One Month Challenge

It has been a little more than a year since I started this blog and nearly two years since I began my journey. I haven’t updated as often as I would like, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been making progress. Things are much better than they were when I first began. The house is in better shape, our finances are in much better shape (off the top of my head, I can’t remember the last time we had an overdraft) and there is some semblance of a schedule around here.

The progress I have made is great, but I had really hoped to be further along by now. I often have a really good day or two where I get tons done around the house, but then if I slip up even a little bit, everything seems to fall apart and I have to start over from square one. In addition to that, it often feels like the more I get organized and cleaned, the harder my youngest works to undo everything I have accomplished! It can be very frustrating.

I have read, from several sources, that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Since breaking a bad habit usually involves replacing it with a good one, I figure it takes 21 days to break a bad habit as well. I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I have many bad habits I need to replace with good ones. I keep waiting for a good time to start a 21 day challenge for myself. Of course, a “good time” never really comes, so I can sit around and not change anything, while pretending that thinking about it counts for something. Now is as good a time to begin as any, so created a challenge for myself.

I have made a short list of five simple habits I would like to have, and starting Tuesday, February 22(today), I am going to do those 5 things every school day for one full month. I went with a month instead of 21 days because the habits I am trying to create or improve are mostly school day or school night specific, so they don’t really apply on the weekends.

My five goals for each day are:

Get up at 6am. I currently get up just before 7am which gives me just enough time to do my kindergartner’s hair before she gets on the bus to school.  She gets dressed and has breakfast with her dad, but he can’t do hair. If I get up an hour earlier, I can spend a little time with my husband before he has to leave for work, and I can have a full cup of coffee before I have to wake the older kids to get ready for school.

Get dressed right away. There are many days where I drop the kids off at school while wearing pajamas. (I don’t get out of the car, so nobody sees me.) I usually manage to put some kind of real clothes on by the time I get my kindergartner off the bus, but spending the day in pajamas sends my brain the message that the day hasn’t started yet. I am hoping that getting dressed first thing in the morning will help me have more productive days.

Do a load of laundry. Laundry is probably my least favorite household chore, and with 4 kids, it piles up really fast. If I do a little bit everyday will really help keep it from getting overwhelming.

Empty the dishwasher. I already do this a lot, but not daily, and having a place to put the day’s dishes keeps them from piling up.

Make the kids’ lunches while I make dinner. My kids take their lunch to school every day. I try to make them the night before, so that there isn’t a rush to do it in the morning. The problem is, sometimes I get so tired, I skip it. When I make dinner, I am in the kitchen anyway, so it is a great time to make the lunches, and then I don’t have to worry about forgetting, or getting too tired later in the evening.

When I originally decided to do this challenge, I thought, “Hey, if this works out, I can blog about it” but after a while I realized, that putting it out there and letting people (all 3 if them that read my blog)  know what I am trying to do will help remind me to stay on track.