Hello again,

At last…progress! For the third straight week I’ve managed spreadsheet entry. Very satisfying. It seems there has been a breakthrough in my pattern. I’ve realized it’s sorting the receipts that’s tripping me up. The trick has been to remove the receipts from my wallet daily and sort them while there are only a few. Even letting them build up to one week’s worth feels daunting and time-consuming to deal with. Sorting daily means that when I sit down to do the actual data entry, it’s simply a matter of punching up the total of each pile and entering those totals in the spreadsheet - which I find painless.

Sorting the receipts is not difficult work, it’ just something I really don’t enjoy…it’s tedious and boring to me. So by keeping the piles very small (and I mean my sort literally takes 30 seconds from one day´s receipts), it really IS painless! Exploring this obstacle in my blog and sharing my struggle openly with my fellow YMbD classmates has been very helpful by allowing me to make a conscious assessment of the situation. Instead of coming up against a wall of negativity about my inability to have a continuous routine and then forsaking the effort altogether, I examined all parts of the equation. By persisting with the exercise even though I was really disliking it, I was able to pinpoint EXACTLY which part was causing me difficulty. I’m recognizing that this particular pattern crops up with continuity (or more rightly, lack thereof) in MANY of the routines I’ve tried to establish in my life - not only financially. I dislike sorting, therefore I dislike a lot of routines that involve that: laundry, dishes, clearing mail/bills/paper and other clutter that collects in my home.
In my last blog I wrote about my coach setting a timer for 15 mins. to do spreadsheet entry and at the end of that 15 minutes, no matter what point she was at, she could stop. You might remember that I said I wasn’t sure that this strategy could work for me….well last week after my spreadsheet entry, I took the time to read a website recommended to me two months ago by my coach called www.flylady.net. The principles on that site are basically the ones I’m writing about here: break the task down into more manageable bite size (15 minute) pieces to get through it. This can apply to ANY job which feels overwhelming, whether spreadsheet entry or clearing clutter! I realize this seems like a painfully obvious suggestion, but I didn’t realize how empowered I could be by using it.

For the past week I’ve been setting a timer to spend 15 minutes doing many “routine” things I usually dislike doing. Avoiding those routines has the result of making my home and my life messy and chaotic. 15 minutes - even for an unpleasant task - is very manageable for me. Using that strategy in the past week meant I’ve managed to make my bed, have my dishes done, and have a clean kitchen and bathroom EVERY DAY. The the house has been vacuumed, I’ve sent a few clothes off to charity, I’ve cleared off my bedside table and fridge top for the first time in months. Every day I’m spending 15 minutes on one task that hasn’t seen the light of day, in some cases, for YEARS!

This means I’m clearing the clutter in my life on MANY levels simultaneously. It started with my money but it’s rapidly spreading to the rest of my life and WOW it feels fantastic!!

I encourage you to use the same “15 minute” strategy for whatever might be overwhelming YOU today. Take 15 minutes to check out www.flylady.net. It doesn’t cost a cent…and as I’ve said before, what you might gain in insight and personal growth may be priceless!

Cheers,
Kat