Working At Home: Distractions, Focus and Getting Stuff Done

Working at home is so amazing! Sitting in your jammies, busting out work while sipping coffee and eating bon bons. Stopping to take a mid morning nap and do a little yoga. Fixing a lovely lunch and then powering through a To-Do list that would make Santa jealous.

Yeah right.

Working at home looks more like this.

Fire up laptop. Open needed documents. Work five minutes. Computer decides to update.  Restart computer. Open needed documents. Work three minutes. Remember you need to wash gym towels. Go start a load. Computer goes to sleep. Open needed documents. Computer battery low. Find charger. Work ten minutes. Spouse comes in and needs help with a project outside. Need food. Open needed documents. Husband leaves TV on. Get sucked into Netflix. Open needed documents. Work 7 minutes. Realize you need to brush teeth. Open needed documents. Wait, you have to pee! Work 5 minutes. Remember to move towels to dryer. Open needed documents. Start signing song that's playing on Pandora. Need calculator. Find calculator. Work 5 minutes. Phone goes off. Solve life crisis for somebody. Open needed documents. Remember you need to make a Facebook post about Paleo Challenge. Open needed documents. Realize it's time to get ready to go to your afternoon work.

Yep, that's typically how it goes for me if I don't really structure and discipline myself. 5 hours of "work" time results in only about 30 minutes of actual work. This is how I get things done now.


Step 1: Decide how long to work and what I'm working on.

I'm usually good for a thirty minute stretch and then my brain needs a break so that's what I usually shoot for. I decide exactly what I want to work on and what I want to accomplish in this work period.

Step 2: Gather everything

Do a brief run through in your head of what you will need to get this task done. Paper, pen, calculator, water, charger, documents open on your computer, files, receipts, reference books...whatever you need, gather it now.

Step 3: Turn off all distractions

For me, this means the TV has to be off. I cannot work if I am even remotely interested in what's on at the moment. Somewhere in my brain is always listening to what is being said and that keeps me from being as productive as possible. I do like to have music on, but it cannot have lyrics and it cannot be instrumental versions of songs with lyrics. This means that 'Classical Focus" on Pandora is great, because it has no words, but it has a soothing rhythm. And while I love the "Pop Goes Classical" channel, my brain will be signing, "Para...Para...Paradise...." from Coldplay even though it's all violins and cellos.

Turning off all distractions also means that nothing can be open on my computer except the files & tabs I need to accomplish the project. If I am working on registration forms and score cards for an event we are hosting, then no internet tabs, no temptations! If I am working on a nutrition plan for a client, I will have My Fitness Pal open, but that's it! No email, no Facebook...

Put your phone on Do Not Disturb and then turn it upside down. Nothing will probably happen in thirty minutes that can't wait.

Step 4: Pee

Your bladder has an innate timer set to go off exactly two minutes after you sit down to work. And it is really hard to work and focus for a full thirty minutes when your bladder is doing everything in it's power to get your attention. Prevent this by going before you start. Even if you don't think you need to go, as my Grandmother said, try!

Step 5: Set a timer and work

Now you are ready to go hard! Make sure your computer is awake and all files are ready. Grab that phone one last time and set a timer and turn your phone back over. Work hard and no peaking at the timer! Inevitably, during your work time you will think of 90 million things that are really important that you need to do RIGHT NOW that have nothing to do with the project you are working on. Have a notepad beside you and jot down those random thoughts when they pop into your head and keep working. When it goes off, proceed to Step 6! Or, if you find yourself in the Zone and working like the Little Engine That Could, then keep going!


Step 6: Play!
Yay you! You earned a little break! Grab a snack. Jump on the Book of Faces. Look at that postie note with all the things you need to and do those that are truly important.

Step 7: Repeat
To have a truly productive day, repeat this cycle.

I think that you'll find you can get more done in 3-4 mini hyper focused work session each day than if you just spend 5 hours of your day "working".

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me on Facebook at Angie McCord, Fitness, Nutrition and Life Improvement.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more random fun over at IG!

Got 10 Minutes? Get Stuff Done!

Mondays are crazy busy days because I coach mornings and afternoons, I usually have a few private training appointments, I coach CF Kids, my personal training is usually long on Mondays and all of my nutrition coaching clients check-ins come in on Sunday night for review on Monday. I love my job and all that I get to do, but Mondays are a wee bit stressful!

Today is Tuesday, so it’s an “easy” day work wise. 

By design, Tuesday is the reward for Monday. There’s little I “have to” do. It’s really easy to be a bum. But I’m not a very good bum. If you have time, shouldn’t you be doing something productive? Today’s weird though in that I’m having trouble getting going….

 I feel like I need to write a blog post today, but I can’t decide what to write about.

 I feel like I should be working on a few projects of mine, but I’m not inspired.

I really need to spend some time stretching, but it’s raining and I only have room to stretch outside (hobolife problems).

The bathroom needs cleaning, but darn, I’m out of cleaning wipes. (Excellent excuse, right?)

Do you ever feel that way? That there is stuff that needs to be done, but you just can’t get going?

Hey, there's nothing wrong with a good lazy day! However, I can’t really say that it’s ok to do nothing today because I spent all day Sunday reading a good book and laying in my snazzy pvc lawn chair (see my IG for my ridiculously happy recent purchase). 

So here’s the deal I’m making with myself. I will commit 10 minutes to each of the things I need to do. Just 10. I’ll set the timer on my phone and turn on a good podcast and work for ten minutes on each task. If that’s all I do, then at least I did something.

If the juices get flowing, then I can come back and work some more after I finish the other items.

That’s the deal I’m making with myself. Just 10 minutes, right? That’s no big deal!

I’ve had a lot of success with this method and have used it to get many goals accomplished and projects finished. Try it the next time you are struggling to get going on a project, housework or even exercise and let me know how it goes.

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me on Facebook at Angie McCord, Fitness, Nutrition and Life Improvement.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more random fun over at IG!

Planning My Life With The 2016 Intentional Life Planner From Just AGirl Abby

Today I want to tell you about my 2016 Intentional Life Planner that I purchased from Just A Girl And Her Blog. It is only $10 and I am really enjoying it.

To start off, I grabbed a binder I already had that I had and put some pretty scrapbook paper in the front and side. I also made a cute little name plate, but you could get a pretty new one like this or  a professional looking one like this.

The first thing I liked about the 2016 Intentional Life Planner is that you get a nice full year calendar for both 2016 and 2017.

There is a page for you to record important dates which is great for me because I always forget birth dates!

I love the "In Five Years" page! I haven't filled mine out yet, but I have a a LOT of ideas on my head and plan to have it written out by the end of December.

I am a huge believer in goal setting so I really appreciate the goals for  the year page. The action steps are great because many of us set goals and then don't plan how we are going to achieve them! "Dream Life 2016" is a little project I'm working on to help myself and others reach their goals and these pages match perfectly! (See below to find out more about that project) I have a brain dump page going on right now with goals and ideas and plan to have these pages filled out by the end of December as well!

Every month starts out with a great quote and a monthly focus goal sheet. I like how it allows you to tie in your yearly goals to each month.

Next comes the big, overview calendar for the month. I like to fill it up with appointments and the tasks that happen every week. Blog and periscope ideas go on there as well.

Next in the planner is the weekly breakdown.Each day has a To-Do section and an hourly breakdown. I LOVE THIS! The day by day hourly breakdown is what sold me on this planner. When I have really busy, hectic days, planning it out hour by hour makes it way more manageable.

One con to this planner is that printing it out can be tricky if you don't have a great printer. However, the quality and price makes that a very trivial matter.

And I don't know if it was something in the file or my really crappy printer, but everywhere in the planner that has a "W" printed weirdly.

(I'm pretty sure it's because my printer is 10+ years old and I purchased it on Black Friday for only $25.)

Check out my video if you want more details of how I use my planner!

Stay Strong Y'all!

Hey, I know you may not know me that well, but can I ask you to do something for me? An early Christmas gift if you will? Do  me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, I'll send you my weekly planner printable! And you'll be the first to get my Dream Life 2016 Goal Printable!

And if you are hip on the social media, 

Follow me me on Periscope, I'm crossfitang.  I broadcast about fitness, nutrition, life improvement, planning and organizing and lots of random stuff.

Follow me out on Instagram, I'm doodleturtle. I'm even more fun over at IG!

***Affiliate link*** because I am an Amazon Associate they give me a little thank you gift of a few pennies if you shop through my link. The price is the same for you as if you just went to straight to Amazon. Even if you don't want to buy a new binder, use my link and buy something you would normally buy, ok? And then I can write in my YMJ that someone shopped through my link and earned me a penny for my thoughts. :)

A Random Mess Of Thoughts

9.6.15

Life

I've had a few life facts reaffirmed this week and learned a few new ones. In no particular order, here they are.

• Never go into Hucks without your phone camera. You WILL see the raddest mullet ever and you will immediately want to ask Joe Dirt for his autograph. You will also see free pizza samples sitting right out in the open at about butt level 3 feet away from the register and 6 feet away from the door. I'm not a germ-a-phobe, but something about that just looked unsanitary.
• Whoever prices things at Murray Goodwill is nuts. I have a project list of things that I am searching for so I routinely run through Goodwill and Angels Attic. I never find things at Goodwill. Scratch that, I never buy things at Goodwill. Wal-Mart is right across the road and is cheaper. 
• Don't try to mop when the dog is in the house. No explanation needed.

• You can use fish food as plant fertilizer? (not sure if this is a fact, thus the question mark) Sometimes my brain makes a lot of random leaps and connections and this one may be pushing it. I was looking at my sad little houseplants wondering how to make them happy. I was also thinking about lunch. Then I remembered that fish meal can be used as a plant fertilizer. Which made me think that I could pour my canned tuna water into the plant. Then I remembered the shrimp pellets I accidentally bought for my Beta fish. They don't float, so he won't eat them. Hmmmm...they make Miracle Grow pellets that you sprinkle on the soil. Why can't I sprinkle these pellets on the soil?? I did it. I'll let you know what happens. 
• When you decide to use fish food pellets as plant fertilizer, the dog thinks they are treats and digs the soil out to get to them. 

I got a Tupperware box yesterday! Here's the super exciting unboxing! Lol, really, don't get your hopes up. It's not that exciting. Ok, it's not exciting at all. But I'm in my jammies and look wretched so it might be worth watching just for the laugh value.

Training

Yesterday I got to compete in my first CrossFit Competition since February! Super City CrossFit hosted the second annual Battle of the Boxes Team event in Metropolis, Il. We won last year so we were hoping for a repeat and WE DID IT!

Yesterday was special because it we had so many athletes interested in competing we had to take two teams! 12 athletes represented CFM in a fun, hard day of competition and 3 of those had never competed before so we were excited for them to experience it! Each team had 3 guys and 3 girls.

The first event was 15 minutes to establish a max deadlift, a max bench press and a max clean. The girls on my team and I are all really close in abilities so we were able to execute this event according to our plan almost flawlessly! Shout out to Lindsey for her 140# bench!! The boys did amazing as well and our team won event 1!

The next event for us was 5 minute WOD where we had to push a weighted sled (115# I think) in 100 ft increments as a relay for distance. I pushed it 100 ft, then Meg  pushed it 100 ft back, then Lin, etc. This event about did me in. First, I don't have a lot of muscle endurance yet since I just started back to CrossFit. Second, it was 100 billion degrees in blazing sun and on asphalt and I don't sweat. I just get really hot and overheat. I survived it and we won that event, but it took me a good 30-40 minutes to get my head back on straight!

For our third event I have to give props to my partner, BJ. We had to do thrusters and bar muscle ups. He was a machine on that pull up bar! His hands ripped and he was hurting, but he kept going strong! This was the only event we didn't win yesterday and we lost it by ONE SECOND! I remember on my last muscle up staring at the bar convincing myself that I could do it. Dang. There was that second we needed!

The last event of the day was Triple 3. The boys competed as a unit and the girls competed as a unit. Each unit had to row 3000 meters, do 300 double unders and run one mile. Megan was worried about her double unders but she rocked them LIKE A BOSS!! And when those girls took off running, they were on fire! As for me.....

I am not a great runner. I enjoy sprints, but anything over 400 meters is just gross in my opinion! But, I've been working on it and was feeling fairly confident going into the 1 mile run. I had a plan and I had a playlist. As I took off out the door into the blazing heat, I was surprised when J came up running beside me. He was coaching, not competing, so I thought he was just running out to give me a few words of encouragement. But no. He ran the entire mile with me!

My calves cramped up and my shins started hurting about 1/3 of a mile in. J was encouraging me, but I couldn't hear him because of my head phones. Apparently everybody else could hear us though!

J- Land on your heels! Stretch out your stride! You are doing fine!
A- I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

J- Don't let anybody else pass you! You are almost there!
A- I DON'T CARE!
J- MOVE YOUR ASS!!
A- (me hauling ass the last 300 meters)

Hahahahahaha! I'm not sure my time, but that was probably my best/worst mile. I had to walk a lot and I yelled at my husband (and he yelled at me) and I cried, but I made it in the door fourth. Even though I'm a terrible athlete mentally sometimes, I am proud that my husband is my coach and knows when to baby me and when to push me.

And even though I was writhing on the floor and making sounds reminiscent of a dying animal at the end of that event, our team won it as well! So close to a sweep!

If you've never been a part of a CrossFit competition, you should go sometime just to watch. The community and support that everybody brings is amazing! And my favorite is the women.

Nowhere else have I ever seen women come together and cheer each other on like they do at a CF comp. Even if they are on different teams, it doesn't matter. In CF, we love strong women. We love building each other up. We love seeing each other do things we didn't know we could do. If all women acted like CF women at a comp, a lot of cattiness and drama would go away.

Best Thing I've Came Across Lately

Teaching middle school for 14 years put me in a position to know and work with young people dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. Having a college aged daughter with friends suffering the same issues has shown me we have to look at new ways to help them. They suffer and think they are alone because they just can't see anything beyond the present situation. Those of us that are older and know that hard times pass just can't convey that to them because the concept of a future that is better is almost impossible for them to envision. I came across this article by Tim Ferriss and I think it is a profound piece on the subject. Please share it with anyone you know that is struggling.

Another ingenious thing about this article? The hyper link reads this

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/05/06/how-to-commit-suicide/

Why does it say "how to commit suicide" at the end? So that if someone searches that phrase they will be presented with this article. And because it's Tim Ferriss, this will show up at the top of Google searches. Love it.

Talk back

What life facts have you learned lately?
Could you have your spouse as your coach?
What do you think about the Ferriss article?

Stay Strong Y'all!

This post is linked up at the MIMM with Katie & The Fit Dish Link-Up with Jill Conyers and Jessica Joy!

And don't forget you can still get my Fast Food Macro Cheat Sheet for a few more days for only $1.99!

Do me a favor and subscribe to my email list. Not only will you be able to keep up with all my random thoughts, you'll get even more stuff that doesn't get put on the blog! Recipes, inspiring stories, funny things, you just never know with my random thoughts!

My Tupperware Lady Unboxing!

A few weeks ago I decided to become a Tupperware Lady!

Yes, I know that term is outdated and not PC, but I like it and I'm a lady so I'm using it!

I love to decant things into pretty, organized containers and I'm constantly hauling food around so I thought Tupperware would be a perfect fit. 

My box of supplies came in last Tuesday, but I wanted to do an unboxing video and I wanted my daughter to take part so I waited until last night.

And this folks, is why you should buy your Tupperware from me!

Alternate Title: "Fittest Tupperware Lady" 

Disclaimer: all bad jokes and silliness are all my own. Tupperware, in no shape or form, advocates any of my antics. I, nor Tupperware, advocate using the large spice containers to slowly poison someone. I do not know if the "Butter of the Month" club exists, but it probably shouldn't. 

My +1 Practice

No, this has nothing to do with party and wedding invitations where you freak out because you don't have a "plus one." Nor does this have anything to do with integers. This a practice that forces me to not be lazy and to do just a little bit more. Let me explain.

Say I'm staring at a pile of laundry that I don't want to deal with because I'm tired and it's huge. I tell myself just "plus one". I tell myself it is just fine to only put up one thing and leave the rest of it for later. I grab one towel and fold it. Of course, at that point I might as well do another because hauling one towel by itself  upstairs is silly. And then I just keep "plus one"ing until I've done a lot! I may not get the whole pile, but I'll get quite a bit!

If I have a goal of finding seven things to donate or throw away, I'll often challenge myself when I'm done by looking for a "+1".  Just one little extra thing gone will make a huge difference over the course of multiple purgings!

Stretching and mobility is something I know I should do, but it's so boring! My mind is always thinking about things I "should" be doing instead and I get frustrated. Some days I challenge myself to just "+1". This means I just stop for one minute and stretch. That plus one isn't much, but it's better than nothing and it usually translates into more than just a minute!

When I'm picking up around the house and think I'm done, I try to do +1. Maybe it's washing one more pan or throwing in one more load of laundry. Maybe it's picking up one more of Jeremy's shirts out of the floor! Doing +1 doesn't take that much more time, but the difference it makes is exponential!

Have you ever done a max rep set of an exercise? This is where you do as many reps as you can until failure. Many times we quit just shy of true failure because we don't have confidence in ourselves. When you do that rep you think is your last, challenge yourself to "plus one" it. You can do it! And if not, you still gained from the attempt of +1!

When you are setting your goals, make them harder by applying the plus one theory. Have a goal of 3 strict pull ups? Make it 4! Want to increase your business sales by 20% next year? Go for 21%!

We are capable of so much more than we realize! When you apply the +1 practice, you push yourself to do better. It's simple because one is so small. One isn't intimidating! One is do-able.


Giving yourself permission to start with just +1  is not scary. Cleaning out just one drawer is complety within reason. Thinking about all 15 you need to do is frightening!

Plus one is a great way to get started or to go a little further!

Jeremy would disagree that I apply this to ALL areas of my life (picking up my toys at the gym, ahem) but I try use what I call the "plus one" practice every day.

Do you think you could use the +1 practice to enhance your goals and progress?

Are you a lion or a lamb? Goals.

If you are a certain age you remember the Counting Crows song, "Round Here". There is one line that has always stuck out to me....

"Round here we talk just like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs"

Do we do that with our goals and dreams? I think we do.

We talk about our goals and we make plans to achieve them. We are all pumped up and excited

and then

a stumbling block appears.

And we bow our heads and quietly give up.

Maybe that goal is to get in shape so we buy a gym membership and new clothes and we go a couple of times. But then we have a meeting at work that runs late so we skip the gym. And the next day our to-do list is just too long so we skip the gym and run errands. We vow to get up early to hit the 6:30 AM class, but we decide not to wake the kids up early to go with us because it's too much trouble. And before you know it, the goal of getting in shape is long forgotten.

Maybe that goal is to organize our closet and keep it that way so we spend money on hangers and boxes and bins and pin lots of great looking closets on Pinterest. But then we purchase five new shirts and don't remove five so it gets a little crowded. And then we try on twelve outfits and none of them are right so we throw them on the floor. A friend shows up with a box of clothes for us to have and out of misplaced obligation we take them all. And then we can no longer see the floor nor shut the door of the closet.

Maybe that goal is to brown bag our lunch every day for 30 days. Week one we go to the grocery store and stock up. Week two we don't remember to get the bread so that throws our plan off and we decide to order in "just today" until we can stop by the store. But we forget. And then everybody is going out to lunch on Friday for Susie's birthday and we can't hurt Susie's feelings. And by day 9 we either feel like a failure or we are full of excuses why we can't complete our goal.

What happened in all these situations?

 Lion turned lamb.

ENOUGH PEOPLE!

Before you get all excited about your goal and roar, decide how bad you really want it. Are you ready to fight for it? Are you ready to put yourself and your goals high on the priority list? Can you comfortably and confidently explain to someone why you are choosing to be different? Because if you can't, you won't and you will sacrifice your dreams quietly.

But if you can, you can do anything! When faced with adversity you will behave like the lion, calmly observing the obstacle and calculating your best move. Option one, scaring it away with a core trembling roar or, option two, destroying the obstacle with ferocity. Either way, the lion wins.

Stay strong y'all.

7 Things Sunday (How I decluttered in 2014) Part 1

Last January I realized I could no longer deal with the exorbitant amount of stuff in my house. Clutter bothers me and stuff lying around gives me anxiety. I can't sit down to work on something unless the surface is clear that I am going to be working on. If there are dishes and pans laying around in the kitchen, I struggle to begin cooking. It drives J nuts because I like to organize and rearrange his stuff, but I can't help it. It irks me.

This is not to say that I am a clean freak and my house is spotless. I'm not and it's not. But excessive stuff bothers me. I have to either physically move away from it or I have to organize it. Depending on how much energy I have helps me decide which one I'm going to do. But let me tell you, throwing things into the trash or the donate box gives me a high! I LOVE TO GET STUFF OUT OF MY SPACE.

So back in January of 2014 I decided to throw out, giveaway or donate 1 thing every day. And to make life simple I decided to do this on Sunday and do "7 Things Sunday,"

The rules for 7 Things Sunday were pretty simple.

• Find 7 things to throw out, donate or sell. 
• Straight up trash didn't count, so picking up a water bottle off of the side table earned zero points.
• Items for donation went into a box that, ideally, went to Angel's Attic on Monday.
• Items for sale had to be posted for sale that week and if not gone within 3 days were donated.
• Photos were to be taken and posted to FB for accountability each Sunday.

Honestly, this was probably the only resolution I have ever completely kept. Some weeks were a bit challenging because I wasn't feeling inspired. Some of you may remember "the marble".  I was struggling that week to come up with 7 things and I found a random marble rolling around in my utensil drawer. It went in the donate box quickly.

But most weeks were super easy and I found way more than 7 things. I decided where I was going to focus on and then dug in. Closets, drawers, cabinets, bins, baskets, nook, crannies. Nothing was safe. I did stop taking pictures of everything because I decided that not that many people cared that I removed 7 pairs of hole-y socks from my drawer, but I did it for probably the first two months just to get in the routine.

The amount of stuff I got rid of was staggering! And I haven't missed ANY OF IT!

If you struggle with clutter, this might be a good resolution for you. I know it's basically March, but isn't spring a great time to turn over a new leaf? Grab your phone and go to your calendar app. Go to March 1 and add an event, call it "7 Things Sunday". Set the event time for a time that is good for you that you are usually at home and then set it to repeat every week. Lastly, set the reminder to go off! When you get that notification, you will remember to go find 7 things!

I'm going to continue this series for the next bit telling y'all some decluttering tips that helped me and ways to free up your space so that you can actually live in it. It's amazing what having less stuff surrounding you does for you. You literally feel lighter. Peter Walsh even has a book that talks about this phenomenon called "Lose The Clutter, Lose The Weight,"


Upcoming topics
*Where clutter hides
*Turning clutter into tax deductions
*Dealing with sentimental clutter
*Selling the good stuff
*Digital clutter

Even though it's now 2015, I'm still doing 7 Things Sunday, just not as religiously.  5-6 books and a few bookmarks are heading to Angel's Attic tomorrow along with some random, new makeup I found in the back of my bathroom cabinet. You would think after a year there would be nothing left to declutter, right?! Bwahahahahaha!

If you decide to jump on this bandwagon, post your photos to social media and use #7thingssunday so I can see your hard work!

***Affiliate link*** because I am an Amazon Associate they give me a little thank you gift of a few pennies if you shop through my link. The price is the same for you as if you just went to straight to Amazon. Even if you don't want to buy that book (and really, if you are decluttering buy the Kindle version) use my link and buy something you would normally buy, ok? And then I can write in my YMJ that someone shopped through my link and earned me a penny for my thoughts. :)

Random Anti-Clutter Stocking Stuffers List! Part I

A lot of my favorite bloggers are posting stocking stuffer lists and I think that's awesome!

I love stocking stuffers and struggle with the fact that I tend to enjoy giving (and getting) one hundred little presents instead of one big present. This leads to random junk, impulse buys and clutter! Seriously, set me loose in the Target Dollar Spot and it's on!

However, when Sunday rolls around and it's time to throw out or donate 7 things (post coming soon on that), that dollar junk is usually the first to go. So how can I satisfy my need for QUANTITY without buying junk and adding to the clutter?

Here are my ideas for fun, random, useful gifts, without feeling like it's just more stuff! Remember though that I'm weird. Your giftee might look at you oddly if you give them crockpot liners.


Of course, I'm using Amazon Affiliate links, but you can find most of this stuff anywhere!

Gummy Vitamins - Every adult wants them, but most won't buy them for themselves. These are the ones I like.

Dish Towels- these are beyond adorable! Nobody realizes how ratty theirs are until they get new ones. The trick here is to THROW OUT the old ones.

Storage containers- Maybe it's just me, but I would love a huge box filled with 99¢ white plastic shoeboxes you can get at Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree

Scentsy laundry smell good things- If you have never tried these, you are missing out.

Scentsy Car smell good things- These are fun, and disposable!

White Strips - Be careful here. I would LOVE to get these because they are kind of frivolous and I love frivolous gifts. However, your giftee might think you are insinuating they have gross teeth.
Proceed with caution.



CrockPot Liners - I LOVE these things, but never buy them because it seems silly to spend money on them when I can just, gasp, wash the crockpot. But, if these showed up in my stocking? Ridiculously happy!

iTunes gift cards - Obvisously, make sure the recipient has an iProduct of some sort, but having a little iTunes gift card makes you feel less guilty over buying really stupid $1.99 apps.

Ponytail holders- You can never have enough QUALITY ponytail holders. Ever. They get lost and self-declutter.

 There you go, Part I of Doodleturtle's Random Anti-Clutter Stocking Stuffers List!

**Some of the above links are Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to shop through that link, you get the exact same wonderful prices as you would if you went to Amazon yourself, I  just get a little thank you bonus from Amazon for directing you there. Some links are to my Mama's Scentsy page. She gives my free Scentsy because she's awesome, I'm just trying to return the love.

The Wal-Mart Savings Catcher

Part of my goal with this blog is to just put my random thoughts out into the world. The other part is to share ideas and motivation with others like myself. Moms and wives trying to manage their lives and be bad-asses at the same time. Today I'm taking a look at how the Wal-Mart Savings Catcher can help us be more efficient and save cash!

Full disclosure: I have a love/hate relationship with Wal-Mart (Boo and I call it hell-mart).

 I hate every stinking minute I'm in there. Too many people, too much stuff, the annoying screens that blare commercials while you shop. The holiday aisles that appear 7 months before the holiday. Blech.

However, I love that you can get most everything there. I love the cool knick knack piddly stuff that you didn't know you needed that is so cheap you cannot leave without it. In fact, J and I had Friday night date nights when we were first married where we just wondered around HM.

All that said though, I try to avoid the place. Last weekend though we needed dog food and that is when we have to go to HM. We also needed groceries and I had heard about the new Savings Catcher that HM offered so we decided to put it to the test.

We purchased about $150 dollars worth of stuff and I figured the Savings Catcher wouldn't find anything because we bought some random, obscure stuff. The Savings Catcher only works if the item is exactly the same as an item advertised at a local store. Since our town is quite small and has few stores, I was expecting zero savings.

As soon as we got in the car, I downloaded the HM app and created an account. Then I selected "scan receipt" and was done. This took me 5 minutes, tops. The app told me I would get an email in three days telling me if any savings were found.
                                                        



Well, guess what? Apparently Rite Aid had my biscotti on sale and I was getting $0.58 back! Woo!

The way I figure it, if it took me five minutes to enter the receipt and get $0.58 back. That's $6.96 per hour and while that's not much, it's worth my time. And, from here on out it will be significantly faster because I've already downloaded the app and made my account.

My vote, this a great option to squeak out some savings! Have you tried it? What were your results?

So much exciting stuff

I haven't written in a while. Not because nothing has happened, but because so much has happened! The big CrossFit competition I've been training for happened last weekend and it was awesome! The picture above is of me helping my team on our best finishing event of the weekend with a few bar muscle ups. (Photo credits to MetCon Photos, LLC) The event was three days long and 6 hours from home. When we got home last Sunday I was done, physically and mentally.

Then yesterday we had another competition, albeit more local and less intense, but a competition nonetheless. J and I partnered up and finished second! All of this has left me with a case of the fatigues. Two weekends of anxiety and adrenaline constantly pumping and dumping has about wiped me out!

All that said though, I feel pretty good tonight. I treated myself yesterday and had pizza and ice cream, but today I'm back on the (correct) macros. I track every day, no matter what, but on days like yesterday MyFitnessPal likes to tell me that if "every day was like today, you would weigh 167 pounds in five weeks". Haha, I'd be a beastly 167 though!

I think that is where people mess up when they are tracking macros and doing the whole flexible dieting thing. On days they "cheat" they do not track, therefore they do not really see the damage they did. Don't get me wrong, I tore that pizza up and did not care one iota about the fat and carbs. I felt absolutely zero guilt. But when I put the numbers in, I saw that it would take about a week of 100% on point eating to offset the binge. I'm okay with that.

But if I hadn't entered those numbers, would my brain have really registered the extremity of eating 2/3 of a large Domino's pizza? And 4 scoops of Moose Tracks Ice Cream? Nope.

The morale to this story. Eat what you want to. Track the numbers. No guilt. Accept the consequences. Stay the course.

PS you cannot track your diet without a food scale. This is pretty similar to mine.

^^Affiliate link^^

Is it normal to be this excited about trash pick up?

Up until the last three months, we've not had trash pick up at our house (that's ten years y'all!).  But in August, I had had enough of having to haul our trash to the dump ourselves.


I know it seems ridiculous, but every Sunday night as I drag the can to the curb, I get as giddy as a kid the night before Christmas! It's so magical! It just disappears!

Seriously, I don't think you understand the amount of joy I feel.