Welcome to our first blog post of 2021! Like so many of you, we have great hopes that this year will look different than last year. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that there are only certain things we can control.
So with that in mind, we decided to challenge ourselves each month. No matter what is going on in the world, at least we’ll have something positive to focus on.
***Want to challenge yourself to organize your whole space?! Our Love Your Home Again course has everything you need to get organized in 2021!***
We’ve been asked why we’re creating challenges that don’t have anything to do with organizing. And here’s the thing. We’re drawn to organizing because it allows us to live more freely. When our homes are highly functioning, it opens up times and space to focus on other things. Whether that’s playing with the kids, cooking dinner or always having what we need at our fingertips.
And we like to challenge ourselves to find that freedom in all areas of our lives. So if moving our bodies means we’ll be able to stay fit for our job (moving boxes requires us to stay in shape) then we need to do that. Ditto for the other challenges. We feel that small steps lead to great things and at the end of this year, we know that these monthly challenges will get us closer to our goal of living efficient, meaningful lives.
If you follow us on Instagram, you will have already seen the list, but if not, here it is:
January: #moveyourbody – 10 minutes of daily exercise. This can be any kind of movement, no restrictions…just get that heart rate up!
February: Finances (We’re using the book Smart Women Finish Rich, you can buy now if you want to be ready!)
March: Communication – Make an effort every day to reach out to family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc. It can be a phone call, a text or even good old-fashioned snail mail.
April: Wear it all day or give it away – this is our favorite signature challenge. Every day you have to chose an item of clothing from your closet and wear it all day. After wearing said item for several hours, a decision must be made – keep or donate! We’ll be choosing something new every single day (jeans, sweaters, underwear, jewelry, etc)
May: Organize a space a day, one week will be digital organization. It doesn’t have to be a big space, it could be a drawer, a cabinet or even just a shelf but every day we’ll choose something to organize. And your phone and computer will be in the mix too! We’ll get those digital files in tip top shape!
June: Self Care – This month we’ll be doing something every. single. day. for ourselves. Maybe just hiding out in the bathroom for ten minutes of alone time, but it’s gotta be something just for you.
July: Zero Waste – this is a challenge that will be very difficult for us, and maybe you too. Zero waste is a bit of a misnomer in that we know absolutely zero is probably impossible. But we do strive every day to do better in our efforts towards the planet and we look forward to doing this one with all of you!
August: Meditation – Like January’s challenge, we’ll just be trying to do ten minutes a day! Don’t give up before you start, we can do this one!
September: Meat Monday – unlike Meatless Mondays, we want to challenge you to only eat meat on Mondays, vegetarian the rest of the week. Since we’re vegetarian (Ann) and vegan (Kate) we’re thinking of going no processed food in addition to meatless.
October: Gratitude – This month we’ll be counting our blessings. We’re going to keep a journal and every morning before doing anything else, we’re going to write down 10 things we’re grateful for.
November: No Spend November – Back to our favorite/hated challenge (it’s a love/hate thing for us). Other than food and basic necessities, we won’t be spending money on anything. We plan ahead to Christmas and put things in our online carts but we don’t purchase anything. This has proven to be an excellent system to avoid impulse shopping and buying presents just for the sake of buying something.
December: Eco-Friendly Holidays – December is by far the worst month for trash. Wrapping paper is primarily unrecyclable so this year we’re going to challenge ourselves to be creative and wrap all of our gifts in only recyclable materials.
If you’re just seeing the list now, it’s not too late to jump in! We’d love to have you join us and follow along. We’ll be posting in stories about our own progress (and struggles😬) and we’d love to hear from all of you!
Each month we’ll be blogging about the current challenge and keeping you up to date. We’ll also be throwing in some rewards, links and further information to help us all move ahead and be successful!
So far, January’s challenge has been a success for us. Ten minutes seems to be the right amount of time to get us moving, even (especially?) when we don’t want to, with the added benefit that ten minutes usually turns into a bit more.
Drop us a comment here or on Instagram and let us know – Are you in? Are you moving? Is ten minutes the right amount of time? We need details!!!
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