Jesus it is hard to come with 52 things!

I think I'm going to have to ask my husband to review my current list with me and help me come up with some new stuff. Or maybe I should take some things and break them down into smaller steps? Like, for house cleaning the bedroom maybe one week it should be to do the clothes, then the shelving/storage another week? What do you think?

I've come up with 4 more anyway:
19. Clean the car completely and organize it (maintain).
20. Minimize the amount of TV I watch somehow (this one needs more thought)
21. Put shoes/jacket away and change my clothes as soon as I get home from work
22. Pursue a project at home in the evenings that is not TV (i.e. quilting)
  

I also got an email from a friend about this site the other day with some excellent advise. She is a self proclaimed "recovering perfectionist" and this lady is organized my friends! I mean, seriously, she has her shit together and I find her skills amazing. Not only is she employed fulltime in an important job but she is married, owns a home, has two small boys and runs. It's impressive. Anyway, this lovely woman pointed out that I will need to actually put some firm rules around all the places on my list where I say "Maintain". She pointed out, and correctly so, that just a vague description of 'maintaining' my work after my goals have been accomplished will simply lead me right back to where I am now because CLEARLY maintaining is not something I am good at automatically doing! I think she is bang on the money with that idea and I had intended to do it. In fact, I intend to micro-manage my maintenance (<--say that 5 times fast) once each goal is complete. As in, I will schedule a specific day AND time AND duration for each thing that I need to follow up with each week. By the end of the year I will have something to do all the time and know just what it is. And that is kind of the overall goal - to be motivated and scheduled and invested enough in my life to actually enjoy these things and to stay on top of them. Now, please, tell me what else I need to change! I can take it. Promise!

Things I've Thought of So Far

Okay so 52 changes is a lot of changes. Many of these will definitely revolve around keeping my house in order because, as anyone who knows me in real life knows, I am NOT a house keeping goddess. I just don't think to do it. Ever. So that has to change. I figure if each project starts with a week of getting it together and then a small upkeep each week that by the end of the year? Man, I could have a lot accomplished.

I've also decided that this little adventure is going to start the week of September 25.  My birthday is the week before and some how it seems appropriate to start these changes with the start of a new year for myself. I am going to start with something reasonable for that first week and then build from there. I think that, once I have my list of 52 items, I will arrange them like the cards in a deck. You know how there are 4 suits, numbered Ace through King? Sort of highest to lowest along a 13 point scale? Well that is what I'm going to do with my challenges. Arrange them in 4 sets of easiest/smallest to hardest/biggest. Then I'll start small and work up to big over 13 challenges. Then drop back down to easy and do it again. Does that makes sense?

Anyway, here are some ideas for changes that need to happen. Please, if anyone is out there, let me know your thoughts and suggestions! :)

1. Floss twice a day (I currently do not floss ever)
2. Excercise for minimum of 30 minutes 3 times a week
3. House Clean Bathroom (maintain)
4. Sort S.'s clothes (maintain)
5. House Clean S's room (maintain)
6. Spend at least 15 minutes a day outside
7. Walk at least 2 days a week on my lunch hour (could be a problem in winter!)
8. Organize my and P's clothes. (maintain)
9. House Clean Bedroom (maintain)
10. Clean out cupboarsd in kitchen (maintain)
11. Clean out drawers in kitchen (maintain)
12. Get up without using snooze button every day
13. Go to bed by 10pm at least 5 nights a week
14. Get clothes ready for work and laid out the night before
15. Clean out closet in porch (maintain)
16. Prepare at least one meal on the weekend that I can freeze and reheat through the week
17. Have a 'date night' once a week with my husband, even if it's just in our own home
18. Have a night away from home with my husband, no kid allowed, at least once a month

Aaaand . . .that is all I can think of for now.