21 Days to a More Disciplined Life

I just got this new e-book called 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life (hence the title...) It is by Crystal Paine, author of the website Money Saving Mom. I have barely made a dent in searching around at all the different topics she has on there but from what I've read so far...it's a gooder, folks! And, really, who doesn't want to be a money saving mom? (Unless, of course, you are not a mom. Then maybe you just want to be a money saver...?)

When I look at my goals and resolutions for the year it pretty much all boils down to becoming more disciplined in the way I do life. (Losing weight...definitely needs more discipline, getting out of debt...probably even more discipline than losing weight, becoming more organized...yup, discipline.)

Anywho...the point of this post is to talk about what I am going to be doing over the next 21 days. So for the next little while I will update you on the challenge of the day and my progress in it all! Exciting, I know! So, today being day one...here goes!

Day 1: Choose one small project that you have been putting off for weeks (or months) and do it within the next 24 hours.

This was a tough one for me because I have many projects that I have started and not finished and probably even more on my to-do list. However, when I sat and thought about it for a few minutes I realized that in all reality most were not small projects (ie. clean and organize laundry room - HA HA HA!) So, I settled on one that has been put off for a good 4 - 5 (ok maybe 6) months - the kids coloring and craft stuff. Seriously, we have had coloring books out the ying yang people! Here is a before picture of the giant stack of would be art:

(I should have taken a before before picture of the 2 different places they were being stored but I didn't. And really this doesn't even look as bad as it was with papers strewn everywhere, but just trust me :)

Next I sorted through the stack and threw out anything that had coloring on it. (At which point I heard, "But mom! You're throwing away my memories!" Really? Note for future: Do this when children are not in the room.) I tore out pages and cleaned things up again so that they had fresh coloring books to start with. Then I put over half of what was left in a giveaway box (most likely to go on the "Free" table at the next garage sale or maybe to a doctor's office or something). This is what I ended up with:

Waaaaayyy better than before! And now when they go to color (which they can now) it's almost like they have brand new books to choose from! I didn't get a picture but I also sorted through the crayons, markers, pens, etc. and threw out any that were broken or had run out and then sorted into big ziploc bags to put in the drawers. Now everything is neat and tidy and ready to use!

Love it!