I’m a sucker for New Year’s resolutions. It’s not necessarily that I think there’s something magic about the first of the year, and I’ll suddenly be able to start over again. It’s just that the start of a new year is a logical time to think about these things, and the time when I’m most likely to feel motivated to make changes, so I try to take advantage of that motivation.
Over the weekend, I downloaded Tsh Oxenreider’s (founder of SimpleMom.net) e-book, “One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler.” I absolutely love the idea of tackling one project at a time throughout the year. I read the whole thing in about 24 hours (mostly in the wee morning hours when Judah was asleep), and when I finished, I felt motivated and ready to make a plan of action.
All of this thinking about what I want to change reminded me of what we’ve already accomplished in the realm of simplifying our lives. I felt really good after I listed all of the goals in the book that I’m interested in taking on, and I realized that we’ve already put a good chunk of them into practice — or our own versions of them anyway.
In the hopes of keeping myself motivated and perhaps motivating some of you to do the same, I’ve decided to write a series of posts on some of the things our family is already doing to keep things simple and organized. Beginning Wednesday, I’ll be posting a 5-part series on simplifying your life — Simplify your Household, Simplify your Menus, Simplify your Money, Simplify your Work/Home Life, and Simplify your Health.
I would love to hear from you if you about your family’s systems for organizing these areas of your life. You guys have been so quiet lately, but I really want to hear from you in the comments, so I hope you’re join in the discussion. I’m feeling motivated to make changes, and hearing your ideas will inspire me to do even more.
Here’s to a productive and simple 2012!
I will comment on those posts! Tell me some of your favorite points in the 52 things book. Like particular projects you really enjoyed and whatnot
We’ve recently started to simplify our home, by clearing out clutter. We’ve sorted many boxes to donate and some to sell at a yardsale. We also tossed alot of junk. It’s such a freeing feeling that we have so much less packed away. It also makes more organized space for what we do keep around.
For our finances, we are trying to keep them more simplified, by paying down our credit card debt. With less bills and less debt to keep track of, it frees up more time and more money and makes thing much easier to manage.
We also keep our finances organized simply by using a Google spreadsheet as a checkbook. So whenever I pay any bills, I can log it in there. Also in that spreadsheet, I keep track of all upcoming bills, the dates they’re due, and how much is due. So nothing is overlooked.
Looking forward to your series!
I’ve been following your blog for about 6-7 months now, and I love it (first time poster – long time reader!! lol). Last New Year (2011) I decided that I was sick of having credit card debt and I would devote the year to becoming debt-free…..and succeeded by August of that year. I spent the rest of the year creating an emergency fund, and this year I’m devoted to concentrating on our retirement fund (and continuing to build the emergency fund). It all started when I happened on a show called Til Debt Do Us Part on CNBC on Saturday nights….and I modeled our budget on Gail’s system in the show…and it works! Since planning meals and going grocery shopping ONCE per week is part of her system, I started googling ideas for menu planning and I think that’s how I stumbled on your site. I can no longer imagine our life without a budget…it is priority in our life. Thanks for all the great tips you’ve given on your blog, the wonderful stories about Judah (who’s a handsome lil’ fella, I have to say!!) and mostly for the inspiration to keep this quest for simple organization going!!!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Linda. They made my whole week! :) WAY TO GO for paying off your debt and building that emergency fund! It sounds like you’re on the right track to get your retirement fund in place, and then it will be smooth sailing! Good luck with your goals in the new year, and I’d love to hear more from you in the comments!