I'm back and Menu Plan Monday

Hello there my faithful readers

Sorry to have left you for the last few days but I was in Las Vegas celebrating my dad's 70th birthday.

The trip was exactly the break I needed to relax, breathe, and come home ready to stay on track with school, organizing and life in general.

Tonight's task: Menu Plan Monday

So you're probably wondering "what's the deal with all those shakes?"

Well, a few months ago I tried the new diet fad Body By Vi.  It seemed to work pretty well so I've decided to give it another chance (and happen to have over a months worth of shake powder left over) to lose a few pounds for Halloween.

So that's the deal on my menu for this week...let's hope I can stick to it.

Next task: cleaning out my closet!

Wallet Purse Problems and Problem Solved. For Now.

I finally found the perfect wallet clutch...

Or so I thought.

When I saw this clutch at TJMaxx it seemed like everything I was looking for in this Previous post.  It had an acordian style pocket with two sections and a zippered pocket, ten credit card slots, a spot for cash and a removable chain that lets you use it as a wallet, clutch, or cross body bag.  And on top of that I love the style...especially for $15.  So it's perfect right? Wrong.  Even though I was able to close it with my cell phone inside it in the store, once I put my credit cards, business cards and check book inside, I could hardly get it to shut and once I put my change in the zippered pocket it wouldn't close at all. This is all I can fit inside it:

So unfortunately even though it seemed like the perfect size, it's too small to close with the things I want inside it.  And now that I've found a shape and style I like, I'm not sure I'll be satisfied with anything else so for now I've come up with a solution.  Rather than use this one wallet to store everything I'll ever need (which is sort of a pipe dream anyway) I have divided my things into multiple little bags:

• gift cards (which I have about 20 of at any given time)
• "the essentials" (hand sanitizer, lotion, tissues, etc)
• make up
• wallet

Even though it's not a perfect solution, it does make it easier to move from bag to backpack and the wallet holds just enough to be able to take out as a clutch at night. Barely. Now I just need to make some labeled zippered bags to hold each set of items.

Menu Plan Monday

Following along with my current organizing obsession and a serious interest in losing weight I've decided I need to organize the way I eat.  I started looking for ways to better plan my shopping trips and weekly menus and came across I am an Organizing Junkie and their Meal Plan Monday series.  Starting this week I will be spending time each Sunday night planning my menu for the week and grocery shopping Monday mornings as Organizing Junkie suggests.  However since I just discovered this idea I'm a day behind this week and will be planning my menu now and posting it later tonight!

Current Desire: Clutch Wallet

If you've been following my blog then you know I'm all about organizing and simplifying my life right now. Now that I'm back in school I'm constantly switching between my backpack and my purse and then to a clutch on nights out. This creates the issue of moving my must have items like credit cards, business cards, my check book, etc back and forth between the three places.  While window shopping at Francesca's today I came across the perfect solution: 

A combination clutch and wallet.

It had more slots for credit cards than my current wallet, a spot for my check book, pockets large enough to hold my phone business cards, even my sun glasses.  By keeping everything in that I could easily switch between my purse and back pack.  I MUST have one.  Not wanting to buy the first one I saw I decided to do some research first and have been looking for one online.  I still haven't found the perfect one for the perfect price but here are some that come pretty close:

Getting Organized

For the first time in I can't remember how long I feel like everything is going right.  I've never felt so empowered and I owe this in large part to the fact that I recently went on a mission to organize my life.  It started when I moved last month.  I absolutely refused to rest until I was unpacked and everything had a place.  I moved from a fully furnished one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom I share with two other girls and had everything away and organized within two days.  This was a huge improvement from the last time I moved when I still had unpacked boxes over a month after moving.

The second step was getting into a routine.  If any of you have an ipad or iphone I highly reccomend the app HomeRoutines.  Its honestly my life line.  I have everything I need to do daily to the last detail, including inherent things like brushing my teeth.  By having everything on a list it helps me establish a routine, do things in order, faster and more effectively.  The best part is you can decide when you want the list to reset, so things like brushing my teeth reappear every day, while things like grocery shopping and laundry reset once a week.

Another way I've kept myself organized is by using a tool called a Personal Crazy Index or PCI invented by Patrick Carnes. I keep a list of the seven most important things I need to accomplish EVERY SINGLE DAY and before I go to bed at night I get a score for how many I've done. If I have done all 7 I get a 0 if I haven't done any or forget to fill it out I get a 7.  The lower the score the better.  At the end of the week I add up my points from each day to see how I'm doing.  As long as I am at 19 or below I'm happy, otherwise I know I need improvement.

I also have an app called simpleGoals where you keep track of your goals.  Each day I accomplish one of my listed goals I get a check mark, if I don't I don't.  It tracks how many times a week and a month you achieve each specific goal which helps me see where I'm doing well and What I can focus on to improve my PCI score and subsequently my life.

The next thing I set to work on was establishing a routine for school.  I got an app called evernote (if you're starting to notice a pattern my ipad is my life, there isn't a single more useful tool in organizing your life and I highly recommend getting one if it's at all possible, it's worth the splurge) in which i have a separate "notebook" for each class where I can take my notes and save documents and pictures.  It's been extremely helpful and the best note taking app I've tried (and trust me I've tried several!) On top of that I put all my homework for the week in a note on my phone and eliminate each assignment as I finish it

Finally, the last piece of my organizing puzzle was to set my finances in order.  For this I used (you guessed it) yet another app called mint.com.  It has been amazing in helping me set up a budget and track my spending.  It keeps track of your income, your debt, everything you could possibly need. And the great thing about mint.com, like evernote and homeroutines is that they're accessible on line and sync between devices like your ipad and iphone.  I also use outright.com to keep track of my etsy and pay pal expenses.

Overall, my biggest tip in getting (and staying) organized is to write everything down in the order you plan to do it every single day.  My calendar has an allotted time for my morning routine, night time routine, homework, blogging, even driving to and from school.  By keeping everything on a timed schedule, even if I don't follow it to a t, I'm able to see where my lost time went, or determine what I need to sacrifice in order to add something extra to my day. It might sound a little like over kill, but it's the only thing that has ever worked for me before and for as busy as I am, my life couldn't possibly feel any easier!