Becoming a More Motivated Mom

5 January 2010 6,373 views 13 Comments

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Growing up, one of the things my Dad taught me was to set goals. We used to go out on dates with him and he would bring his yellow paper pad and a pen and ask us about our 3, 5 and 10 year goals. As a kid. At the time, I figured this was normal behavior for a father, and really, it should be, right? However, as I grew up, I began to realize that my friends were not thinking about the future, yet. They hadn’t decided whether they were going to go to college, and they certainly hadn’t thought about possible careers. I can tell you that as an elementary school student, I knew I was going to be a teacher. I was going to be an English teacher, because I love to read, and I was going to allow my students to chew gum in class.

Fast forward 15 years. I had become a Middle School Social Studies/Language Arts teacher with a Masters Degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction (and I did not allow my students to chew gum in class). How did this happen? Well, I had set the goal (and of course, reevaluated it a few times!) and charted my course to reach that goal.

I opened up my shop at The Digichick in October 2008 (I know I missed my anniversary sale!). At the time, my husband sat me down and asked me about my goals. He wanted to know where I saw myself going with this little business and what I wanted to accomplish. He wanted to know about my dreams. I felt a little silly telling him, “Well, I think it would be kinda cool if I could make a little bit of money doing this, because I love it!” He didn’t laugh, but he did ask me how I was going to accomplish this. It was time to set some achievable goals.

A little over a year later, I am still amazed at what I have accomplished (and really, it is all because of you guys! You rock!). Two years ago, I was watching other people’s children in an effort to make ends meet, and today I am enjoying one on one time with my youngest son. It is awesome! I can tell you that when I was in elementary school I didn’t picture myself as a papercrafter or even a stay-at-home-mom. But, babies are born, ideas change, and here I am . . . doing what I love. God is so good.

I can’t even tell you how many goals I have for this year. SO many. And, they are all in categories. Spiritual, Family, Home (we’re talking decor! Bring on the garage sales!), Relationships, Business, etc. I keep adding to the lists, and breaking things down into steps to reach those goals. It’s so much fun, and so exciting to realize that this time next year I will have seen some of these goals come to fruition.

ONE of the areas I want to improve in is time management and household maintenance (cleaning, yuck!). It’s easy to get sucked into the computer when your business is on the computer and your friends live in the computer and your hobby is on the computer. Pretty soon, it’s 5:00 and I’m rushing around, picking up toys and starting laundry in an effort to show that I have accomplished something that day. So sad. However, I know that I am not alone in this!

I found the Motivated Moms planner a few months ago . . . then it got stuck in a pile somewhere, never to resurface. However, for the few weeks I used it, it was awesome! The Motivated Moms planner is an ebook that you download and print out (I printed mine back-to-back to save on paper). What I love about it is that it has a list of daily chores which include basics like running the dishwasher and starting a load of laundry. It also reminds you to take your vitamins, exercise and read to the children. Then, each day has some tasks specific to the day: change hand towels in bathrooms, clean middle shelf of refrigerator, replenish stock of toilet paper in bathrooms, etc. These are things I don’t really think about until the hand towels are sopping wet, the refrigerator shelf is a sticky mess and I’m yelling for someone to bring me a roll of TP.

There are several versions to choose from, and you can download samples to see what will work best for you. I purchased the 2010 Half Page Per Day with Bible Reading version. Here is my planner:

(I promise I checked off most of those boxes yesterday!)

I took the papers to my local print shop and had the thing spiral bound. My plan is to leave it out on the counter in the kitchen so that I refer to it every day.

There is a spot for the daily meal plan (SO cool), and my version has an hourly schedule on it so that I can manage my time a bit better. Oh, and the gal who designed it is probably a couponer, because on Sunday I’m supposed to cut/sort/file coupons and Mondays I plan my meals around leftovers, pantry and sales! Hee, hee!

I love that this planner encompasses so many of my personal goals, and I know that it will help me keep on track and stay motivated to make every day count. I’m excited to see the changes that will happen in my life this year!

Do you have a personal calendar or something that keeps you motivated to make every day count? Please share!

Disclosure: That is an affiliate link up there and in my sidebar! I love this planner so much and believe that it will benefit other moms who see the day slip away without having accomplished anything, so I decided to put their button on my blog! Go check it out!

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13 Comments »

Lisa said:

Kelleigh, you sound so much like me! Maybe we should partner up and keep each other accountable.

I can SO relate to the whole “get-sucked-into-the-computer-to-work-and-suddenly-the-day-is-over-the-house-is-a-mess-dinner-isn’t-started-and-everyone-is-home” thing! Glad it’s not just me. Although today I did make myself empty the dishwasher and fill it back up before doing any computer work after getting the kids to school. Now I even have pork in the oven and potatoes in the crock pot for dinner, cleared the table after lunch and started the dishwasher. I have a planner that I love on my iPhone, but I think I really need to have something out in front of me to physically check off with a pencil during the day.

I’m definitely going to go take a look at that planner. I love your idea of getting it spiral bound. So, did you make a cute cover for it, too?

I need to do better at planning my time so it doesn’t just slip away, and so I can be setting a better example for my four kids. Thanks for this post!

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# 5 January 2010 at 12:40 pm

Danielle Daws said:

Hi Kelleigh,

I had to laugh at “in an effort to show that I have accomplished something that day” because that is so like me! I’m constantly telling my husband everything I’ve done that day just to make it sound to me like I’m doing an okay job as a housewife and mother!! And yes… I see the irony in writing about this on the computer…

Thanks for sharing this - I love the idea. I really need something like this. I used to be such a lists person, but now the sheets of paper get lost in my craft things!

Thanks!
Danielle

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# 5 January 2010 at 4:05 pm

Tricia said:

I have a planner I picked up at the christian book store.. I am a virtual assistant so much of my day is planned around my clients… But I also have a daily routine….

What I really need to get into is a cleaning routine. I go to listplanit.com and print off her cleaning routine and have started doing that stuff daily. It keeps a much cleaner house if I keep up on that.

The few things I love about my planner is one it gives me scripture to read so that I can read the whole bible in a year…

Uhhh one of my goals is to spend more quite time with the Lord so what I do is each night before I go to bed I take my planner and plan my day with Gods help and read my bible. I just love that my planner helps remind me to do that.

You and I share many of the same goals…. I am so glad I found your site… Now just hope you don’t get sick of me asking a ton of questions….

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# 5 January 2010 at 4:50 pm

mandi @ it's come to this said:

What an awesome idea to have it bound!!! I just ordered mine a few days ago … I’m still keeping up!! But now I’m thinking I’ll bind it like you!

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# 5 January 2010 at 9:13 pm

Lisa said:

Thank you sooo much for the link to the Motivated Moms website with the planner details. I don’t have kids at home anymore but work 40 hours a week and I will still find this VERY useful. Awesome!

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# 5 January 2010 at 9:18 pm

JennK said:

I absolutly LOVE this!! I am so glad I saw this post especially at the start of a NEW Year!! I am in the process of printing the same style you chose. I am so excited to get started. Thanks so much for sharing!!

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# 6 January 2010 at 12:04 am

Susan said:

Thank You! I want to make one asap!

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# 6 January 2010 at 2:30 pm

Pam said:

I saw this on TDD, meant to check it out, and never did. I’m SOOO buying this. Thanks, Kelleigh!

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# 6 January 2010 at 2:35 pm

Jeanne said:

Ohhhhh…Kelleigh! I bought this planner in September, liked it and then fell off the wagon during the holidays and just yesterday printed off January 5. I did all the tasks and felt so good! But today I got sucked into the computer because I discovered a new to me crocheting blog and was gazing into the colorful goodness she has shared. Sigh.

So, I too am a lot like you (the clean up at the end of the day before hubby gets home so it looks like I did something). The goal setting? I’ve got lots in my head, but not so many written down. And well, you know how that goes. Or maybe you don’t because you are so good at achieving yours! LOL

All that to say, thanks for sharing!

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# 6 January 2010 at 2:52 pm

Sally Moore said:

This looks awesome Kelleigh… I think I’ll try it…

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# 7 January 2010 at 1:03 pm

Melissa said:

I’ve been using this system too for about a month now—and I love it! I am not a born cleaner-my mom is amazing, but unfortunately I didn’t inherit that, LOL! Some of the things on the list are things I would never think of. It is an amazing resource and a good price too. I feel so much better about my home and my time after using this-glad you like it too!

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# 8 January 2010 at 1:49 pm

Cortney said:

Kelleigh-
I have a planner, but it’s just not doing it for me (the one I’ve used in years past is no longer on the market). So I downloaded the motivated mom daily planner (I used her weekly one a few years back) with the intention of binding it as you did.
Here’s my question- how did you get it to print front to back? It has two days on a page and I’m not quite seeing how to make this work.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
-Cortney

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Kelleigh Reply:
January 13th, 2010 at 11:16 am

Cortney, what I SHOULD have done is this: Look at the # of pages and divide by two. (So, 180/2=90 or whatev’.) Print pages 1-90, then flip the stack and print pages 91-180. Mine is not so neat, though. But, since I only see 2 pages at a time, I can flip back and forth to see the correct date! LOL! Anyone have any other ideas for Cortney?

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# 13 January 2010 at 9:19 am