How About Those 2015 Resolutions?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2016 here we come!! Please be kind!

On the one hand, some things on my resolutions list from last year remain undone. On the other hand, I've had a banner year in terms of getting things done! So let's start with all the positive (non-resolution) change.* This post is long, so I highlighted key stuff for you. Haha.

In March, Kevin got me this book for birthday because he knows I'm interested in organization books. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing* by Marie Kondo (Konmari) is no joke. I don't just have a more organized home, but it was LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC! It's real. Let me explain.

After I had started successfully decluttering my home so that I could bask in the things I love most, it occurred to me that this problem I had been unable to solve with willpower or other books-- I was able to solve with a better system. Maybe I just needed a better system for... everything!

So I asked for recommendations, specifically seeking something that was similar in style to Konmari: a book with a system to fix my problem, with some instant wins, that would keep me motivated, and was free to implement. I think that the "free" part is kind of key because it somehow prevents shysters from profiting (and therefore recidivism on your part).

So for finances I did The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey. I'm not going to get into my financial details online, but huge improvement! If you want to ask me in person, I'll tell.

At this point it occurred to me that what I really wanted was to lose weight. This one was tough. I was asking around everywhere. I tried reading a few bad diet books. Meanwhile articles were coming out that diets don't work. Ugh.

Finally I found this BBC documentary from 2012 about accidental diet research on mice and its effects on humans... as far as we know now. Basically the documentary talked about the scientific method of eating 500 calories every other day, and your regular current diet in between. There are a few different names for this method of eating: alternate day fasting, every other day diet, or 5:2 fast diet (if you only do it 2 days a week).

I read the three best books on the topic (Mosley, Varady, Johnson). The thing is, you don't need to read the books at all because I just explained the whole diet to you, but if you want to be convinced that it's healthy and scientific then read one of the books. I still think the best one is The FastDiet - Revised & Updated: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting by Michael Mosley. I also like the Facebook group Alternate Day Fasting. (I would recommend actually reading and following KonMari or Dave Ramsey if you have problems in those areas, but the diet is really straightforward.)

I've done the 5:2 diet for 5 months, and lost 15 pounds so far. I lost the weight I gained when I was pregnant plus another 7 pounds. I'm the weight I was when I got married in 2009, and there's no signs that I'm stuck or that I've plateaued yet. So I'll report back when I do.

Lost the Miranda weight plus more, except 

that Miranda makes me carry her all the time.

I asked around again for life-changing systems, and this time I found bullet journal which is a very easy, simple, and fun way to make your own planner and keep track of your short-term and long term goals. No book this time, just this website: http://bulletjournal.com/. I also like the Facebook group Bullet Journal Junkies. You don't have to buy, borrow, or read anything.

I'm in the process of finding information on meditation and mindfulness. I'll report back this too. 

Also, we bought a house this year! So that was an awesome bucket list item for me. I'm super happy about our little house near the beach and near Kevin's job.

As for my actual 2015 Resolutions, below I highlighted which of my 2015 resolutions I actually accomplished. I'm doing a separate post on my 2016 resolutions but hopefully I can keep that list SHORT and manageable.

2015 Resolution "Musts":

• Spanish: Started to get serious about teaching the kids Spanish! 
• Complete our powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• Living wills (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• Healthcare powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• What would I do for our kids? Letters?

My reading list:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates 
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler 
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
• (I also read 21 other books that weren't on this list including: Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey)

Also fun reads (bonus):

• the third Magicians
• the rest of Game of Thrones 4-6 (read 4 and 5, stuck on the boringness of 6)
• Enders Game 

Charity: One donation a month. I might also encourage you to donate to the one I pick. (I gave this year but not to 12 places, or each month.)

Things I still needed to do from my 2014 Resolutions:

• Back-up my entire computer.
• Learn to bake!
• Lost the baby weight I gained with Miranda! And not a resolution - but also James weight! (Thanks 5:2!)
• Culled my dad's books (thanks Konmari!)
• Finish James's baby book
• Baptize the kids.
• Learn Italian this year.

* I used three associate links above, because why the heck not, but these are all books I used to great effect. All of you who know me in real life know that I won't shut up about these books. My "cults." Also, you don't need to buy any of these books because they're probably in your local library.

KonMari Progress- Forward and Back 2015

I blogged a whole bunch of times about KonMari in the previous months. My motivation kind of took a nose dive when we moved in the middle of my process (at about 4 and half months). For a month I had to focus on packing and unpacking instead of Konmaring. But moving was itself interesting in the middle of the process. When confronted with having to move the object to a new house there was a point in favor of discarding the item rather than the usual default of wanting to keep it. I also handled everything we own twice because I packed and unpacked almost everything.

Unpacked new smaller house- Love all the free space with less stuff!

But then, I thought I was in sentimental items, and when we got to the new place I realized I had totally blown the Komono step. This is what Marie Kondo calls the step where you do all the "miscellaneous" items that just aren't clothing, books, papers, or sentimental items. Well, that's the biggest category and I really didn't push myself very hard on it. So a lot of my unpacking time was been trying to deal with all these items that don't necessarily fit into my life now. For example all of our CDs... really torn about whether to keep them when I rarely play music off them. I don't know why I had less trouble discarding clothing and books which I care a lot more about, than I'm having getting rid of CDs, but there it is. Also, the solution to convert our VHS home movies into DVDs will take time and money, etc. So I'm back to dealing with all that.

Some additional things have found their way into the house in the meanwhile, though we try to control that, but the new house had some new needs. Then once I lost the momentum of having a regular time to work on it each week, it's been hard to get back in.

Also, when I saw the huge positive effect Konmari was having in my life and in my way of thinking, I decide to find and apply similar processes to other problems in my life. So I discovered Dave Ramsey, and it's totally changed how I view and handle finances in my life-- for the better. Much better!

Next I decided that the weight I was dragging around wasn't sparking joy (duh) and there had to be a more motivational way of getting rid of it. So I discovered Alternate Day Fasting, which is supposed to make it easier to lose weight, and more importantly, reduce your chance of getting cancer or weight-related illnesses like diabbetes. The diet costs nothing (actually saves you money) and I've lost 17 pounds since the end of June. (I started on 5:2, but now I do 4:3 or 5:2 depending on how well the week is going.) But my focus on these new projects distracted me from Konmari. It's difficult right now to keep myself from moving on to even more projects before having finished this one.

This is a chart of my weight (and averages) since November 2008, and the correlation with some big projects I took on. Almost back to a healthy weight now. (First time since 2007 which isn't even on this chart.)

Seven-Year Weight Chart (11/2008-10/2015)

So now it's been a bit over 7 months since I started, and I still plan on finishing my Konmari "festival" by the end of this year. It will be amazing to know I am surrounded by what I love. But no matter what, Konmari has already changed my life a lot (just like Marie promised) and changed how I approach and surpass challenges.

I found this video by a blogger I already knew and like, Laura of HowToGYST.com, and yes, totally agree with almost everything she says, except the less shopping is a huge plus for me, not a con.

 

• KonMari- Clothes 2015 
• KonMari- General Solution 2015
• All my other KonMari posts