I Have The Clapper

I own The Clapper. Yes, that device they sell on TV with the catchy song. I finally received it for Christmas this year after asking for it nearly every single day for the past 10 years.  I wanted The Clapper because I don't like turning out the lights until I'm perfectly in bed.  Silly, idiosyncratic, ridiculous - yes, yes, and yes.  And though I have a nice bedside lamp, I really like the lamp that is across the room as well.  It gives off such a warm glow.  With The Clapper, I can turn off the lamp from the other side of the room.

This small, silly, relatively inexpensive device has already brought me tremendous levels of happiness and has helped me with two of my habits.  First, I'm trying to turn the lights out by 10pm.  Clapping my hands to turn off the lights amuses me; it still hasn't gotten old.  And so at 10pm I put down my book (or laptop - but I really try to not let my laptop or other electronics go into our bedroom) and I clap my hands, laugh to myself, and go to bed.  Second, I've been waking up at 6am in the mornings to go to bootcamp.  I'm a bit grouchy when my alarm goes off and I always consider skipping class (prepaying has definitely provided some motivation).  The second I hear my alarm, I clap my hands and the lamp across the room goes on.  While I still linger in bed for a few more moments, it is easier to get out of bed when the lights are already on.

I realize that The Clapper is not a necessity, which is probably why I always asked for it as a gift and never purchased it myself.  And I most likely would succeed in my habits without this made-for-TV gem.  But The Clapper amuses me and makes chores (like getting out of bed at 6am) a bit easier. 

Do you have something ridiculous or silly that helps you?

Not perfect, Goodwill

There are many large projects on my to-do list that I simply do not have the time* (or maybe just not the energy or motivation) to tackle.  One of these projects is cleaning out my closet.  I often delay doing things if I cannot do them perfectly.  For my closet, I wish to remove, evaluate, sort, and put away every. single. item.  In my mind, doing it perfectly would mean that I would have 4 boxes: give-away, dry-cleaning, iron**, back in closet.  I would then perfectly put everything back into my closet with matching hangers, clothes grouped by color and sleeve length, and all of the clothes facing the same way.

This has been on my to-do list for years, and it hasn't happened yet.  Instead of beating myself up over this shortcoming, I've implemented a less-perfect plan to clear my closet of clutter one day at a time. 

I purchased a canvas bin from Bed Bath and Beyond and placed it on the floor of my closet.  I used my label maker (lest I forget why the bin is on the floor?!) and labeled it "Goodwill."  As I stand in my closet dressing in the morning, I will inevitably see something that hasn't been worn in 4 years, doesn't fit, has a stain, is out of style, still has the tags on, is ruined... And I toss it in the bin.  If I'm feeling lazy and unproductive - I walk into my closet and toss something into the bin.

I love the feeling of putting something in my Goodwill bin.  I think the bin works because it is a temporary holding space.  I empty the bin (take it to Goodwill) twice per month.  Thus when I toss something into the bin, it isn't permanent, I could still hang it back up in my closet.  And yet, that has never happened.  For the past several months I've been happily hauling clothing to Goodwill and my closet is looking better and better each day.  Not perfect, but definitely very good!


*I'm trying to be more honest with myself.  Do I really not accomplish things because of lack of time - or is it my lack of time management, perseverance, or motivation?
**I put my clothes away un-ironed.  As a result, I'm often ironing clothes in the morning when I'm already a few minutes late.  I end up both late and quasi-wrinkly.  Not good.

Grocery Lists

Several of the habits that I wish to create revolve around food and meal planning. I would like to prep produce as soon as I get it (wash it, chop it, bag it) and I'd like to create a meal plan each week to follow.  I'd like less food to rot in my fridge and I'd like to eat healthier meals.  In order to improve my meal habits, I need to become better at grocery shopping.  I buy too much, I forget to buy essentials, I end up at the store everyday...

One of many specialty pads from Knock Knock 

Several months ago I purchased the All Out Of pad from Knock Knock.  It was an impulse buy and I hung it on the side of our fridge to see if it would magically make me more organized.  (Do you buy organization supplies that turn into clutter?).  Of all the specialty notebooks and pads that I've purchased - I've actually used this one!  When my husband notices we are out of something, he checks the item on the list.  I do the same thing.  When it is time to go shopping, one of us tears off the sheet and away we go.  It makes grocery shopping easy too because items are grouped by aisles in a grocery store.  While every grocery store is slightly different, many food groupings are universal (e.g., flour is in the same aisle as sugar).

I think the logical comment is Can't you just write items down on a piece of paper - why purchase a specialty pad? What has made this work for us is that we fall very short of perfect and as a result we run out of many items and don't check them off.  By having a list of commonly purchased items, it is easy to read through the list and be reminded that you are out of something.  This is called recognition memory - when you can't remember something (What was her name?) but if someone gave you options (Was it Sue or Sharon?) you will recognize it (It was Sue!!).  We all have better recognition memory abilities than recall memory abilities.  If you are at the grocery store with a handwritten list and you realize that something is missing from the list, you are forced to try to recall it.  If you have the All Out Of list, you can read through the items and are more likely to recognize the item you are trying to remember.  

This product has helped me organize my grocery shopping, but I still have a lot to work on.  Are there organization products that have helped you shop and meal plan?

Recap

Last week was my first full week at home in 2010. I filled the week with many of the habits I've been working on and I had a blissfully happy week. Here is a recap of my current habit list:

1.) Flossing - I still do not floss every day, but I really don't care! My guilt over not flossing is gone. I find myself flossing a few times a week, which is significantly better than my previous habit of flossing every 6 months!

2.) Make my bed - The task takes under 60 seconds, and yet brings me a ridiculous amount of happiness. I have had little difficulty creating this habit, especially if I do it immediately upon waking.

3.) Skin routine - While I never miss my morning skin routine, I struggle with my night skin routine, especially on the weekends.  I've found that if I do my night skin routine as soon as I get home - instead of waiting for bed time - it is more likely to get done.  I would still like this to become a nightly habit.

4.) No dishes in the sink - This new habit brought me an incredible amount of happiness last week.  It was amazing to come home to a clean kitchen every night (and a made bed) and just this small change made me feel so productive.  It is also a lot easier to keep a kitchen clean than to clean a kitchen.  This habit definitely slipped over the weekend (in that my husband cleaned the kitchen) and thus I have 15 minutes of dishes that have been waiting for me for the past 24 hours.  I've decided to not be too rigid about this habit.  I found myself being equally happy with 3 dishes in the sink of an otherwise spotless kitchen - I aimed for good, instead of perfect, and it worked.  I'm going to strive to keep this habit.

5.) Bed @ 10pm - This was the first week I tried this habit.  As a result, I went to bed between 10-11pm every night.  This is huge improvement as I used to procrastinate going to bed by staying on my laptop 'till well after midnight.  Like the previous habit, I've reminded myself to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  Whereas I'd feel guilty for crawling in bed at 1am, I did not feel any guilt this week when I missed my goal by 20 minutes and went to bed at 10:20. 

6.) Exercise and Food Journal - These were not chosen as JOW (Just One Week) habits - but they both began last week.  I've enjoyed working out and 6:30am hasn't been as painful since I've been in bed by 10pm.  I am 3 for 3 in attending workouts.  I am failing at writing down what I eat.  I was great for the first 3 days, and I haven't written in the journal since (which earned me 50 extra push-ups at the bootcamp).  I am going to need to stop dreading the food journal.  Your comments on that post really helped me to see the potential good in the habit.

7.) Blogging - As you may have noticed, I did not blog on Saturday or Sunday.  My husband (who lives in a different state Monday through Friday) was home and we had a beautiful weekend.  And our internet was down.  I easily could have still posted (it's not that hard to borrow our neighbor's WiFi) but I simply chose not to.  I was incredibly surprised to find that I felt no guilt!  I'm going to go back and post them as I was prepared with a Saturday Review and a Sunday Saying - but I'm not stressed about it.

Despite how amazing last week was, truly free of guilt, I've started February in the opposite direction.  Yesterday I did not accomplish a single thing on my to-do list and did not complete any of my habits.  I slept with my make-up on, went to bed at 11pm, left a lot of dishes in the sink, did not write in my food journal...  Sometimes when I have a bad Monday, I wallow in it and it leads to a very unproductive Tuesday.  I'm hoping that I can turn today around and report tomorrow that today was a good day.  What do you do to turn an unproductive day around?

Reading Ballerina

Tiddly Inks

I met my husband in the summer of 2003. I had been out of college for a year and had just moved across the country for an exciting new job. I didn't know anyone in my new big city, and so I started joining groups and being aggressively social in an attempt to make friends. Being new put me in the position of constantly introducing myself. People wanted to know where I was from, what I did, who I was. And who was I? At 23 I wasn't sure I knew. I wasn't nearly so existential during what was typically cocktail chatter, but spending the past three weeks on interviews introducing myself, reminded me of my younger self 7 years ago trying to figure out who I was.

My husband still teases me about many, many details of our first date. He reminds me that when he called to ask me out, I told him that he couldn't pick me up until 8pm because I had ballet until 6:30. I also apparently talked about my love of reading quite extensively during our date. Neither of those things are particularly tease worthy, except for the fact that he's never seen me take a ballet class since that night, and I only read 1 book in the first two years we were dating. I wasn't lying when I told my future husband that I loved ballet and reading - I thought I wanted to be a reading ballerina - but wanting and enjoying are not the same thing.  If I truly enjoyed doing something, wouldn't I be intrinsically motivated to actually do it?  Or do other things get in the way of doing things we enjoy?

Nag Me

I recently Stumbled Upon a new website (new to me at least) called Hassle Me.  Their tagline says it all:

Because sometimes in life, you just need to be nagged...

At this website, you can sign up for "reminders" to be sent at semi-random intervals.  For instance, I could ask them to email me 4 times per week to remind me to floss.  It will be random which days and times I receive these emails, but I have some control as to the overall frequency.

I'm not sure I want to be nagged.  Is this a service that you think may be beneficial for me, or for you?

Food Journal

I have never had any desire to keep a food journal. You will notice that Keep a food journal is not on my habit list.  I am a decent, everything-in-moderation type eater and I've always associated food journals with causing (or fueling) an unhealthy preoccupation with food.

 A sarcastic take on a food journal: a notebook made out of a cereal box from SuiteHeart.

That is also why I don't count calories.  I know what healthy foods are (most fruits, veggies, oatmeal, grilled chicken, fish) and I know what is unhealthy (all things fried, all bar food, 90% of take-out, creams, cheeses, desserts) and I know what is in-between (avacados and mangos).  I don't need to look at the calorie content for the frozen pizza I ate on Sunday to know that it was incredibly unhealthy.  Nor do I need to calculate the calories for the banana bread I made last night (key ingredients include butter and sugar) to know that it is a dessert and not a healthy breakfast (though it was a delicious breakfast).

Not wanting to track my food intake seems very counter to my enjoyment of tracking everything from flossing to bed making.  I think the difference is that tracking my habits requires a single check mark at the end of the day, which means I do not spend my entire day thinking about flossing.  A food journal requires you to log, and therefore think, about your eating all day long.  This may be irrational, but I don't want to obsess about what I am eating or what I weigh - and to me, I associate tracking your food or calories as a gateway to becoming preoccupied (in an unhealthy way) with food.

I think many of us have several friends that spend a lot of time thinking about calories/food/their bodies - and I think those friends are less happy as a result.  While I'd like to lose 5 pounds, I spend very little time thinking about my body, food, or calories.  Right now food is associated with fun - I enjoy learning to cook new meals, I enjoy sitting down to eat and having good conversations, and I enjoy trying new foods.  I don't want food to become something evil, and for some reason, a food journal seems like a way to villainize food.

Why am I rambling on about food journals - keeping a food journal is a requirement for the bootcamp that I started yesterday.  Do you keep a food journal?  What have your experiences been in tracking your eating or calories?