This Month, I am an ORGANIZED Mom

The Ultimate Mom Challenge™

January 2016 - This month, I am an ORGANIZED mom.

The Challenge: Each month I’ll choose one characteristic I want to build upon to help me be the best mom I can be. I will determine four goals to help me carve that path, and I’ll report back on my successes and (undoubted) failures, too. Track my progress on Facebook.

January Goals:

1. Read a relevant, popular book on the subject and start taking action as I read. January Pick (affiliate link): The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

2. Determine one goal I want to achieve by the end of the month. January goal: Set up nursery. BONUS - De-clutter office

3. Try one new activity that may help me accomplish my goal. Make a meal plan for the month, and prepare frozen meals!

4. Determine how I will involve the husband and kids so it’s a family experience, or at least, family benefit. Teach my son to pick up after himself. Work with my husband on the nursery prep, and help guide/coach/motivate him on his role in the office de-clutter.

This month, I am an ORGANIZED mom.

Why did I pick “organized” to kick off my Challenge? Aside from it being a new year, which always inspires me to start fresh and chuck the old, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get my act together. This is going to be an extremely busy year for me, expecting a new baby in April, recently losing my job (I’ll save that for another post) and therefore on the job hunt, and with a new blog that has got me writing again, something I put off for years and forgot how much I loved.

I know this is going to be a lot of work, but I’m extremely motivated. Everything on this list are things I’ve been wanting to do anyway, just waiting for something to kick me into gear. Now, I’m going to make it happen! I’ll stop putting things off for when “things slow down” and “I have more time.” Excuses, be gone!

With a baby on the way, I knew we would get the nursery done… well, before April. But why let it weigh me down another three months? If I just do it now, it’s one less thing and I’ll feel so much more prepared. And who wants to be moving furniture and decorating at eight months pregnant, anyways?

As far as the office, most of the junk in there is my husband’s, so this will be an extra hard challenge because I need his help on a lot of it. For example, he probably has 1000 pictures scattered away in desk drawers. I can’t sort through those! Well, I could, but they’re his memories so how would I know how to file them? Instead, I’ll need to hold his hand and motivate him to go through them himself (with my help), and file them properly. For that reason, I’ve made this a BONUS challenge. If I can get the office organized by the end of the month on top of everything else, I’ve decided I will reward myself with a pedicure or massage, my absolute favorite splurges.

I’m especially excited to try meal planning. I’ve always passed this off as WAY too complicated, and more than my brain could handle. We’ve tried various meal delivery services, and have had great experiences with Blue Apron and Green Chef, but those boxes are pricey! Right now, we are on a tight budget so I need to move away from lazy-man options and step up my game.

Lastly, I need to get better at teaching my toddler to clean up after himself. I’m at the stage now where it’s so much easier and quicker to just do it myself. He’s almost two, and for every toy that goes in the basket, four more come out. But getting my son involved in my Challenge means involving him in some of the activities. This is a perfect one. And let’s face it, teaching him to tidy up isn’t such a bad thing (and probably something I should already be doing anyway).

Please join me on this Challenge, too! Your goals will probably be unique, but nothing motivates quite like a team. And it’s a lot more fun with company.

Operation Organize is underway…. Let’s do this!

Oh, and follow my progress on my Facebook page!