know that when they leave home they can go ANYWHERE not just next door! And traveling enables us to provide them with experiences you just can't get where we live.

For the OP my biggest commitment was going back to work full time. I didn't want to, I still hate it, but we needed the stable insurance it provides and the (tiny) paycheck left after they take out my insurance fees and a chunk of taxes is a nice incentive as well.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I always say I wanna lose weight. This year my new plans will be

-loose inches
-get healthy
-clean out the garage and sell all the stuff thats piled up in there.
-shred all my old bills and documents( i think i have 2 large garbage bags full
-payoff my last 3 creditcards
-declutter and get organized

do we come back Dec.31, 2011 and say if we followed through?

 

[apnep]

I got a job after taking a break from my career for 9 years to be a SAHM. That's a BIG change! I'm only doing a short contract but it is something I had to really build the courage up to do and then finally decided to put up, shut up and DO IT after a long conversation with my SIL (also a SAHM).

I'm not gonna lie, I miss being home and have my coffee and working out. I miss my kids! I also don't dig the rushing around. I am not enamoured with having to sit in a chair all day working on the computer (working on boring content--I'm a writer), but on the other hand, it's feels SOOOO good to get that paycheck and know that I am still worth what I used to be, I'm still intelligent, and I can help my husband with the bills.

So glad I started out with a short-term contract, that it will be over soon and knowing I was able to pay off my son's ortho bill. I'm also proud of myself for actually doing it! My DH didn't think I was going to do it and I really surprised him.

Looking forward to being back home soon and baking for the holidays and to be more proactive with my photography this year.

 

[karice2]

I know exactly how the OP feels. Every year I feel like a failure for this exact reason. I have really big goals and want to do a thousand different things. Lose weight, get organized, save more. All of it. I can't seem to get any of it done.

To make it worse, it is just me to consider. No husband, no kids so my time is my own (except for work) and I still can't seem to get it done. That is when the feelings of failure sink in.

I like the sink idea. I can do that. It does make the kitchen look neater all around.

I am still trying to get everything reorganized from a major house renovation that happened in July. I have ideas for business stuff everywhere. The magazines are taking over and i need to do so many little projects that it is never ending.

Thanks God for making the leaves fall every year. I now have to deal with those as well.

I am a habitual list maker but the list gets so overwhelming that I can't seem to finish any of it. I don't want to wait until next year to get started. Just getting enough stuff done for my week is hard enough. Add my 2.5 hour commute every day and I am done before I get started.

Ok. Enough whining. This weekend I will commit to a few things and see how it goes.

 

[Virgderon]

(Just Kidding! ) In all seriousness, though, these are two of my favorite things. We have 3 floor to ceiling bookcases FULL of books, 3 bookcases 1/2 that height that we have to fill up (some books in boxes are coming back out to help with that.) DH and I love to read, we read many of the same things. We love our book collection and had our bookcases custom made, we consider them part of our interior decorating

DD has my 2 AG dolls so those are "heirlooms" I guess and she got her own for her birthday this summer. She is getting another similar doll for Christmas. Excessive? Maybe BUT she loves and treasures them...she doesn't ask for much else and we consider them a reward of sorts for her maturity and overall good behavior.

I guess what I'm saying is that most anything costs money and takes up space, you just have to decide which things matter to you. In our case it was our books and a doll collection that may someday be handed down to a granddaughter making it a three generation thing. There are many things I'm not sentimental about - most notably my kids clothing LOL I saved one or two important items from each child but gave away/sold the rest of it. OTOH, I have a friend who literally freaks out at the idea of getting rid of any of her two kids clothing items. She stores them in boxes, I can't imagine BUT this is what makes her happy. I was NOT however judging you just illustrating a point.



x 1000!!! We totally abandonded any idea of using plastic. We tried it twice. Both times we were doing really well, got cards, charged up and then DH lost his job. Honestly, twice was enough to teach me a HUGE lesson (the second time we figured the first time was a fluke.) Paying things off was a long process and nerve-wracking. DH said the other day "maybe we should get a CC ... just for emergencies or travel." My response was "Are you insane?" LOL

We also love to travel. We live in a tiny, rural area. I want my kids to see big cities and know that when they leave home they can go ANYWHERE not just next door! And traveling enables us to provide them with experiences you just can't get where we live.

For the OP my biggest commitment was going back to work full time. I didn't want to, I still hate it, but we needed the stable insurance it provides and the (tiny) paycheck left after they take out my insurance fees and a chunk of taxes is a nice incentive as well.

Hi- I was so suprised to see you quoting me! I had forgotten what I wrote! As an update, books are back. What I am doing is buying them for a couple dollars at the flea market, and then trading them back ( they give me a dollar) and getting more. I never end up with too many books that way. I have one small bookshelf to contain them. I know someone will say I should go to the library, but this way I get the books I want when I want them, and I am helping support these small re-sale shops.

So far this year I have paid off almost $4000 in credit card debt, and paid cash for several long weekends at Disney with my family. I just paid cash for plane tickets to go home for Christmas. It feels great to pay cash!

My kids are grown up now, and they always talk about the trips we took. I don't regret that spending.

Good luck southern redhead! It sounds like you have your priorities right!

 

[DawnM]

ICK! I have made some major changes and stuck with them. Other things have not gone as well.

Success: 4 years ago we decided to pay off all debt other than the house and then start paying more to the house. We have succeeded in paying off all debt, getting a healthy emergency fund/savings account, and going from a 30 year to a 15 on the house.

Failure: I cannot seem to find a diet that works and that I will stick with. I need to lose weight and it is hard, hard, hard.

I could list some other successes and failures, but these are the big ones.

Dawn

 

[JaymeC]

I think one thing we all need to remember is that no one's perfect. It seems we all strive for that, but *no one* is! And that's okay.

Having said that, the only way I've found to make changes is by making SMALL ones that add up to big ones. Or by finding a way to force myself to change.

For example with diet, I know i can't change my diet all at once or I'll just be upset. So instead I drop one unhealthy item totally off our shopping list (say chips). Once I get used to that (sometimes a week, sometimes a month!) then I drop another, and in the meantime pick up some extra fruit or veggies. Small changes!

As far as forcing yourself, I also got us a lab mix puppy knowing full well that he'd need walks daily. I now have no choice whatsoever on getting out to at least get a half hour or so walk in every day!

 

[DawnM]

Those changes (food) already made....still no change in the scale. Sigh.

As far as the dog and forced to walk him.....still have excuses over here. I have 2.5 acres for them to run around in, about 1.5 acres of that is fenced.....yup, still have an "excuse" here.

Dawn

I think one thing we all need to remember is that no one's perfect. It seems we all strive for that, but *no one* is! And that's okay.

Having said that, the only way I've found to make changes is by making SMALL ones that add up to big ones. Or by finding a way to force myself to change.

For example with diet, I know i can't change my diet all at once or I'll just be upset. So instead I drop one unhealthy item totally off our shopping list (say chips). Once I get used to that (sometimes a week, sometimes a month!) then I drop another, and in the meantime pick up some extra fruit or veggies. Small changes!

As far as forcing yourself, I also got us a lab mix puppy knowing full well that he'd need walks daily. I now have no choice whatsoever on getting out to at least get a half hour or so walk in every day!

 

[happydisneyfamily]

Last new years I made several resolutions. The one that stuck is to fix my bed every single day. Now even though we are rushing out the house some mornings, I will still rush back in to fix my bed. Another thing I also learned from flylady like a few of you did is to make sure the dishes are done and the sink is clean. I have added the counters, kitchen floor, and dining room. If you do this every meal, it's so much easier than letting things pile up. It has become habit more than anything. By the way, I have a dishwasher but wash by hand also. For me it's faster and everything is done right then rather than waiting for the dishwasher to be full.

As for diet and exercise, I don't diet because it makes me think about food all the time. Instead I try to control myself and watch my portions. For instance I will eat a slice of chocolate cake but I just make my slice a little smaller and savor it. I try to work out on the elliptical a few times a week and it's slow but I think I went down a few pounds in two months.

 

[Piper]

flylady.com is what I use. Even though I already had major health issues and made things more interesting with a stroke last June, I keep my house clean. Sometimes I have too much pain to do 15 minutes at a time (her recommendation) but I can do 5 minutes....rest....5 more. It is surprising how much you can get done in 5 minutes!!

 

[lattemomof3]

Don't get discouraged! I read a quote last week that said "failure is not falling down, failure is not getting back up again". Today I got dd's closet 3/4 done, it looks like a bomb went off in her room right now, but I have time to finish it up before the troops return tomorrow. I did not get my friend's meal made, but I'll just push that to Mon. (I'm making homemade Runzas that she can eat right away or freeze for later, she does'nt know I am, so I can run them over anytime). I did, however, go to a matinee & out to eat w/ my mom (You Again- it was great!). So even though I did'nt get everything accomplished today, I'm happy that I got some of it done, and had some fun, too. As Scarlett says "Tomorrow IS another day!" Don't forget to reward yourself w/ something you like to do- a bubble bath, reading time, a new i-tunes song, latte or renting a movie. I budget a little fun money every month, and it usually goes toward my "bribes".