Sunday, January 3, 2010

Organizing

I am pretty darn pleased with myself right now. A few of the things that I really wanted to get done, are done. Now, all I have to do is follow through with my plan and all will be well in my world!

Here is my little work out calendar. Notice how I only wrote down one week worth of exercise? That is just in case I am being a bit over-zealous and my plan needs tweaking after week one. I am really worried about finding this much time for working out and walking, but we shall see.

Next, I took a planner that we got in the mail with something and I turned it into my meal planner. I recorded what I plan to have for dinner next week. It's all written in pencil because I know that one of those nights Irv will make a yummy frozen pizza and then I will have to move things around. The neat thing with this is that I can write things in ahead of time if I think of something I want to make for the following week and then I can use that to help me make my shopping list for that week. I can also jot other things we need in the little note section.

Last is the shoe box with my envelopes for our new budget....they are just waiting for payday on Friday and then we will get started. We get paid every other week, so I have envelopes for week one and for week two....for things like food, gas, dog food and spending...the things that we normally use a debit card for, but won't be anymore, therefore keeping us from overspending. At least that is the plan!

It feels good to have some plans in place. I am anxious to get started. The first test will be when we go grocery shopping this morning. This will be our dress rehearsal. I am anxious to see how we do. My goal is to only spend about $120 today, so we have money left for carry out on the weekend. :)

Subject change....I listed my cute new little Sun, Moon and Stars tote bag yesterday and popped it on Facebook. My sister in SC saw it and immediately bought it! I finished this one yesterday and I will get it listed some time today. I hope it sells as fast! I love the little plastic "buckle" thingy. I thought it was such a fun thing to use to keep the top of the tote closed.

Well, we are off to the store. I'll let you know how we do. Make it an awesome day for yourself!

16 comments:

Bluebell said...

O.K those are really good ideas, you probably will have to tweak them but it's a good start. Plastic money is such a pain is'nt it it is far too easy to spend and then you lose sight of what you have spent so your idea is good I hope it works for you.
Love Jillxx

Lanyardlady said...

Very impressive! Even if you veer from "the plan" a little, you've got a great structure in place to get you back on course. Does Facebook increase traffic to your shop?

Cathryn said...

Excellent beginning Kathy! I'm not that far in my plans but I'll be catching up with you soon. :D

I love your ideas and may incorporate one or two for my own!

Right now I'm resisting buying beads and findings until I've done a complete inventory so I know what I have!

Anonymous said...

People think I'm crazy to love January, but I do. You put me shame, but I organize, plan, purge, sort and clean.

I'm beginning to think the debit card is evil too. I might try the envelope system.

Ms Sparrow said...

What a busy gal you are! I wish I had the self-discipline to stick to your schedule. sigh...

Amy@TheLemonCottage said...

My mom has been using the envelope system for over 30 years!
Good luck to you. I need to get my fanny in gear.

Love the purse!

~Amy

Matty said...

I envy you for having such plans. I hope it works for you. I just pay the bills as they come in and keep an eye on the balance. Works for me.

And I've always heard that writing down goals helps you keep them. I make lists for getting things done and cross them off as I go.

Best of luck with everything.

Kittie Howard said...

My in-laws used the envelope system faithfully. And it worked! My sister also used it for years, still swears she made more progress that way. Trick is (they said), not to rob Peter to pay Paul. Am impressed with your scheduling/infrastructure. Like Bluebell said, life may throw a little tweaking your way, but your plan's strong enough to handle it. Good luck!

Mary Richmond said...

great ideas with the calendars--i have done something similar but i worry about it being too many calendars ;-)

am working on a worksheet that will have it all in one place and then i can copy it and put it in a notebook. will let you know if it works out ;-)

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

I'm impressed. I like your method for exercise/fitness planning.

gayle said...

Great ideas!! I know you will be able to do it..my husband spent $140 today and bought several things that we didn't need!!

That bag is so cute!!

Beth Anderson said...

Excellent!

Grammy said...

Just stopped by to send a hug and blessings in the new year.

Anonymous said...

You have a fresh start going, lady!
That little buckle clasp on your tote bag is wicked cute.

Angela said...

The envelope system WILL work. The only problem we had at first was taking money from one envelope to put in another. Once, we finally stopped cheating, it worked :) Good luck! ...and way to go on the groceries!

Unknown said...

Hi Kathy,

Meal planning and keeping track of your exercise is a great idea. At Springpad we've made it easy to organize all of that within the context of our free personal organizer tool. On the site (http://springpadit.com) you can easily save any recipe from any website with 1 click. Then you can personalize the recipes with your own notes, photos or videos, and share them with friends and family. In our meal planner app, you can easily import any of your recipes into a calendar which then generates a complete shopping list of ingredients. You can either print the list or access it from your mobile phone. We also have a workout tracker to keep track of what you've been doing. We just wrote a blog post about how you can use Springpad as the ultimate weight loss organizer: http://blog.springpadit.com/2010/01/springpad-as-the-ultimate-weight-loss-organizer

Hope this helps!

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