Little Bites {January Update}

Hard to believe that the first month of 2012 is rapidly coming to an end. If January went by this fast, one can only imagine what the remainder of the year is going to do! Or perhaps I'm the only one who thought it flew by, in which case, hang in there, February is almost here.

If you need a reminder of what I chose as my Bite Sized goals for this month, I'll list them again to jog your memory. I wish that I could say that I had breezed through all of these goals and that they were now comfortably listed as good habits, but that isn't the case.

Here's the good news though - I'm getting better! I have settled into some habits (keeping the kitchen sink cleaned out, making the bed every morning, drinking more water, continuing to floss), I have been diligent about working in the office (major improvement - MAJOR), and I've gotten a slightly better handle on keeping the whole house picked up so surprise visits aren't heart attack inducing. Peter's happier with the state of the house as a whole, and he's thrilled that I've done more than simply talking about making changes - I'm actually changing. Imagine that.

Goal #1: Spend one hour a week working in the office

Result: To ensure that I didn't burn myself out or become overwhelmed, I stuck a timer to the side of our filing cabinet and set it to twenty minutes. For the first few days, when the timer dinged, I turned off all the lights and shut the door behind me. After a few twenty minute days, I realized I was building momentum, so I reset the timer and continued to work. One day I stayed for 2 hours, another day, 1.5 hours. The key, for me, was knowing that I could stop anytime I wanted to after the initial twenty minutes were up.

Want to see before and in-progress photos? For the record, the BEFORE photos were taken in November, before it got REALLY bad. When I started cleaning this month, both sides of the desk had stacks to the top of the printer, and the chairs had even more stuff on them. I'm not proud of that, just trying to paint an accurate picture since I didn't take a real one before I started cleaning (but I should have!).

 
  

Goal #2: Spend 10 minutes each day (minus the week-ends) brainstorming for a book
Result: One day - I did this one day. I admit that I am totally and completely pathetic when it comes to sitting down and trying to brainstorm a story. While reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (D. Miller), I got a slap-in-the-face reminder of why I need to make an effort to write something every day. In the passage that grabbed me, Miller is quoting another book, The War of Art (S. Pressfield):

"The [The War of Art] is about writing, about the process of getting words onto an empty page. Pressfield said a writer has to sit down every day and write, regardless of how he feels. He said you can sit around and wait for inspiration to come, but you'll never finish your book that way."

{OUCH} I'm leaving this one on the "To Do" list.

Goal #3: Dust one room a week
(bedrooms, living/dining, library/kitchen entry, office/basement)
Result: Half success/half failure. However, here's a little tidbit for you: As I mentioned yesterday, I stopped using paper towels and started using old, mateless socks. I dust a room or two with a sock on my hand, then throw it in the wash the next time I do a load of towels. It has been working like a charm and hopefully it will help us save money as well.

Goal #4: Vacuum one room a week
(same grouping as above)
Result: I've been vacuuming as needed instead of sticking to the schedule. While I'm not totally pleased, making an effort to do SOMETHING on a regular basis is better than what I was doing, which was crisis-management. This is an area that I'll continue to work on in the future.

Goal #5: Clean out five items a week
(donate, trash)
Result: SUCCESS! I ended up cleaning out way more than my goal of five items a week, and I now have a large pile of bags and boxes sitting by my back door. My next project is to sort the stuff that can be sold on Craigslist (or in a spring yard sale) from the items that can go straight to my favorite charity shop. I've been a purging fiend and it feels great to open a cabinet or closet and see only things that I know I use, wear, or love. Jules and Mr. Morris would be so proud.

How about YOU? Any Little Bites updates that YOU'D like to share?

I'll be back on February 1st with my goals for the month.