Tag: Year of Healthy

Categories
Family Finances Home

Our Monthly Budget Spreadsheet Part 1

If you have read any of the Year of Healthy posts from January, you learned that I have a love for budgeting.  You also learned that after taking a break from handling our household budget, I decided to break out a spreadsheet that helped us previously and update it a bit.  I wanted to share with you what our monthly budget spreadsheet looks like.  To get some more background information check out the previous posts here and here.

All In One Place

While this post will talk about our monthly budget, I do want to touch on what else is in this excel document.  I am a firm believer in having all you need in one place for almost every area of my life.  That is probably why I have a lint roller in the living room, laundry room, bedroom, bathroom, and the closet.  It just doesn’t make sense to me to have to go hunting for things.  So when it was time to update our budget spreadsheet, I knew I wanted it to include all things financial for us.  I may do a post later showing the specifics of what else is included but for now, here is a quick list:

  • PayDay Calendar
  • Mortgage Tracking (Statement Info, Date Pymts Posted, Escrow Details, Principal Balance, Interest Paid Balance, Estimated Equity)
  • Financial Goals (Monthly, Yearly, Lifetime)
  • Bank Transactions
  • Yearly Budget (until 2021)

Monthly Template

One thing I did while putting together the spreadsheet was to create a new tab for each month.  That way, when things come up that are in the future, I can already have a spot designated for it.  For example, if we decide to take a trip in May, I can increase our blow money for that month during my planning in January.  Each month already has my budget template, and I only need to update it if I make significant changes.

On the left side of the template is the actual budget.  I have our income and expenses sectioned off in groups because it makes it so much easier to see where our money is going.  I have a column labeled Budgeted, and that is where I do my preplanning for what we expect to receive income-wise and spend expense wise. The next column is Actual 1-15. Any money actually received or spent will get documented under this column for the first half of the month.  The second half of the month is recorded under the column Actual 16-31.  The final two columns are Diff/Remaining, which I have set as a formula to let me know where we either overspent or underspent by subtracting our Actual from our Budgeted and lastly, a Notes column.

On the right side, is my trackers.  Each major group has one, so I can keep track of the totals and sometimes compare it to our goals.  Some of our sections, like gas, needs to be tracked in more detail than just saying we will spend $250 this month.  We can see which car is using more gas, etc.  This side also has our Debt Snowball information, our bill tracker with specifics such as due dates, how it was paid, and if it has cleared yet.

Let’s jump into the different sections and trackers.  *By the way, I include blank shots of our template.  I’m just not there yet with showing specific numbers on the intranets.  I hope you feel me!*

Income

This section in our budget is pretty self-explanatory.  Any income that comes into our household gets documented here.  That could be traditional employment, business income, rental/investment income, side hustle income, gifts.  It all goes into our income section.  Since it is just Chris and me, we have it noted as His Salary and Her Salary and then a couple of spots for Extra Income.  For this section and every section, we have a formula for the subtotal and also for the Diff/Remaining column.

On the right side, we do have a Paycheck Tracker.  Although it probably should be titled, Income Tracker.  But this is where I track the details of our income.  Specifically, the date received and what type it was.  If you expect to get rental income every month on the first, under Extra Income #1, you will document 1/1/20 with a Target amount of $1,000.  If that is what you actually get, you record the Actual amount to $1,000.  This is extremely helpful for those who don’t have a consistent income amount.  We expect our paycheck to be a certain amount every month, but different variables could have us receiving more.  I only want to budget off of what I know we will receive.  Anything extra is an added benefit that I can distribute out once that money is in my hands.

Giving

Our next section is giving.  I am a Christian, and I believe in tithing.  For me, tithing is done before paying anything else as I am a firm believer in God being able to make the rest stretch as long as I give Him my first fruits.  I actually already have the formula set up in that field based on our total income.  Right now, it is documented as 10% Tithe, but I believe that one day we will be able to do more.  This section is also where I include our Offerings amount and extra spaces for monetary Donations that we make during the month to charities or those in need.

My YTD Giving Tracker helps me track our giving towards our specific goals.  Under Target, I list out our goal (for example, 10% of our annual income would be our 10% Tithe target), and each month, I would update the Actual amount.  I have a formula set up for Percent Given.  This allows me to make sure we are on track each month.  If I get to, let’s say, July, and for some reason, we are under 50% of our goal, it is time to reevaluate or confirm that the rest of the year has us hitting our goal.

Saving

I also believe in paying yourself first before you pay anybody else.  I’ve seen (and done) too often, people who wait until everything is paid before they put any money in savings and then they are left with nothing.  This doesn’t work for us because we have goals that we are trying to hit.  In the past, we have followed Dave Ramsey, and he says that you should start with saving an Emergency Fund of $1,000 before you start paying off debt.  That is more of a short term goal that we may already have accomplished.  But if we ever have to use the fund, we need to focus on building it again.  And that is why it keeps a permanent spot on our budget.  We then have a place for Retirement.  The older we get, the more critical this section is.  As a No Car Note family, we need to keep that going for as long as possible.  That means we need to save for our next set of cars, which happens in the New Car Fund.  Our next one is a calculation.  Have you ever heard the statistic that, if you pay one additional payment a year to the principal on a 30-year mortgage, it will remove seven years from your mortgage?  That’s seven years of interest I do not have to pay!  So we take that one extra payment and divide it by 12 to know how much extra we have to put aside each month in our House Fund.  We would also use this when it comes time to save for a new house.  For additional money that we want to save for no specific purpose, we have a Savings Goal section.  This is also a formula that can calculate 5%, 10%, or 25% of your total income.  If you are in school and paying for it out of pocket (like I was), there is a Tuition section.  Many financial gurus will tell you about the benefit of having a certain amount of your monthly expenses set aside in case of job loss.  Depending on who you follow, that amount could be anywhere from 3-12 months.  I prefer to save in 3-month increments for our goal.  So we currently have it set as 3-6 Months Expenses.  Finally, we have our Vacation Fund to save for those vacation dreams we have.

I threw in some sample numbers so you could see what the YTD Savings Tracker looks like in action with the goals listed.  Target is where we keep our goal numbers for each section.  Each month, as deposits are made into these funds, the Actual amount gets updated.  Then the formula I have under Percent Saved will calculate and let us know how on track with our goals we are.  Admittedly, some of these goals have to take a back burner depending on whats going on in our life.  Some gurus will tell you only to have an emergency fund while paying debt.  Other’s will show you how to save in all these areas AND pay off debt, albeit slowly.

Debt

Although this tends to be a substantial section, the numbers are pretty straightforward.  The Debt section is where I list our budgeted and actual payments for our Mortgage, Credit Cards, Car Notes, Student Loans, and any Other Debt you have.  (I’ve added Student Loans up here because I know that is a large amount of the debt those in America carry.  We were lucky to pay mine off before we bought our house and cash flow, my classes, when I take them).  The Budgeted section here will show the minimum payment amount only.  Once we make the payment (which hopefully is always more than the minimum), we update the Actual section.

The Debt Snowball Tracker is for me one of my favorite parts on this spreadsheet.  But it can also be the most shocking if you haven’t taken stock of your financial situation before.  This is another section where I have added sample numbers for you to see.  The Debt Snowball is where we track the overall totals of our debt.  I include the Due Date since those are typically fixed.  Then I add in the Original amount for the debt.  Each month, I update the Balance.  And the formula calculates the Percent Paid.  I document the Interest Rate to keep an eye on those.  And I update the Per Statement Date to show where I got the balance from.  Plugging in all of those numbers will then have the formula calculate the Total Current Debt and the Debt Starting Point.  Then I have a section for the Total Debt Paid Off, which gives me the dollar amount that we have already paid off and the percentage.

The Bill Tracker is the biggest section on the right side of the spreadsheet, but I am going to break it up.  This section here is where I track the payment information for the debt that we have.  I document the exact Due Date, the exact Amount, the Method of payment (mail check, scheduled, autopay), which Paycheck it will come out of,  and if it’s Confirmed Paid/Payment Cleared.  Then I also have a Notes section here.  While the Debt Snowball Tracker shows the total amount of debt we have, the Debt section of our Budget shows the minimum payment due, and what we plan to pay, the Debt section of our Bill Tracker focuses on the monthly payments that we actually make.

Next Time

Next week, I will go into details about our other bills, subscriptions, blow money, and savings categories for some of those areas.  Let me know below if you have a budget spreadsheet or what you think of ours!

Categories
Family Finances Home

Year of Healthy: January

This last quarter of 2019 was a doozy for our household. We’ve had two major appliances breakdown (one decided to go out twice) and our septic system is on the outs.  You are probably wondering, “Why is this an issue when things break?”  Well, we built our house four years ago and no way were we expecting things to start to go downhill in a major way. Let alone, all at the same time.  This has had my husband and I sitting down and figuring out what the heck we were going to do.  Because let’s be serious, no matter what others think, we aren’t rolling in dough.  My husband is active duty military and I’m a recent housewife who is trying to figure out this entrepreneural world.  With 2020 and a new decade here, it’s the best time to work on our budgets.

Been through some bad shit, I should be a sad bitch

Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?

Background Info

I’ve always had a love for numbers.  I’m pretty sure it’s a love that was passed down from my grandmother to my father and then to me.  When I was 14, a family member started a business and I took on the role of bookkeeper.  I also started to help manage my family’s household budget.  I was able to get an understanding of what it took to run a home.  I learned about mortgages, credit cards, and groceries.  It may be different now but in the early 2000’s they were not teaching these things in high school.  I did discover accounting while in high school and enjoyed it so much I made it to a leadership conference for the state.  I honestly couldn’t tell you why I didn’t pursue that path.  But I did start working with finances and eventually financial institutions a week after high school.  Most of the time I was pursuing a college degree, it was connected to Finance, Financial Planning, Business or Human Services.  (I may talk about that path one day but I am honestly still trying to figure it out myself).  But when my job shifted to project management, I put finance on the backburner when it came to my dreams.

I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it
I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it

Personally, when we got married, we made the decision that I would handle the finances.  Combining our money was easy enough and paying the bills was the same.  We didn’t have any major issues.  When we planned on building our house, we knew we wanted to pay off all of our debt.  It would make it easier to get a loan and a good interest rate.  So that was our goal.  We paid off all my student loans, two car notes, and a couple of credit cards we had.  All in all, the total was over $50,000.  We then saved a bit to have a down payment (even though one wasn’t needed) and pay points (and I still don’t know if this was the best idea).  Then when we decided that I would quit my job and start a business three years later, we did the same thing.  We paid off all credit card debt we had. And while I know that debt (especially credit card debt) isn’t that great, it didn’t stop us from accumulating it each time.  We were impatient with things we wanted and used credit cards as a cushion.  Over and over again.

I don’t mean to brag, but I be like, “Put it in the bag,” yeah

When you see them racks, they stacked up like my ass, yeah

Fast forward to my Sabbatical in 2019, I was burnt out on all things including managing our household.  When I left to travel, I turned over everything to my husband.  I was being emotionally irresponsible but I was at a breaking point.  But the lesson I learned through that time was how not to spend money on things I didn’t need.  And even my idea of what I needed, changed.  It took months but I feel like I no longer cared about material things.  When I came back home, I didn’t take over the finances.  I was still very overwhelmed with life and trying to figure out my next steps.  I needed to know what my new normal would look like after being gone for five months.  That brings me to the present.  We decided instead of one of us having a hands-off approach to our finances we really need to do it together.  And this is where our goals and new routines come in.

Whoever said money can’t solve your problems

Must not have had enough money to solve ’em

They say, “Which one?” I say, “Nah, I want all of ’em”

Creating a Budget

I have a spreadsheet that I created from a Facebook post that inspired me back in 2016.  I decided to bring that back and update it.  I added new categories based on our current bills and expenses.  And thanks to a YouTube channel (review coming soon), I also added a yearly budget in addition to the monthly budget I normally do.  Having this spreadsheet alleviates me having to remember things from month to month.  Most of the due dates and amounts of our bills don’t change.  The hardest part each month for us was remembering all of those details including bills that didn’t happen monthly but we still needed to plan for.  Not to mention some type of savings to handle incidentals, goals, and wants.  Having a budget allows us to plan for our future and then follow that plan.

Buy myself all of my favorite things 

Initial Conversation About Goals

While I created our spreadsheet, I needed to make sure Chris was apart of creating it.  Which was helpful because I forgot things, he remembered.  I remembered things, that he forgot.  We also talked about what our goals were and realized they were just a tad bit different (after almost ten years together, that happens).  He wanted to immediately pay off debt and I wanted to build a savings cushion first.  I wanted to start planning out ways to generate income without us having to go to a job every day.  He didn’t want to have to wait to buy the things he wanted.  We need to get on the same page and create our short and long term goals.  We need to break them down into monthly, yearly and lifetime goals. Then decide what actions we need to take to make those happen.

Yeah, my receipts, be lookin’ like phone numbers

Regular Conversations About the Budget

I’ve always heard that finances are one of the biggest problems when it comes to marriage.  We didn’t have that problem because we didn’t talk about it.  When we both were working this was easy because we didn’t really have to say no to anything.  If we didn’t have the cash, we put it on a card and worried about paying it off later.  When we moved to one income and had to hear no more often, it really didn’t bother us too much.  But when things started to happen with appliances in the house, we didn’t have a way to say no without it really impacting our lives.  I like washing clothes daily.  I cooked way too much not to have a working refrigerator and I liked flushing the toilet after use.  All first world problems that I have become used to.  With broken appliances, comes repair or possible replacement cost.  And with costs moving into the thousands, we need to figure out how to come up with this money and quick. Which means we need to start talking about money.  What expenses did we have that we can get rid of?  What ways can we make more money without compromising our time and other goals we set for ourselves?

You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it

I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it 

Turning Plans Into Actions

After we create our budget and then talk about it on the regular, we need to actually make sure we are hitting our goals.  There are two ways to eliminate debt and save money.  One way is to decrease spending and the other is to increase income.  There are many financial gurus out there who advocate for one way or the other.  I plan on doing a bunch of research to find what are some of the best ways for us to do one or the other or both.  We also will start to include our finances in our prayers.  I know for me, I sometimes don’t want to bother God with those types of things.  Outside of praying to hit the lottery, I don’t talk to God about helping me come up with the money for an unexpected expense.  And that has to change.  I’ve seen God do some amazing things and my faith in Him needs to extend into all areas of my life including our finances.

I’d rather spoil all my friends with my riches

Think retail therapy my new addiction

Let’s Do This

Like previous months, keep an eye out on my stories on Instagram and Facebook to see how we plan on doing all of this.  I’ll share books, podcasts, and YouTube channels that I am diving into.  I’ll even share my spreadsheet.  Two major holidays just passed in December for us.  My birthday and Christmas.  Christmas is a major spending holiday and for the past two years, we have been able to avoid making purchases the focus.  Truthfully, my greatest gift would be for us to find financial freedom.  So I can do without all of the crazy spending that we normally do.  It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.  Plus, we can always plan for next year.

Enjoyed the quotes throughout this post?  Check out 7 Rings by Ariana Grande. Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below!

Music video by Ariana Grande performing 7 rings. © 2019 Republic Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

Categories
Family

Goodbye 30, Hello 31

2019 was a bitch. I hate to say it that way, but there is just no other way. I’ve never been one to focus on milestone years as significant life-changing years or think I needed to do certain things by a certain age. But reflecting on me being 30 and I’m wondering if this is really a thing. I was so excited to turn 30. Ushered in the year with a fantastic photoshoot, surrounded by amazing people, had a great dinner with even better people, pics with Santa, drinks afterward, and the night ended with an impromptu dance party in the parking lot. I just knew 2019 was going to be my year. Then a mixture of things went wrong. Shady ass people and friendships. A separation. Lies and deception.  Being let down in a big way by my church home and family.  All leading to a depression that honestly even a year later, I haven’t been able to shake completely. My panic attacks returned. My anxiety went through the roof to the point that I wouldn’t leave my house for weeks at a time. And even when I started to make moves to do better, the depression and anxiety stayed around. The lack of motivation remained. It was suffocating, and I felt like I was drowning. Constantly.  And I feel like it all centered around a loss of identity.  I no longer fit into any of the boxes I created for myself.

I started this blog to document what I am using to help me work through all of that. I was reading more, started watching movies and tv again, listening to podcasts, music, and sermons. I was retaking time to pour into me.  And I wanted a place to share all of that because I felt like I couldn’t be alone in these feelings and needing things to help me through them.  And if I wasn’t the only one, maybe someone else could be helped by what I found helpful.  But as I mentioned before, this lack of motivation and the continued depressed state wouldn’t go away.  While I do feel like moments have gotten better, I still have some tough days.  So what does this mean for me now that I have turned 31 and in 2020?  Self-care is always going to be a significant focus.  Year of Healthy is all about taking care of me and becoming the healthiest version of myself in all areas of my life.  But I also want to make it about others.  I think that was the primary thing missing for me last year.  Because I was traveling and switching church homes, I was no longer serving in church like before.  Because I was dealing with some friendship issues, I became a crappy friend to the ones that were left.  And I still suck at consistent communication with my family.  All of that needs to change.

As I reflect on the last year of my life and even going back to previous years, I realize that I also need to focus on the good things that have happened.  I need to celebrate the moments of overcoming, the joyous occasions, the small stuff.  I’ve lost a lot of people in the last ten years that have made it abundantly clear that life is short.  People I thought I would have more time with were taken away, and in those moments, I realized that I would give all I have away to get back one second with them.  This means the moments that I currently have need to be spent focusing on people and being joyful.  I don’t want any regrets.  I want to be able to say that every moment was lived to the fullest.  Spending time harping on the negative, complaining, and just downright being selfish has done nothing for me but made me feel worst.  I understand the need to feel the emotions and acknowledge them, but I don’t have to stay there.  I always liked the quote that puts our time into money.  It talks about someone taking $10 from your bank account that has $86,400 in it and if you would throw away the $86,390 behind the $10.  The answer should always be no, right?  But that is what I do each time when I am pissed or frustrated about something that took 10 seconds to happen, and then I spend the rest of the day focused on it.  Lord, don’t let me be pissed for multiple days.  How much money am I throwing away then?

It’s time for me to take all that I have learned and do a better job of applying it.  To become a better person and to help and serve others.  To minimize my complaining and maximize my gratitude.  I will continue to document that journey here on the blog and my Instagram and Facebook pages.  I will continue to be in deep prayer about what God wants my journey to look like and ways that I can serve you here.  Thank you for rocking with me these past few months.  I pray that you are finding something that can help you.

“For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.” – Galatians 5:13 CSB

Check out some of my favorite posts from last year:

Book Review: Letters to the Church

2019 Word of the Year: Growth

2020 Word of the Year: Healthy

All 66 Books

Book Review: The 5 AM Club

Categories
Family Productivity

Year of Healthy: November

If you read my Goodbye October post, you will see October’s goals did not go as planned.  I felt like they were all over the place, and when things shifted in my life, the habits I was trying to build quickly went out the window.  I decided to make a change with how I was going to do my monthly goals going forward.  I’m taking a page out of Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project, and selecting themes for each month, and that area is where I will focus on setting goals and building habits.  For November, I will focus on creating a nighttime routine.

A Great Morning Routine Starts The Night Before

One of my goals last month was to wake up at 4:30 AM at least five days a week.  My husband and I agreed on that time so he would stop hitting the snooze button, and I could get up a bit earlier.  The plan was that I would cook his breakfast, see him off for the day, and get my day started.  And while most days I was able to wake up, I spent way too many days going to sleep after my husband left.  Or some days just turning the alarm off and going back to sleep immediately.  But what I do remember is the days that I was able to get up and stay up, were some of my most productive days.  So why wasn’t I able to wake up and stay up?  Most of the time, it was because I didn’t go to sleep at a reasonable time the night before.  Actually going to bed and getting to sleep was such a challenge.  I realized that for me to wake up early, I needed to figure out how to get to sleep early.  Looking at my nights, I really didn’t have a plan.  I cooked dinner, hung out with my husband, and then went to bed.  But once I was in bed, most likely I was watching whatever Chris had on T.V. or on my phone or my thoughts were racing so much I was writing.  I need to figure out how to wind down, so when I got in the bed, I went to sleep.  So I did what I do best, I started to research and look on Pinterest and YouTube to see what others have done.  And while it was hard to find nighttime routines (there is an abundance of morning routines and a ton of kid nighttime routines), I was able to narrow down what I want to try at night that might be able to help me.

Testing It Out

I plan to spend the month of November trying out all of the different routines that I found during my research. Habits that I am hoping will allow me to wind down and get into bed at a reasonable time.  I read in The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma that the ideal amount of sleep is 7 1/2 hours. With Chris having a recent change of schedule, we decided to push our wake up time to 5 AM, which means the best time for me to go to sleep would be about 9:30 PM. So when I was picking out routines that seemed interesting to me, I needed to make sure that I could do them in between when I usually cook dinner around 4 PM or 5 PM and 9:30 PM.  I still needed to eat dinner and spend time with my husband, all within 5 1/2 – 6 1/2 hours.  Let’s hope this is as easy as it sounds.  Here are the routines that interest me:

Quick Clean Up

Although my husband usually takes care of putting the dishes in the dishwasher, I still tend to clean and shut down the kitchen at night.  Doing a quick clean up of the other rooms that we’ve used throughout the day always makes me feel better but isn’t something I do enough.  Getting this done will hopefully prevent me from laying in bed, wishing I would have cleaned up a bit.

Stretching/Yoga/Walking

I started walking around my neighborhood in September, but last month I came up with more excuses, and I stopped.  One reason was, every time I came back from walking, I wanted to sleep for hours.  I don’t know where all those endorphins are that I should be feeling, but they were nowhere to be found.  But I figured a good way to flip this side effect into a positive would be to do it in the evenings.  On days where I don’t feel like walking, I could always stretch or do a yoga routine.

Relaxing Baths and Showers

Normally, fall and winter are when I switch to taking showers at night.  And as much as I love my bathtub and baths, I don’t take them enough.  Add in some essential oils, Epsom salt, dim the lights, light some candles, and turn on the music. I did this the other day for the first time in forever, and it was amazing.  I was more relaxed than I have been in a really long time.

Warm Drink

In addition to my bath, I also made me a warm drink.  I tried some Vanilla Chia tea but used milk instead of water, and it was so good.  I’ve also read that golden milk helps with sleep and inflammation so I would like to try it.  A few nights a week, I normally make some tea that is geared towards relaxing or sleeping.  They don’t always put me right to sleep, but they help relax me and act as a signal that it is time to wind down.

Skin Care Routine, Moisturize My Body, and Oral Hygiene

I want to add face masks and scrubs to my current routine of cleansing, toning, and moisturizing.  I’ve also been wanting to find a body cream to use instead of regular lotion for after my showers and baths.  And keeping up the habit of brushing my teeth and flossing after I finish eating and before bed.

Gratitude, Journal, and Plan The Next Day

I tend to write in my journal all day long, but I would love to be able to take the time to reflect on what I am grateful for at the end of the day.  I could journal about my day or things on my mind and spend a few minutes planning out what I want my tomorrow to look like.  I’m hoping this will help get some things off my mind so I can be at peace at night.

Reading/No Technology

I am horrible about being on my phone in bed.  For hours.  I try and stay off of social media, although I don’t always succeed at that.  But honestly, I am most of the time reading or researching something that pops into my head.  I want to make our bedroom a no technology zone (or at the very least not use the technology in the bed).  My husband was sweet enough to buy me a new reading light last month, so I can still read my physical books.

Let’s Do This

I’ll be spending more time this month researching these routines and finding what works best for me.  Is there a particular essential oil I like best in my baths?  Is tea better for me than warm milk? I believe it is always important to find what works for you so while certain routines may work for others, it is all about tailoring them to fit my needs best.  Follow me on Instagram or Facebook to keep up with what this will look like daily for me.  Do you have nighttime routines that help you get to sleep?  Share them in the comments below.  I hope you join me this month in setting nighttime routines!

 

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.

 

Categories
Faith Family Productivity

Year of Healthy: Goodbye October

Check out my original October Goals post here. You can catch up on my word of the year here.

Goodbye October

October is officially over (Thank You, King Jesus).  And ugh…this month did not go how I planned it at all.  Its been an emotional one with some major hits to a few things that I had planned and some unexpected things popping up.  Dreams were crushed.  Multiple appliances quit working.  Doctor’s appointments didn’t go well.  It was one of those months where I would like to have swept it under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen.  But instead, I really need to look at what went wrong.  Yes, all of those things were bad, but they shouldn’t have had the opportunity to shake me to my core and break my plans.  This was when I realized why I really need to have these habits put in place so nothing can shake them.  Even habits that I thought I already built came tumbling down.  Do you know how everyone says it takes 21 days to make a habit?  Have you ever taken that time, and on day 22, felt more of a relief that you can break the habit? And then actually break it?  Same here.

In The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma, he recommends taking 66 days to not only build the habit but turn it into an automatic response.  Making your habits automatic helps break decision fatigue.  Sharma breaks down the 66 days into three stages.  The first stage he calls Destruction.  The first 22 days are hard.  You are destroying your old ways, and as he says, “rewriting past programs of your heart and emotions.”  He explains that this is when you will want to quit and give up.  I believe this is probably why we celebrate so much when we do make it to day 21.  The second stage is called Installation.  So while stage one was all about getting rid of your old self and habits, this stage is about creating your new self and habits.  Your need to quit gets higher, and you are having regrets about doing this in the first place.  Sharma takes about some pretty deep emotions that you will feel during this stage: exhaustion, confusion, stress.  But being able to say yes daily to your new habit through this second set of 22 days leads you right to stage three, which is Integration.  This is the last set of 22 days where it all starts to come together and “integrates at a psychological, emotional, physical, and spiritual level.” Doing all of this gets you to The Automaticity Point, where you no longer need to force yourself with your new habit.  Now all the energy you used to build that one habit can be used to create a new one.  And you can start another round of 66 days.

Another thing I realized with my goals for October is, they were kind of all over the place. Some were apart of what could be considered my morning routine. Some a nighttime routine. And while I tried my best to stack them so they could trigger each other, it didn’t work so well. Especially if I messed up one, then it seemed to be a tumbling effect. I realized that for the upcoming months during my Year of Healthy, I need a theme and to focus on that.  For a hint on what November’s theme may be, keep reading.  Here are specific updates on each goal from October:

Wake up at 4:30 AM 5 days a week

What was once going so well, just went down the toilet after a few emotionally moody days. I would wake up early, maybe 1-2 days a week to cook my husband’s breakfast and go right back to sleep. Or hear my alarm and turn it right off. What was the problem? I didn’t have a nighttime routine and therefore struggled to get into bed at a decent hour and fall asleep. I suffer from insomnia, and along with my fibromyalgia, I can struggle to fall asleep, although I spend most of my day dealing with exhaustion.  I realized that I needed a nighttime routine that really works.  From my quick research, I see a ton of morning routines, and a lot of people will even say it starts the night before but won’t give many details.  I need to master a nighttime routine before I can move forward on this one.  On a positive note, with my husband’s schedule changing, I was able to adjust this time to 5:00 am, and while I do still sometimes find myself going back to bed after cooking and seeing him off to work, it’s been easier to get up.

Finish reading the Old Testament this month

So this may be the only routine that I have made some movement on after a bit adjusting of the goal.  The only issue is, according to my calculations, to finish the OT in October, I had to read 16 chapters a day.  And that didn’t happen.  But there have been some things that happened with my Bible reading and studying this month.    Well, let’s just talk about my spiritual life as a whole.

  • I finally joined the church that I have been attending for the past few months.
  • I attended their Explore class to learn more about the church’s values and morals.
  • I signed up to start serving again (can I say how much I have missed serving every week!).
  • I signed up for a monthly group and a Bible Study Fellowship class.  The BSF group is currently going through Acts.
  • I was late, but I updated my IG to show that I finished the NT.
  • I’ve finished 2nd Samuel,  Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs.

 

In the Chronological Bible that I am reading out of, currently has me in 1st Kings, 2nd Chronicles, and Psalms.  I still have to get through all of the Prophets, and I have not read most of them, so I imagine I will be taking my time.

Write at least three times a week

I have been exceeding this goal.  I write almost every day.  I write prayers. I write about my Bible reading. I write about my day.  I write about my moods.  I write about the ideas that I have.  I write about my to-do’s.  I just write. And I have been feeling so much better afterward.  Quite a few crazy things have been happening around here, and it has been so frustrating, so writing out my thoughts and feelings has been beneficial.

Hit each timeline on my water bottle on time

Not only do I not hit my timelines, but I’ve also pretty much stopped drinking my gallon of water.  This all comes from not waking up early and then just not eating or drinking at the right times.  I’ve even been drinking soda because we were given a bunch of 2 liters.  Y’all, I can go months without drinking soda and then bam, here I have 1-2 glasses a day.  I have even been slacking on my lemon water.  It’s been bad.  Plus, I know all of this impacts how I feel.  I know that food and staying hydrated will need to be its own theme.  Honestly, I may even need to split them up to cover two months.  We shall see.

Walk for 30 minutes three times a week

I think this is what I am most disappointed in myself with.  Because I was doing really well with this.  Then I started making excuses for going out and walking.  I need to hold on to how accomplished I felt when I was doing it.  And I need to get it done.  One thing that I hope to do is, now that Chris’s schedule has changed, I’m hoping we can walk together a couple of times a week.

Read at least 30 minutes a day

Is it possible to be in a reading slump right after you launch a blog that has a bunch of book of reviews?  Well, that is what has been happening.  Truthfully, I’ve been reading a bunch of romances, and I can’t really learn anything from those. 😂 But on the other hand, I’ve been watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts, and doing other things that have been helping me learn or to wind down.  I do read some nights, but it hasn’t been daily.  I haven’t made much of a dent in my October book: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg or the four other books I wanted to finish reading.

Downtime from 9 PM to 9 AM

This was going so well until it wasn’t.  I started by keeping the phone down most of the night.  Then I began to hit ignore limit for 15 minutes at a time.  Then I started to turn downtime off altogether.  I also extended it to have downtime through the weekend.  I turned that off, too, but I am known to ignore all notifications on the weekends.  But I will admit, on the days where I honored this goal, it was terrific.  I was able to do other things.  And most importantly, I was present with what I was doing.  This is such a habit that I want to keep because I’m not going to lie, I think I am addicted to social media.  It may be time for a fast.

What’s Next

So how did October go overall?  It was a major failure.  And I am okay with admitting that because I have a plan going forward.  Some rough days really knocked me down, and I realized that my emotions made me go from resting and recovering to just being plain stubborn and lazy.  I did have a couple of flare days towards the end of the month, and because I wasn’t so productive for the month, I felt even worst taking a day or two to recover.  But November is a new month.  I’m praying for a productive month since I have done a bit of planning.  Stay tuned for my November goals post coming soon.

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.

Categories
Faith Family Productivity

Year of Healthy: October

Although my 31st birthday isn’t until December, I always felt that September/October represented a new year vibe for me.  It could be because of the school year.  It could be because of the Jewish calendar.  I’m not sure, but when I was giving healthy as my word for the year, I knew I wanted to start as early as possible. August and September were all mental challenges for me.  I wanted to see if I could wake up at 4:30 am. I wanted to know if I could drink warm lemon water every morning.  I wanted to see if I can drink a gallon of water every day.  After doing each of those things a few times, I realized that I could build these into habits, and that is what is going to help me break through my excuses.

After reading The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma, I learned that we should focus on taking care of what he calls The 4 Interior Empires: Mindset (Psychology), Heartset (Emotionality), Healthset (Physicality), Soulset (Spirituality).  All of these are areas that I knew I wanted to actively focus on getting healthy, along with relationships and my home.  While I have some ideas of goals that I would like to accomplish, this idea of getting healthy is one that is still growing inside of me, and I know over the next few months if not the whole year, I will be coming up with different areas and goals to improve and grow.  Hopefully, as I build some habits and accomplish some goals, I can use those as stairsteps to reach another level of getting healthy.

Right now, I plan on taking it slow, month by month, as I try and plan out precisely what I want.  I have a bunch of ideas in my head, and as much as I want to start building all the habits on day one, I know that will be my quickest way to failure.

Wake up at 4:30 AM 5 days a week

My husband and I came to an agreement.  If he stops hitting his snooze button a million times in the morning, I will get up and cook him breakfast.  We agreed on 4:30 AM since I wanted to get up as early as 5:00 AM, and he needed to get to work early.

Finish reading the Old Testament this month

Back in April, I started to read through each book of the Bible.  I started with random books in the New Testament, and then I switched to reading Chronologically using this bible.  I finished the New Testament last month, and I would like to finish the Old Testament this month, if possible.  After I cook breakfast for my husband to take to work, I usually dive into my Bible reading for the day.

Write at least three times a week

Writing for the blog, writing to clear my head, writing my morning pages.  I’ve started to journal, and to be honest, the thought of having a journal full of my thoughts and ideas is so motivating.  Seeing the pages no longer be clean and crisp is just so inspiring.  But I struggle with the habit of handwriting because it’s so easy to type.  I want to write after my Bible reading to talk about what I learned.  Maybe even write a little beforehand if I have something in my head that may be blocking me from my reading or understanding.

Hit each timeline on my water bottle on time

I bought a water bottle that allows me to drink a gallon of water a day.  The problem has been I find myself chugging the water in the afternoon once I get behind and then spend all evening and night peeing.  It’s been such a pain.  So if I could hit the timelines on time (7 AM, 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM), I am hoping that will help with my frequent trips to the bathroom.

Walk for 30 minutes three times a week

I mentioned how much I hate exercising, right?  Like, hate it. But I know it is essential to exercise. At my last doctor’s appointment, we talked about how to bring some exercise into my life, and she wants me to do at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week.  I’m not there yet, so we will start with three times.  My husband used to be a runner and has expressed wanting to get back into that habit, so we want to use these walks as his warm-up.  I’ve also been able to connect with a friend, and part of us spending time together is walking together.

Read at least 30 minutes a day

As much as I love reading, I do find myself burning out at times.  That has been my recent season.  But I have been reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris and the way it is formatted, it is little nuggets from each Titan.  I think reading this book for about 30 minutes a day will help me come out of my reading slump.  I sometimes read throughout the day, but I have been loving reading while in bed to unwind from the day.  I’ve decided that I am going to try and read one book a month that will help with my goals for the month.  I am picking The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg for this month.

Downtime from 9 PM to 9 AM

I mostly ignored Apple’s Screentime app because it gave me nothing but negative information.  I know I spend too much time on my phone; there is no need to be reminded about it.  But I was checking it out one day and somehow accidentally turned on the Downtime, which was set from 10 PM to 7 AM.  I decided to leave it and test it out.  And I felt so guilty every time I hit the Ignore Limit button, and I would put the phone down.  Since that has been mostly working, I decided to expand it from 9 PM to 9 AM.  This allows me some downtime at night and not have me starting my first few hours glued to social media or technology.

Let’s Do This

All of this may seem like a lot, but I hope you see how they are connected and I am hoping they will be easier to accomplish that way.  I’ve read multiple places that if you can have triggers, it helps make your habit-building easier.  Using one habit as a trigger (me waking up early) and stacking some of the habits together, let’s hope for success.

Do any of these habits sound like some you need to pick up?  Want to join me? Leave a comment below and let me know if you are in for making these happen for October.

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases using the links included in this post.