Personal Scripture Study: F
Same as I said last time...Between doing the reading for Sunday School (which I don't attend because I'm a Nursery leader) and Relief Society (which I also don't attend for the same reason) as well as the reading that relates to my Visiting Teaching message and to my Nursery leader role, I really haven't been doing any personal reading. I do still plan to do it though.
I have yet to really do any personal scripture study. I think I may need to change this one out, to be honest.
Scripture Study with Bree: C
I had planned to order our Seminary books so that we could start as soon as the kids were back in school on the 7th of January, but time got away from me and I ended up not ordering them until the 9th and as of yet, we haven't received them, they are due here though, on the 22nd, although I anticipate them actually showing up before then.
They actually showed up on the 18th, although we didn't start them until the 20th/21st. I gave her the copy of her book at church that day and we started the next day. I have been pretty faithful (missed one day but had an extra long session the previous day that I felt kind of balanced it out, even though I know that it doesn't really) about doing my Seminary reading.
We are doing pretty well on this. Bree is going through our study more quickly than I am, but I am also going through it more slowly because I have never been through it before and she has. I feel like I have more to learn from it than she probably does.
Tackling a particular area of the house each week: B
I had planned to start with the den. And as far as this goes, I forgot to do a post the next day with pictures of the items and then the finished product. However, I will say that nearly all of the homeless items were either re-homed to someone else's house, discarded or given a proper home here. The one exception to that would be the things that are under my husband's desk. Practical excuse: When I have the time, his legs are usually under his desk. In reality: I have more time than when he is actually using his desk, but when he's not, I push the chair in (out of habit) and the chair essentially hides those few remaining homeless items. Therefore, out of sight, out of mind. I WILL get that done (with pictures to prove it) before this week is over.
For next week's tackle, I plan on attacking laundry in a major major way. It just needs to be done.
I did get that area done but no pics. Sigh. One of these days my posts WILL have pics again. One of these days. I have been working on the laundry in a major way. There is still more to do, but it's a process and I'm plugging away at it. And making great progress, I might add! I think this laundry tackle may be one that I will actually continue doing throughout the month of February.
I have been working really hard on the laundry situation this week. Just this past week, I sat and sorted through socks and when all was said and done, I matched and folded probably 240 pairs of socks. I'm not even done with it, but once I had about 40 pairs per person, I was done with it. It is actually really great that I was able to do that early on in the week, because the latter half of the week, I was barely even home, much less able to do anything around the house.
Meal Planning: A
Week 1 (aka 1-1-13 to 1-6-13) was planned and followed
Week 2 (aka 1-7-13 to 1-13-13) was planned and followed
Week 3 (aka 1-14-13 to 1-20-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because I was busy and forgot to do it.
Week 4 (aka 1-21-13 to 1-27-13) was planned and followed
Week 5 (aka 1-28-13 to 2-3-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because of illnesses and the fact that it's been kind of a loose plan due to the illnesses.
Week 6 (aka 2-4-13 to 2-10-13) was planned and is being followed
Savings Goal of $1200: A+
I have saved up an additional $300 already this month, on top of the $300 that I already had. In reality, Hubby's check is going to be short this next pay period so most likely the extra $200 that I have saved will be re-routed to make up the shortage on his check. However, it will not affect the amount that I have saved this far and it also won't drive me off track with my goal either. Hubby did see something this one idea on Facebook though and while it does seem interesting, I'm not sure that it is entirely practical for our family.
Someone had commented that they were doing it backwards so that it would get progressively easier as opposed to progressively harder. Plus, if you put away the most amount of money early on, and you have it in a bank or someplace where you are earning interest on it, you're making more interest earlier on. Not to mention, you are more likely to save more money at the beginning of the year when your resolve to save is at it's freshest. I hope that makes sense.
Hubby's work missed a paycheck that is still unaccounted for and he had a less than usual paycheck as well, so we are back to just the $100 (+ $300=$400) saved. We might need to dig into that, though, to make up for the missed paycheck. That's what it is there for though, right?
In addition to Hubby's missed paycheck, we also had another thing come up that cut us short by an additional $700 so far. It's a scary situation to be in right now. I called on Monday to find out what was going on and it was resolved on Tuesday.
Chores: B+
Our chore system is still going strong. I have tweaked it and will post about it (and some of the previous tweaks that I have done to it). Who knows? Maybe this current system (or one of the previous tweaks) will work for you as well. Or maybe give you something to start off from.
The chore system is going better than ever! Loving it! My older boys are continuously going above and beyond their expected chores nearly every day. Cannot complain about that!
Our chore system is rocking out! Even Jeriah is starting to get on board with it, when Cephas encourages him.
Use our gym membership at least once per week: D
Week 1 - 0
Week 2 - 0
Week 3 - 0
However, I did just sign the kids up today for swim lessons (Oralee and Jeriah) and swim team (Cephas and Koren) as well as for Recreational Soccer (Cephas), Flag Football (Koren), Micro Volleyball (Oralee) and Micro Soccer (Jeriah). So, that kind of used our membership...kinda. Once we are already at the gym for those lessons, it's so much easier to just go ahead and work out. Funny how things work out like that.
Week 4 - 3 times
Week 5 - 0 times so far due to illnesses. Blech! (in the end, we went once.)
Week 6 - 2 times
Losing 2% of my weight per month: D
At this point, I'd have to go weigh myself, but I don't believe that I have currently lost any weight at all.
I weighed myself on 1/26/13 and at that point, I had lost 1%. Not all that I'd hoped for, but it's a start.
I do know that it isn't going well. And I am pretty sure that the 1% that I'd lost is gained back and some. This is a major struggle. I need to really work on this one. This is my new main focus for the month. It WILL happen this month. No excuses.
Eating more meals prepared at home: C+
We have definitely done better in this department. There is still room for improvement though. Ideally, we would be eating out once per month, twice in a birthday or anniversary month.
Still doing better, still lots of room for improvement. Our biggest downfall is those unexpected trips that come up that ends up preventing us from being home in time to start the meal at a time that would make sense. I just need to do a better job of planning ahead and making sure that I am home in time to make the meal.
This has gone really well. I ate out once with Bree, her treat and ended up only eating half the appetizer and my veggies from my meal. My plate had to be remade and by the time they brought it out, I was done eating, so I took home basically a full meal, much of which Hubby ate for me.
Cutting out soda: D
Complete fail at this point in time. My plan was to trade soda in for decaf tea, but I haven't gotten there just yet. If I were to just make some and have it ready to go in the fridge, I'd set myself up for success right there. However, I haven't as of yet. There's nothing like the present to get started on that one though!
Still a fail, but mostly because I haven't yet bought the tea. I thought I had decaf tea, but I didn't. So instead of giving up the soda, I have been drinking non-caffeinated soda or diet soda. I wish it was both, but it's generally one or the other. I don't really like the diet versions of the caffeine free sodas. But this last week of January, I have actually been doing really well with it. I did have one diet soda when we ate at Hubby's work this week, but that was only because the server knows us and that's what I always order and she never even asked me what I wanted to drink - she just brought it out.
I did really well with this until a particularly grueling time with Cephas and that's when I broke down and had some Diet Coke. Hubby knew I was stressed and when he went to the grocery store, he picked some up for me. Super sweet of him to think of me, not so awesome when I'm trying to cut it out. The sweetness definitely wins out. My hubby is the best.
