Decluttering is not a four-letter word!

1. Do you know how many blogs I have in my Google Reader? 61!

I know this might not seem like much to some of you but I was most comfortable around the 40 mark so 61 is hectic for me. Even though I've decluttered 5 this week already.

Remember I work a full-time job, run a very busy part-time business and I'm married and run a household. Add to that cooking, baking and cleaning!

Now I will admit that I do have excellent time management skills but when Beth Dargis told me she cut down from 100 to 50 and her goal is 30, well...that just spurred me into action.

So that's my tackle for this weekend! Getting my feeds down to 50.


2. Also, a reminder that Beth's declutter group starts on Monday.

Quit waiting for your home to get decluttered on its own. Get a handle on the clutter in your house by working together, breaking it down and following a simple guide.

Join Certified Family Manager Coach, Beth Dargis of My Simpler Life as she coaches you to enjoy a more serene home.

LIMITED SPACES - Starts Oct 1, 2007

http://www.encouragingcoach.com/programs-decluttergroup.htm

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Tell me, how many feeds do you have in your Google Reader or Bloglines? Do you have a regular maintenance plan?

Frugal organising with cereal boxes

This is what works for me!

With cereal boxes

With more cereal boxes and cardboard dividers for glasses

The box on the left was a set of fancy teas I received as a gift

And this is my favourite - muffin cases from Woolworths (and ice-cream containers)

Introducing...my beaded bookmarks

I'm so excited - I've started selling my beaded bookmarks over here. At the moment, they are all R40 each ($5.70) which includes shipping and handling. (South Africans pay R35 each)

They make great gifts that you can use in books, journals, planners, etc.

Here are a couple of examples but go here for the list as it now stands. I have to finish taking photos and uploading!

Woohoo!

Decluttering paper

I love decluttering paper. Seriously, it is very satisfying for me to throw paper away. And let's face it - the less paper you have, the less you have to file.

I don't believe in expanding to a bigger storage solution unless absolutely necessary. And in most cases, we're simply too lazy to declutter (because that involves making decisions) so we just get another file, another storage box, another bookshelf for all our clutter.

No, thanks, not for me!

I limit myself to a file binder and when it gets full, I take 15 - 30 minutes to go through and declutter it.

Because I contain the paper, I don't get overwhelmed with piles and piles of paper and files.

I have a gorgeous pink file where I keep my Business Control Journal and other business stuff (I won't bore you with all the detail).

When I had to file some paper recently, I noticed that the file was a bit snug (rather like my jeans at the moment ;) ) so I took it and while I was watching TV, I went through the papers quickly and this is all the paper I decluttered. Lovely, isn't it?

To see what else is being tackled all over the world, visit http://5minutesformom.com/

Edited to add: I do recycle the paper when I'm done decluttering :)

How to organise a busy week and still eat healthy - 24 Sept 07

Just realised this is my 200th post on this blog!

Our church is having a celebration this whole week and we are going every evening (well, I'm skipping one because I have two coaching appointments) so this week is going to be very busy.

So how do I organise things so we still eat a healthy meal? I

1. checked my freezer to see what I had ready
2. worked out how much time I had to do any actual meal preparation
3. did additional shopping
4. cooked some extra meals
5. made up my menu planner (download your menu planner and shopping list here)
6. relaxed my standards in terms of meal fanciness!

So here is my menu for the week:

Monday
Stirfried chicken, rice and veggies

Tuesday
Pasta, salad and focaccia

Wednesday
Baked potatoes with spicy lentil sauce

Thursday
Mince (ground beef) curry, rice and pumpkin

Friday

Pasta salad

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How do you organise your business so you can make more money?
Why, you get the Organise your Business system, of course :)

• 18-page Business Control Journal
• 50-page Organise your Business e-book with templates, forms, everything!

Get organised now!

This is what it's all about

I publish a weekly tips newsletter and this Wed, I wrote an article on decluttering your clothes.

This is one of the emails I received after I sent it out.

Good morning Marcia,

Thank you for this week's tips.

I have started with my clothes and I must say, it has been one of the best exercises. I realised how much old clothes I have that I don't even need, let alone wear.

I feel like the weight on my shoulders has decreased tremendously. I am
very happy because I can see what's going on in my cupboards.

I also did the kids and Hendrick's clothes too and he is happy because we can identify stuff that's missing, if there is any.

Another thing, this exercise has opened a new door. The clothes we did not like, and do not fit us anymore (of course, in good condition), we took to a local orphanage, and the experience was extremely overwhelming....

thanks
Claudia

I've always said that I don't believe in organising just for the sake of things looking pretty (although that helps), but it's the feeling of peace that being organised brings you.

Claudia gets it, do you?

Get your own weekly tips here.

Favourite organising tools #7 - plastic envelopes

Plastic envelopes must be one of my absolute favourite organising tools of all time.

1. They are transparent so you can see what you have in them.
2. They have a clip (don't bother getting the ones with the string because they are just ANNOYING).
3. They are roomy so you can throw in any pens, clippings, envelopes, etc. you're working on.
4. They are portable so you can take them with you to work or read through in the car, at the hairdresser, etc.

I use them mainly for my projects so I have a number of these on my desk, each with a different purpose.

I seem to have lots of ideas for e-books, courses, etc. so when I'm ready to work on something, I'll prepare a plastic project envelope. I usually use a post-it note to label the project so that when I'm done, I can just throw it away and I still have a nice-looking envelope (like the green one above) without that horrible sticky stuff that most labels leave behind.



In the top one, you'll see my latest product that I was working on - the Organise your Business system (this one is mainly to organise your home-based business). I have an e-book in the second one (you can just see the edge of the post-it) and some weekly tips ideas in the third one.

I usually only keep the plastic envelope until the project is complete. Then I toss my rough notes because everything is either in the e-book or on my website.

The coloured polypropylene ones come in a pack of two at Pick & Pay (most things I buy at P&P) for R6.99 (US$1).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now allow me the chance to rave about my new, best plastic folders.

These ones are called book bags, they're made by Croxley and I bought mine at Pick & Pay for R12,99. They are lovely soft plastic, attach with velcro and have a little flap for a name tag/ subject insert.

I've been testing this one for the last month and it is lovely and durable. You can see there's plenty of space for my gorgeous gel pens, flash drive and all the stuff I'm reading and working on.

I'm not getting commission for this, nor have I been asked to review them (why not, Croxley?) - I just really, really love them and they definitely make me do the happy dance!

Weekly Planning - guest post by Beth Dargis

This is a guest post by my friend, Beth Dargis. Please show her some love in the comments :)

Tomorrow I'll be talking about plastic envelopes, another of my favourite organising tools.

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to spend 30 minutes every day planning my day. So, I like to plan a week at a time. Weekly planning also allows for better balance in the week.

I usually do my weekly planning on Sunday afternoons. Friday afternoon and Monday mornings are good times as well.

Here is my step by step weekly plan:

1. Look over emails and see what still needs to be actioned and write it down in a notebook.


2. Gather any papers from around the house/office and put into your inbox. Go through your inbox and process the papers. Any actions go into the notebook.


3. Listen to any voicemails and put actions with phone numbers into notebook.


4. Empty head of any other insights, actions and ideas and put into the notebook.


5. Put any actions from the notebook into iScrybe.com or use whatever task system you prefer. Computer or paper. It’s helpful to keep your tasks in categories like home, office, errands, personal, family, etc.


6. Decide which projects or goals to concentrate on for the week. Keep it simple. Don’t have too many projects and goals at once.


7. Open up calendar – paper or computer. I use Google Calendar : http://www.google.com/calendar/


8. Check last week’s calendar and see if anything needs to be put onto this week’s calendar. Add any appointments for the week.


9. Now add in time for your projects and goals on the calendar.


10. Next add your physical exercise time and at least 15 min of relaxation time a day. Make self-care a priority.


11. Put in a date with a significant other or yourself.


12. Add one on one time with your kids or friends.

Now daily planning is a snap. Check your calendar to see the outline of your day. I like to get appointment reminders sent to my email. Then pick out the 3 most important tasks from your action lists. When those tasks are done, you can pick 1-3 more depending on time.

Enjoy your week and doing your highest priorities.

Beth Dargis helps overwhelmed women create saner, simpler lives. Pick up a free Declutter Calendar at: http://www.encouragingcoach.com/

Works for me - double-duty items

I recently came across this two-in-one dust pan and bathroom bin at Pick & Pay for about R15. They had them in lime-green (pictured), hot pink, yellow and blue.

I love it because when it stands upright (like in the picture), it is a bin and when I want to sweep the bathroom, I just turn it on its side and it scoops up the dust. I also like that it can fit into my small bathroom's awkward corner so I use less space.

I've had this for a few weeks now and it certainly works for me.

Ready for the change of season

Since I tackled my wardrobe in two parts (on the blog, at least), I thought I'd post the final picture.

Tackling my handbags

I tackled my handbags 6 months ago and had to do them again last weekend because of all the new ones I've been buying. I sold MANY but it didn't make much of a dent as you can see below...

Before - top of old organiser

Before - bottom of old organiser
I knew I was going to sort this out so I created a mess on the bottom of my wardrobe during the last few days (yes, it felt good)
the whole lot in one very ugly pile

Sorting it all out

1. I put one awkward shape inside of another very big bag.
2. I used the space on the floor along the back (orange bag) and surrounding my basket (beige and brown bags).
3. I rolled up some bags and positioned smaller, lesser-used bags in my basket. This basket currently holds 8!
4. The basket stashes under my new lime-green organiser (for spring) because the shelves are quite narrow, which makes for a neater look.

Here is the end result - 20 bags, beautifully organised

In case you're counting, I am wearing number 20! :-)

Just for fun, tell me how many handbags/ purses/ pocketbooks (whatever you call it) you have!

Menu Plan Monday - 17 Sept 07

Update on weight loss

I have gained 0.5kg! I have no doubt that Mimmo's chicken alfredo contributed in a big way :)

I am drinking my water, not eating after supper but the heat is messing with my exercise. I get headaches when it's too hot and since I'm mindful of this, I make sure I drink plenty of water. But on Thursday I had the start of a throbbing headache and I intended to go to a 5.30 Kata Box class (since we had someone coming over for supper at 7.15).

Headache + Kata Box class = Grumpy Marcia with Very Bad Headache .

So I took it easy and went to a 6:30 class for 30 mins but the teacher was late and unprepared with the music so ended up working out for 10 minutes before I had to leave. See???

But no excuses - I'm trying again this week and I've bought lots of salad ingredients so I can up my fruit and veg too.

Download the health chart here and keep track of your intake too.

Monday
Stirfried chicken, veggies (onions, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms) and brown rice

Tuesday
Dion's cooking night (this is something new we're going to try). Marcia gets to work on her weekly tips newsletter.

Wednesday
Baked potatoes with kidney bean sauce

Thursday
Pasta salad with chicken, lentils, onions and tomatoes - delicious!

Friday
Burritos with salad

For more Menu Plan Monday participants, go on over to Laura's blog.

Tomorrow I'm showing you how I organise my handbags. By the way, have you registered for the Declutter Group yet?

Is Clutter Overwhelming You?

Quit waiting for your home to get decluttered on its own. Get a handle on the clutter in your house by working together, breaking it down and following a simple guide.

Join Certified Family Manager Coach, Beth Dargis of My Simpler Life as she coaches you to enjoy a more serene home.

LIMITED SPACES - Starts Oct 1, 2007

http://www.encouragingcoach.com/programs-decluttergroup.htm

Some bloggy business

I received two awards recently and I've been very slack in publicly thanking them.

Tricia at Dragonfly Dreams gave me the Nice Matters award. Thank you, Tricia - I'm glad I inspire you ;) Tricia was one of the participants in the tidy desk competition.

Annie previously gave me this award too which I accepted on the other blog --->> And of course, I gave it to Barb, Lorie and Bridget.

This time, I'm going to give the Nice Matters award to Tina at MummifiedX5. I see Tina all over the blogosphere leaving such nice, encouraging, relevant comments which show me that she's interested in connecting with people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then last Sunday, Karen at Pediascribe gave me this award. Now the observant among you might notice that Karen recently won the same tidy desk competition mentioned above. However, her blog post was written days earlier. Or so I'm told :-)

Karen, I'm honoured to accept this award. And you'll notice that I took the nice matters button from your blog as it's a nice clear version of the button :)

And since I'm not all about organising, I'm giving this award to blogs you may not know about:

Waiting for Sophie - she is the cutest little girl EVER

Cool people I know - I stumbled upon this new blog and I was instantly hooked. I love Stephanie's life list and am inspired to do my own. If I work up the courage, I'll post it on the coaching blog.

The simple life - I gave Mindi the creative blogger award too because she is such a talented photographer (one of her pictures was on the cover of a scrapbooking magazine recently). But the real reason I love her blog is because of her kids/ how she blogs about her kids. She has a great sense of humour and I'm usually laughing but definitely smiling when I read her blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm well aware that I've been tagged recently but aside from Annie's blog tag, I can't remember who tagged me for what because I saw them while I was reading Google Reader and eating. And I mistakenly thought that I'd remember everything - um, no :)

So if you'll let me know, I'll get onto it. I'm in productive mode so let's use this while it lasts :)

(Ooh - I just read this beautiful post over at Superhero Journal)

The Organized Life – by Stephanie Denton (Review 2)

This is a book review by Lauren Wyper. Lauren is considering becoming a professional organiser and because she had lots of questions, we had coffee while chatting about it all.

(Suzanne, Lauren wants to buy our book!)

After I finished this book, I thought Lauren might like to have a quick read before I sent it to Canada, which is exactly what we did. So here's her review:

I absolutely loved this book!

It’s the first actual book on organization that I have read – everything else has been from websites or magazine articles, so it was a lovely change.

Not only was the layout very easy on the eye, but the content was very well explained and succinctly put.

Of course there was some repetition from other articles I have read, but I felt the information was well worth repeating and very well explained.

The book helped me realize that even if I’m already doing things in what I think is an organised fashion, there is always another level to work towards :-)

So, I picked up some tips on things I’m not yet doing and some ideas on how to optimize what I’m already doing.

Read my review here.

3 kinds of lists that work for me

There are 3 kinds of lists that I use.

Master list
This is a place for a "brain dump", a place for ideas you might want to pursue in the future or possible projects

You can work off one master list for months, like I do with business or blogging ideas.

I have a master list of things to do in the house which I've been working on since we moved in. Honestly, I think there will always be items on this list.


To-do list
This list can be monthly, weekly or daily.

The difference between this list and the master list is that this one has a time deadline to it.

I have a monthly to-do – I keep this one with broad goals like go to the gym 10 – 12 times – a weekly to-do with about 5 - 7 business tasks to get done and then my daily to-do which spreads out those 5 – 7 tasks so that I have only 1 or 2 to do daily.

I want to caution you to only put about 6 items on your daily to-do list so you don't become overwhelmed!

Checklist
This is a place with a list of items which you check/ tick off.

Examples are my shopping and travel lists.

This list is ideal for anything you need to do regularly, like a list of weekly cleaning tasks, office supplies, routine business tasks, etc.

Do you like using lists? Which ones do you use?

Tackling my wardrobe

In Johannesburg, there's no middle ground. It's either ice-cold or blazing hot.

During the last week of August I was still wearing corduroys, boots and thick, winter jackets. On 1 September exactly, it was blazing hot (high 20's) and it hasn't let up at all.

Last week we had temperatures of 28 and 29 degrees the entire week.

Which is why it became really urgent to swop my winter and summer clothes around because I hate wasting time in the mornings.

I keep the clothes I need to access a lot on the right side of the wardrobe because my side of the wardrobe is on the left of our bedroom, and the ones for the other season in plastic bags on the left side. I know I shouldn't keep them in plastic but quite honestly, it's worked for me ALL these years and I'm happy like that, okay?

I have a double rail to maximise space and it really works because everything fits (except the thick winter coats).

I had to

1. throw out any old clothes, clothes that I no longer loved or those that don't fit
2. move the clothes around
3. sort out the colours
4. sort out the sleeve lengths

I like to file my clothes by colour or shade first, and then by sleeve length. So all the beige suits will hang together, with sleeve lengths ranging from short to long.

before - top

before - bottom
Before you get really worried, I have tackled all those handbags too. Those 3 were only thrown in during the last couple of days in total frustration. That will be posted as next week's tackle. It's a big one!

after - top

notice the colours - light to dark

I can still declutter some more - this will happen as I wear things and find they don't look so great any more :(

after - bottom

ignore the plastic bags on the left; then go my long-sleeved shirts (in case we actually have a spring at some point) and my casual pants.

and I present - my beautifully organised wardrobe

I sat on my bed and just gazed at it for a few minutes afterwards :)

If I had to change to spring/ summer clothes, then I'm guessing that you US guys have to change to autumn/ winter clothes.

That's my challenge to you - tackle those wardrobes (closets) and link back here so I can come have a look.

What's your clutter personality?

Here's another cool quiz I found on the Clutter Control Freaks blog.

My score is 24, what's yours?

Menu Plan Monday - 10 Sept 07

News...

1. Have you seen the winner of the tidy desk competition? Participants, remember you get R20 off the your organised home - basic pack.

2. For those that asked, we had a lovely date night, thank you :) No Reservations was a lot sadder than anticipated and I cried a lot, but we still enjoyed it very much. And of course, I love watching anything with food!

3. And of course, my sidebar is fixed. That is honestly one of the best things that happened last week. Sad, isn't it?

4. As for the weight loss... I am drinking my water very easily, partly because temperatures are SKY-HIGH! Tomorrow is 30! 30!!!! Spring is one week old and temperatures are 30!!! I have stopped eating after supper but I only managed gym once last week. It was so hectic that I was totally scared away. But my mindset is positive again and I'm back on track. Here we go - salsa tomorrow and Wed and probably Kata Box on Thursday.

How are you doing?



Monday
Spicy sausage and potato one-pot

Tuesday
Mince curry with kidney beans, served with rice and pumpkin

Wednesday - online chat with Laura
Baked potatoes topped with spicy lentil and tomato sauce

Thursday
Takeaway pasta from Mimmo's

Friday
Sandra's pizza

For more Menu Plan Monday participants, go on over to Laura's blog.

This weekend I sorted out my summer and winter clothes. Come back tomorrow to see my wardrobe tackle!

The winner of the TIDY DESK competition is...

Well, this has been such fun - I think I'll have to do this again soon...

First, I want to thank all of you for participating. It has been such fun for me to see the transformations and the different ways each of us organise our workspaces.

I feel so much better knowing that there are lovely, tidy desks out there - I hope that you guys do too!

I chose the winner because

1. the desk looks and functions well
2. there's a place for everything
3. her files are labelled (I LOVE labels)
4. she followed all the steps (I even checked back on the blog and I see she declutters regularly)
5. tweaked the solutions until it fitted her (organising is not a one-stop shop)
6. she will maintain this (when I helped Laura judge the Organising Challenge in May, I also looked out for entries that I felt would be maintained. Laura, what happened to that laundry lady? I always remember those flowers!)
7. BONUS - she found stuff she thought she'd lost

Karen at Pediascribe, you're the WINNER! Please go over and say congratulations to Karen. And go visit the other participants' desks too because everyone did a wonderful job! I loved all Lu's colourful things on her desk even though I can't read a word of the Portuguese!

Karen, I'm emailing your prize to you right now.

For the rest of you, I'm giving you R20 off the Your organised home - basic pack so you only pay R50.

Go to the store, click on e-courses and pay for the Take Charge of your Success e-course which is R50. Then email me and tell me what you bought.

The reason I'm being lazy is because it's date night (we're going to see No Reservations) and I don't have time to go create new discount coupons right now. I know you'll forgive me :)

My favourite organising tools #6 - perpetual calendar system

Please go to main blog page for the tidy desk competition.

A perpetual calendar is one where you capture the information once and you use the calendar forever. This way you don't have to update every year as with a "normal" calendar.

I use two versions:

1. paper version (just because I like paper)

I write the names of birthdays and anniversaries on each month's page and then at the end of the previous month, I prepare all the birthday cards and gifts for the month ahead.

I then have a shelf where I keep all the presents, ready to go. If I'm really in the mood, I do two or three months at a time.

2. Outlook

I only recently started using Outlook for this purpose because I'd read about someone's birthday on a blog and immediately enter it in Outlook so as not to forget.

When you enter people's details in Outlook, remember to tick the box that says recurrence and then click yearly and no end date. Now your computer will remind you of that same date every single year. Isn't it great?

You can set reminders as early as you need; if you like to live on the edge, you can be reminded a day or two before, or if you like more time, set it to one or two weeks.

And under labels, choose the correct category and it colour codes your reminders and makes them all pretty!

Of course, I still write phone Susan or email John on my daily to-do list :-)


What kind of system do you use? Paper or electronic?

I am a genius!

Ha! I feel so triumphant because I figured out this sidebar thing.

Yes! The blog was conquered (you'd swear it was a real competition between me and it).

1. I compared the two templates of the take charge blog --->> and this one. They were identical.

2. I noticed last night if I clicked on the post permalink it displayed correctly which means I wouldn't have picked it up after I posted because I always view to make sure everything looks nice.

3. So today I thought I'll just keep deleting posts until it displays correctly. And fortunately it was the one just prior to the Timers post.

This is the post that caused the problem
http://organisingtips.blogspot.com/2007/08/ultimate-guide-to-productivity-my-top.html

It may be the size of the banner thing or the length of a link. I just deleted for now but will add the content back :)

Eureka - I am smiling lots :) :) :)

Special announcement - the Organise your Business system

Small business owners and work-at-home moms

Is this you?

o Do you wish you had more time to implement all your GREAT ideas?
o Do you feel overwhelmed by all there is to do?
o Are you stressed out and frazzled?
o Do you struggle to find a piece of paper, an email or a document on your computer in a minute or less?

That's why I designed the Organise your Business system, which consists of a
1. Business Control Journal (18 pages) and
2. Organise your business e-book (50 pages)

When you've worked through the Organise your Business system, you will have a business manual which will help you…

• with Big Picture planning so you keep track of your goals and dreams
• set daily routines to put your business on auto-pilot
• declutter and sort out your emails and Word/ Excel documents
• get control of all the paper!
• prioritise and get the important things done so you have more time for your family
• create defined business processes and policies
• organise all your general business functions
• increase your productivity
• organise your client contacts
• create free time for self-care so you don't get burnt out!
• de-stress as you become more organised

The whole thing is ready for you – all you have to do is invest a few hours upfront to put it together and a bit of discipline every day so that it becomes a habit!

You get all the templates, checklists and tools you could possibly need

Your investment
The entire Organise your Business system costs just R230 (or $US32,95) and consists of:
Business Control Journal (18 pages) and
Organise your Business e-book (50 pages), with sections as follows:
o How to organise your office
o Planning forms – big picture, monthly, weekly, daily
o General Business forms
o Clients
o Personal

What are you waiting for? It's time to Organise your Business!

Email me personally with any questions at marcia @ takechargesolutions . org and I'll be glad to help you, or alternatively

Buy the Organise your Business system now

Thanks for reading! :-)

Take the Clutter Quiz

Eva posted a cool clutter quiz for creative types on the Clutter Control Freak blog.

Take the quiz and let me know what your score is.

Mine is 39!

Wordless Wednesday - 2008 calendar

Isn't it gorgeous?!

Tackle it Tuesday - fixing my sidebar

My tackle (actually since Friday) has been to fix my sidebar. As you can see --->>> it is gone. It has slipped to the bottom. This used to happen in the old Blogger quite a lot but is the first time since switching that it's happened here.

Internet Explorer some versions can view - I am also on IE and I can't see. Safari (Karen-pediascribe) can't see either.

So far I have:
1. removed the Organise your Wardrobe section, and added it back
2. gone into the Timer post (that I suspected resulted in the sidebar issue) and
3. compressed the pictures further
4. removed all links (in case it was a long link)
5. deleted the post

Nothing worked!

Then when I was reading some help forums some people said it fixed itself when they changed templates, so last night I tried to change to each of the other templates and ...nothing. But while I was tinkering around, I changed it to bright spring colours - let's see how long this lasts ;)

And that's where I'm at.

My last resort is Annie (my life as annie) who has offered to look at the HTML code. Annie, thank you - I am sending it to you via Jenny (isn't this ridiculous?)

Any clever ideas will be welcome!!!!

Menu plan Monday - 3 Sept 07 & HELP

Sidebar

Anyone know how to fix this sidebar problem?
As you can see --->> mine has dropped to the bottom.

I googled the problem and made the pictures in that last post very small and I removed all links, and still it is not fixed. BTW, if it looks fine to you, please leave a comment and tell me what browser you use - Firefox or Internet Explorer. That won't help me fix it but at least I'll be able to isolate it ;)

Weight loss
Sorry guys - I realised I forgot to email you on Wed/ Thurs to check on the water and not eating after supper.

Let's start again - this week we are all going to:

1. drink 2L of water every day
2. not eat anything after supper

and if you feel like accelerating your progress, start moving. Walking, running, swimming, gym, anything - just get moving.

My intention is to up my exercise this week to 3 hours of 2.

Menu for the week

Monday
M - out (but we are having lasagne and salad)
D - pizza and chips

Tuesday
Stirfried chicken, veggies and rice

Wednesday
Baked potatoes with kidney bean sauce

Thursday
Chicken pasta salad

Friday
Eat out

And have you visited the Clutter Control Freak blog? I have a how-to organise series going on there. Scroll to my sidebar and click the logo!