Challenge Update

Week one went really well. I met my goals each day and was really thinking this was going to be easier than I thought, until...

Week two arrived. The second week it was a bit tougher to get out of bed in the morning. I still managed, but it took a lot of self convincing each day. I still met my goals everyday, so yay me!

Week three was a mess. On Monday, our Rabbi and friend passed away suddenly, and it hit the entire family very hard. I managed to keep up on Monday, but I didn’t do any laundry or dishes the rest of the week. I did manage to get up on (or almost on) time each day, got dressed, and the kids’ lunches got made each night with the exception of the night following the funeral, but that was about it.  Fortunately, since I had been keeping up with laundry the previous two weeks, there wasn’t too big of a mountain. My husband got the laundry caught up on the weekend while I was out selling cookies with my Girl Scout troop, so I was able to start the last week on track.

Week four was not as off as the previous week, but I still didn’t get fully back on track. We lost another family friend this week, so I wasn’t in a very gung-ho kinda mood. Laundry got done, but it didn’t always get folded and put away properly. The dishwasher mostly got emptied, but sometimes I had the kids do it afterschool. The good thing about all of this is, I am still motivated to keep going. In the past, after losing ground like this, I would just quit. But I am not going to quit this time. Today is the last day of my challenge, and I am on track to meet all of my goals for the day.

Overall, I think my challenge went well. I am waking up at 6am every morning, even on the weekends. Today I was even the first one awake in the house! Even my bad days are more productive than they used to be, due in part to getting dressed in the morning. The laundry is under control, and even when I slip up, it doesn’t take much to get it back on track.

Now that I have finished my first challenge, I hope to add 5 new things to do/change each month. My next goals are more self improvement focused, rather than household focused. In addition to keeping up with my previous goals, I want to:

No nail biting. I have had this terrible habit for as long as I can remember. I am in a wedding in July and would like my hands to look like they belong to a female without having to pay big bucks for acrylics.

Portion control. I want to keep my meals down to something that could reasonably be called a single serving, and stop eating out of boredom, especially right before bed.

Put my clothes in the hamper as soon as I take them off. I tend to just drop them on the floor outside the bathroom or next to the bed with the intention of putting them in the hamper in the morning, but that rarely happens.

No dining out. Well, with one exception. We have tickets to a show in April, and we are likely going to meet up with friends before or after, so I am allowing for dining out that one day.  Even though I am making an exception, we are going to eat at home before the show, so that any dining out can be a small snack, or just a drink. We don’t go out much, but it always seems to happen more than we planned.

Work on this blog more. I am challenging myself to work on Better Mom for 15 minutes a day, even if it is just coming up with post ideas.