Doodle Calendar-Mental Breaks (the good kind)

Along with trying to keep up with my crazy schedule this month, I made a goal to doodle for just a couple minutes a day on my calendar. I wanted something fun and creative to do as a mental break each day, and I really started to look forward to me "doodle minutes" after the first couple weeks.
I'm going to do it again in August, but after that, I'm trying to go completely digital with my calendar. Maybe I will get a little sketchbook and write the date on each page? Maybe I can get one of those 1 year journals and keep it on my desk?


What would you suggest? Leave me a comment! Do you have daily "get away" activities? What do you do for a mental break?


♥

Doodle Calendar for July 2012

Organization Exploration

One of my goals in my new organized lifestyle is to plan my meals every week. I think this practice has many benefits, but the two biggest benefits I am looking for are a intentional, healthy diet and reducing the number of restaurant/fast food meals and therefore helping my budget. Also, if I meal plan and only buy groceries I need, I will lose less money on spoiled, unused food.
So today I made my first official meal plan. I created a new calendar in my Google Calendar and created the events "BREAKFAST:" & "LUNCH:" & "DINNER:" for each day. These will sync to my phone calendar so I will alway have access to them. I found a few new, easy recipes to try and filled every meal for Monday through Friday. (Maybe I'll post and share the best recipes.)
Then I made a grocery list based on my recipes and the ingredients I need or have in my pantry.
And just for bonus points, I went to my favorite coupon match-up website (http://www.savingwellspendingless.com/) to see what is on sale this week and what coupons I should bring for extra savings.

I think today's meal planning took more time than it will in the future because I created/set up my system and went back and forth a few times about what would be the best solution for me and my routines. I spent about 1 hour setting up, planning, and making my grocery list, but I think it could take as little as 10-15 minutes. Having access to my meal planning online and on my phone is great because I can work on my meal planning at home or in a waiting room or at my boyfriend's house.

Do you meal plan? Do you have any go-to recipes? Leave me a comment or a meal planning tip below!!

♥

Let's get ORGANIZED!!

I can remember my Monnie (great grandmother) saying, "We need to get you organized!" or "Let's get organized before we go" and I didn't know exactly what that word "organized" meant. But I knew I liked it.

Organizing is actually what led me to a career in Interior Design. I had forgotten until very recently that in high school I wanted to become a Professional Organizer before I decided to study Interior Design. I wanted to be like Peter Walsh on Clean Sweep. 

 

Well, my passion for organization has returned with a ... a passion. 

And I need it more than ever these days! I have felt so incredibly flustered, unfocused, and vague. I feel like I am always in the wrong place trying to accomplish the less important task. When I am at work, I think about all the things I want to do or accomplish at home. When I am at home, I think about all the things I need to accomplish at the office. 

 Most of the time, I feel so overwhelmed by my ever-growing to-do list that I just veg out or do busy work that doesn't really address the big important tasks.

So while in high school, I loved organizing my pens and books and school papers and wardrobe, now I have a huge need to organize my thoughts and my time. I want to create systems or routines that make my life easier and give me a focus point so I have laser beam precise productivity! 

Pew! Pew! Pew-Pew!!

I completely believe that an organized space helps create an organized mind. If my mind is organized instead of cluttered, I have more space to be creative, spontaneous, and fun! 

This is not about "managing my life" like some people want. Life is an experience not a mutual fund! I do not want a home organizing binder with emergency phone numbers and take out menus at my finger tips. I do not want every moment of my day planned out days or weeks in advance. I want to have clear objectives everyday so I can get the critical items done and move on to the fun things. 

I want to identify my vegetable so I know I will be able to have 

DESSERT! 

 

I've been watching a lot of videos by Alejandra from Color-Coded. She's super cute, and she has a lot of good advice for FREE on her YouTube channel and her website.

ClutterDiet has a ton of good tips, too.

So here are a few of my goals

Organizing Time Power & Thought Power Goals!  

Pew! Pew!

Cleaning-

*Keep apartment consistently clean. Make a chore chart for all the maintenance cleaning I need to do weekly/monthly. Use stickers to reward myself when I complete my cleaning. . . Or maybe use chocolate rewards instead. Either way, I will make the chart and start the system by the end of July. (You know you are supposed to put dates on your goals right?)

*Make my bed everyday! Starting now!

*Develop a routine for laundry (difficult because I use the laundromat, but not impossible.) This will go on the chore chart.

 Work-

*Break down projects into small chunks and assign a time limit to each chunk. Put this timeline on the calendar leading up to project deadline. New project phase starting next week. I will have my project objectives and tasks laid out by next Thursday.

*Schedule 1 hour a week to be inspired. Take a break from projects and from the computer to browse magazines, books, resource library, or a showroom for inspiration.

Personal-

*Meal Plan! Start today!

*Wake up with extra time in the AM. Start today!

*Schedule and limit time to veg out on Pinterest and YouTube. Otherwise I just get stuck for hours accomplishing nothing much at all.

Also, I want to make to-do lists like my friend RamandaB. When we lived together, I remember her making 1st and 2nd drafts of her to-do lists and the final edition was always beautiful. 

Probably not a bad idea to have several rounds. Helps you weed out the unnecessary busy work.

What tips do you have for time and thought organizing?? Comment below!

I know your Holiness. I know. 

*sigh* 

I'm working on it.

♥