Always trying something new . . .

Yes, that's me . . . always trying something new! I'm always trying to figure out the "easier" way to do things, or I should say "more efficient" way to do things. I don't mind hard work and in fact LOVE a challenge. My only problem is that I don't usually "stick" with anything too long. Once a new idea comes along, I usually jump on that bandwagon to give it a try. But lately, being at my half way mark in my pregnancy, I've been really thinking more and more about establishing better routines for the family, scheduling all of the important stuff better (date nights, social activities for the kids, ME time, etc.) and it's had me reevaluating the different things I've tried in the past to see if it'll work again for us.

Here are things for ME that work and I'm keeping: (Things I'm actually consistent on,LOL)

~Weekly Menu Planning (posted on fridge along with the week's to-do's)
~Waking up 30 minutes before the kids for some "ME TIME"
~Monthly Date Nights (going to weekly and getting creative)
~Biweekly Playdates with Mom's Group for Christopher
~ Social Activity for Adrianna (Taekwondo right now)
~ Laundry Schedule (Monday mornings and Fridays)
~ Monthly lunch date at Gattiland w/ Christopher
~ Baking day once a week ( freeze bread, pancakes, etc)

Here are some things I've done in the past:

The Grocery Game
FlyLady
CVSing
Menus 4 Moms
~ Weekly Playdates
~ Running
~ Ridiculously strict cleaning schedules, broken down to the day and hour by hour (didn't last long at all! I hate rules!)
~Breaking the kids' schedules down every day to morning/noon/night . . . too much for me!
~ Followed a TON of blogs from crafts to gossip to money saving to health and on and on!
~ Making extra money selling stuff on CList, Ebay and Surveys
~ Spending hours on the phone everyday!
~ Watching tv during the daytime - no more! Thank God for DVR!
~ Going out and about every day to just kill time. (waste gas, more like it!)

And here are some things I'm going to take and try again or add to what I'm doing now:

~ Set Bedtime Routine for BOTH kids, not just Adrianna
~ CVSing (saved a TON on the grocery budget and I started back up again last week!)
~ Biweekly Library Trip with Christopher (rotating off weeks from playdates)
~ Crockpotting twice a week to save time.
~ Cut my blog reading down to close friends' blogs, money saving, cooking blogs, maybe 1-3 craft ones too. :o)
~ Taking a nice walk 3-4 times a week
~ Having a weekly date night (Wednesdays) and getting more creative with it!
~ Do the Grocery Game each Sat. night and match up coupons for Sunday shopping. (I used to shop on my own during the week but carrying all the groceries is getting too much so I'll shop solo on Sundays and have the help at home to carry it in!)
~ Try blogging back over at my ThrifteeMomee blog.
~ Making extra money by listing my magnets weekly again and stick with doing my daily surveys in the morning along with online offers from MSM. (working towards my $500 gas card right now!)
~Starting up a Bible Reading small group with a friend of mine. (Thursday nights)

I'll see how it goes and if it works over the next couple of weeks. One thing I've learned about myself is I can't overschedule. I need social time on a weekly basis, with friends, with my husband, with and for the kids, and when I don't have that I swear I am MISERABLE! I also really need to get back into reading my Bible, it usually helps keep me better focused and have a positive attitude. Now how I go about saving time, money, and headaches will hopefully come from some of the ideas/resources I've listed above. One of the great things about my personality (I usually find more negative about it than positive,LOL) is that I'm always up for trying something new and usually don't come down too hard on myself if it doesn't work. I figure it probably just sucked anyway so it's better to move onto something different. :o)

I hope some of the sites I've listed can help some of my readers.

Here's to giving it all a try, once again! Ha!