Clean Eating Monthly Mini Goals (Baby Steps)

I have been eating clean for about 8 years now but it is always a work in progress.   Two steps forward once step back, at least it is not 1 step forward two steps back! 

I thought since I was doing a Monthly Organizing Goal I should do the 

same for my Clean Eating. 

So here are my the next 6 months Monthly Mini Goals:

Clean Eating Monthly Mini Goals:

January: Water Water Water

February: Walk Walk Walk (and exercise at the gym)

March: Eat Your Veggies 

April: Portion Control & Eat Every 3 hours

May: No Processed Food/No Gluten 
(no white flour, no white rice etc...)

June: Less Sugar/No Sugar

After June I will re-evaluate my progress and then go from there. I may need to revisit some of the previous goals.

The reason I am doing this is it is to hard for me to do one goal a week. I also I have learned from the past that if you try to make too many changes all at once your are going to FAIL! So Baby Steps...... always!

Also it takes 28 days for something to become a habit so if you work on one goal each month it is more likely to stick. 

If you would like to follow along with my in my mini goals, you can do so on Instagram Or Facebook @myeverydaywifelife. Use the following Hashtag #'s 

January: #medwlwater

February: #medwlwalk

March: #medwleatyourveggies

April: #medwlportioncontrol

May: #medwlnomorewhite

June: #medwllesssugar

So this month I will be working on drinking at least 3 to 4 bottles of water
a day! The going challenge is to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces a day. However, for me that would be 125 ounces or 1 gal, 8 bottles of water a day. If I tired that it would be too hard and I would definitely fail. So I'm going to set my goal lower so I can be successful 
and increase as needed. Baby Steps!

I have learned from past experiences that if I try to do to many goals all at once I will FAIL! So when clean eating don't try to do do everything all at once "Cold Turkey". Just stop eating unhealthy things one by one and introduce healthy things one by one also. This way you can be more successful! Trust me it works better than "Cold Turkey". 

Corresponding Youtube Video:

The Weeks Goal: Eating Dinner Before 7:30!

Sounds a little ridiculous right. Especially since most "NORMAL" people eat dinner by probably 6:30, I think? We have always eaten dinner late for years, not sure how that happened because my mom always had dinner on the table by 6:00 every night. 

I think when you only have one child it is harder to keep a routine, ok well that is my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it. Meaning.... I think if I had more children I would have been more apt to have dinner earlier, who wants 4 children eating dinner at 9:00 and then take baths, then read stories and bed, ummm not. 

My sister always told me (jokingly) HAVING ONE CHILD DOESN'T COUNT. (she has 4 children) Having one child is easy? For what is worth it, it is easier to get children on a routine the more children you have. #1 Because you kinda have to, #2 They tend to resist less if others have to do it too, whether it be chore or go to bed at a certain time etc.... I was never and I am still not good at routines or consistency..........working on it though!

So typically my husband, my son & I ate dinner around 8:00 or 9:00 for many years for some reason or another. For many years my son played sports and eating dinner before 8:00 or 900 was sometimes impossible. Well not always, but that's my excuse anyway.

When my son was in Junior High he didn't get out of school until 4:30 so he grabbed a sandwich and then we where off to football practice @ 5:30 then 2 hours of practice so we did not get home until 8:00, so dinner wasn't at least till 8:30 unless we grabbed fast food on the way home. In earlier years on and off we also got home late and ate dinner late, depending on what sport he played 

Again, I think if I had more children I would have made dinner earlier and then feed most of the kids and just saved a plate for the others after practice or what have you. Plus, I am a procrastinator and if we needed something for dinner I usually waited to the last minute to 
run to the store making dinner later than normal.

It wasn't until adult hood that my son (who is 27 now) revealed to me that he thought all families ate dinner at 8:00 or 9:00. He told me that in High School when he began to hang out with guys at their houses, then stay for dinner. He began to notice dinner for them was around 6:00 and discovered we were just the "WEIRD ONES" that ate dinner so late. Of course I had to laugh at that one.

Well, my son has been out of the house for almost 10 years (with a little boomeranging in between). You would think I might get back to eating dinner earlier. NOPE! I have developed a bad habit over all these years and it didn't stop after my son moved out of the house. 

It is going to be a hard habit to break!!

Now you might be thinking "Oh its not good to eat that late". Dr's and health experts say don't eat anything past 6:00. Well that's crap. The reason people are always saying this is because you are typically only supposed to eat 1800 calories a day. 



So most experts & Dr's assume that if you eat after 6:00 you are consuming more calories then you need. Well that could be true but I tend to eat a late lunch also making me not hungry for dinner until 8:00. So I don't think I eat anymore any other families eating dinner @ 6:00.

Alright so back to My Weekly Goal. My husband doesn't typically get home from work until at least 6:30 do he is not ready to eat dinner to at least 7:00. I could make that my goal but I think I will try for 7:30 no later, well I can try. I intend to make start dinner around 6:30 or 7:00. I make quick dinners as I am not a big on cooking so usually only take me 30 minutes to cook. 


It takes 28 days for something to become a habit. 
So we shall see how it goes. Wish me Luck!

6/23/15 Update: Monday Dinner was @ 7:57, Tuesday Dinner was @ 7:22

6/28/15 Update: Wed Dinner @ 7:00, Thursday @ 8:30 Friday @ 8:00 Sat @9:30

Well not so good but I'll keep trying!!

IT TAKES 28 DAYS FOR SOMETHING TO BECOME A HABIT!!

Erin Condren Life Planner


I came across a Erin Condren Life Planner video while watching one of my favorite you-tubers Jennifer Ross/Organizedlikejen. She was doing a review on the new Erin Condren Life Planner that came out June 9th. I never knew there was a whole community of Life Planners that decorate their planners like scrapbooking, interesting. These ladies really get into their planners. I wasn't really looking into planners, I was just watching organizedjen newest video, but now I think I'm hooked. I am getting obsessed with all the planner videos, amazing and looks like fun. 

Now I am contemplating getting the new Erin Condren Life Planner. 

However, I am still hesitating a bit. Although I am trying to be more organized, I have bought planners in the past and use them for a month or two then they go to waste. I think I get caught up in the cuteness of it all. 

I am a huge list maker but my list are all over the place and not as organized as I would like them to be. I have been trying to figure out how to organize all my lists. Wondering if I am now ready for a planner......hmmmm. 

However, I am mindset of "out of sight out of mind". I really need things in view, on display or I never use or see them. So I usually like to display my list on clipboard and hang them on the wall in site or use a lot of sticky notes. 

I did recently get a project planner from Staples, it was only like $10. I thought I would use it to plan out all my projects I want to do around the house and film for youtube and blog post. Again it was only $10. Although I like the life planner idea it is $50 and then if you want to bling out your planner you could really spend some cash on all the add on's, stickers etc...  Kinda seems like a big investment for something I "might" use. Not sure if I am ready for it yet. Maybe I should wait to see how the project planner goes first?

I am so wishy washy...........

I really have a bad habit of getting really into something and buying all the do dads that go with it then it fizzles out really quick. Not to long ago I bought like $150 worth of bracelet making do dad's. I made like 3 bracelets and then haven't done anything with it since.

What is nice about Erin Condren is literally anyone can get a link code to place on their blog or youtube channel or even email to friends to allow people to receive $10 off purchase and then you in turn get credit toward future purchase, NICE!! You just have to make an account on Erin Condren Site.

Here is my referral link:
 https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/michellecarson0914
Receive $10 off your first Erin Condren purchase

Organized Jen Preview Of Erin Condren Life Planner 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-aVjodpo30

Enjoy your Day!!


Update: 6/14/15 I bought a Walmart Planner:

Weird Habits are starting to form..........

Ok not weird but good habits, but weird for me. So since trying to start reorganizing my house & life about 2 1/2 months ago some habits are starting to form. 

I can't seem to start my day until I make my bed. My sister has told me for years "Shell, you should make you bed every day" yeah right! I never made my bed every day even before my medical issues, in 30 years of marriage. I only made my bed when company came over or when I washed the sheets, really honestly. Ok, that sounds extremely lazy. 

Recently I've been trying to make my bed everyday and now I can't seem to start my day until the bed made. Even if its not until 11:00. I seem to wonder around not really accomplishing anything then when I finally make my bed everything starts flowing. That's a good thing right? 

I recently was watching Sophia from "My Great Challenge" videos and she used a rose water spray on her sheets to freshen them up. Lo and behold the last time I was @ Marshalls & I found Rose Water Spray, but I didn't really like the smell of it. They also had lavender, but I wasn't fond of that either. Finally I decided on Lemon Water Spray. Gives everything a fresh clean smell. I'm liking it!!  

I also made a Daily Cleaning Schedule, to see how that goes, I just made it today so haven't tired it yet. However, I'm not good on consistency, never have been, but willing to try. I kinda just clean whatever I feel like at the time. So hopefully this is sign of new good habits forming, I hope it continues!

     Quick Tip: Making Your Bed

Ribbon Organization, What?

I know a little crazy right? Who has time for that? Some how I accumulated a ton of ribbon. I am 
not a huge crafter but I do some occasional crafting. I recently accumulated a ton of ribbon. I was helping a friend of mine decorate for her daughter's graduation party and had bought way too much royal blue and yellow ribbon. Plus after we cleaned up the party we couldn't throw away the ribbon we used for decoration now could we? Yeah and what was I going to do with bright yellow and royal blue ribbon......I don't know? Why do we save random things sometimes?

So, while putting away all that ribbon, my ribbon box was overflowing. I could make another box for ribbon..........No wait absolutely not!! I already committed myself to keeping craft storage to a minimum so I wanted the amount of ribbon I had to fit in this one box.

All my ribbon was all jumbled up because I had so much, plus I always save the ribbon you get from things you buy like set of pillows are wrapped in ribbon etc...

So time to organize.  So I wrapped the loose ribbon around some clothes pins and organized them that way. Not my idea I saw this on Pinterest.... I think? Also I had unintentionally saved the cardboard spools the ribbon that they came in so I wrapped the blue and yellow ribbon around that also. 

Pretty organized now, and I can see what I have etc...  I am still committed to only keeping the amount a ribbon that will fit in this box, so if it grows again I might have to donate some..............YA THINK? Anybody need some yellow and blue ribbon?

Hi Everyone!

Finally starting my blog today!! I started a Facebook page for decorating & organizing about 2 months ago and recently a YouTube channel. I know it may be little backwards, but I felt most comfortable with Facebook & YouTube. I am not as comfortable with blogging/journaling but I will give it a try, writing is not my strong suit. My friends and family have told me for years I should do something with my organizing and decorating skills. So here it is!! 

I turned 50 last year so I am not about to start a new career. I just want to have fun sharing my ideas with everyone, with anyone who may be interested? I have been having some medical issues for the last 3 years, so my house is in shambles!! Ok not "shambles" but it feels like it to me. I finally have the energy to reorganize my house and was hoping blogging & you-tubing (Is that a word?) would help me stay on track........we shall see?

I hope you all enjoy!!

Michelle

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb0iKHJHxcuiF7BdxirLKA/videos

My First YouTube Video: