January 9th And I'm Already Sucking At One of My Resolutions

Hello again.

Seriously, I haven't even lived through 2 weeks of 2014 and already I'm failing at one of my resolutions. Which resolution, you ask? Well, the exercise twice a week resolution, of course. I completely lack the motivation to exercise.

It's an incredible problem. I waste no time to criticize myself, my body, my eating habits, and yet I continue my same habits, not exercising, and eating poorly/too much. Mind you, I am not overweight. Beforegraduate school, I weighed approximately 120 pounds and was just over "underweight" on the BMI scale. Well, I'm looking to lose the 30 pounds I've gained in my graduate studies. And I hate running. And I know me. I can't go hard, I'm not a gym-rat, and like many others, I can't make huge, life-altering changes suddenly. It's a gradual process.

That was the reason for setting my goal to exercising twice a week. I realize it's not a one-dimensional change. I'm making smaller dietary changes to attempt to aid my desire for changes. I'm attempting to give up soda (1 slip-up in 2014) and replacing my caffeine addiction with tea. Yes, sweet tea. I'm trying to eat more fish/turkey in place of pasta and red meat. I'm trying to eat less sweet stuff. But that's not enough.

And honestly, I'm partially writing this post to encourage myself to exercise. Maybe I'll try Zumba. Ugh...

I need motivation. How do you motivate yourself to do things? I seriously need suggestions.

Here's looking at you, kid.

With Love,
Elli

Free Printable: 2014 Resolutions List

Good morning world! Today I'm posting my first freebie! It is the 2014 Resolutions List!

This is a single page out of my 2014 planner and the 2014 Resolutions Set. It is an editable PDF.

This will be my first time posting something to download, so please bear with me if any weird issues should arise.

I hope you enjoy!

To download your free 2014 Resolutions List, download here (or click the photo above).

With Love,

Elli

My 2014 Planner: An In-Depth View

As previous mentioned, here is the post devoted to my new planner that I made! First, I'm incredibly proud of myself for making a planner myself. Secondly, I love the way it turned out! Many of the planners I have seen throughout my life have had a lot of components I liked and a lot of components I didn't like.

So, to begin, here is a list of the parts seen in my planner (totaling 133 pages):

• 2014 Resolutions List
• 12 Monthly Calendars
• 12 Monthly Budgets
• 53 Weekly Schedules (8:00am-9:00pm, Sunday-Saturday)
• 53 Weekly To-Do Lists
• Resolutions Tracker Sheet
• 30 Day Habit Tracker Sheet
• Quotes Sheet
• 52 Week Savings Sheet
• 52 Week Savings Thermometer
• Wedding Savings Sheet
• Wedding Savings Thermometer
• Debt Snowball Sheet
• To Read Sheet
• 4 Weekly Meal Planners (varying colors)
• 4 Shopping List Sheets (varying colors)

And here are a bunch of (terrible iPhone) pictures of my planner. It's currently in sheet protectors because I wanted to be sure I liked the layout before I committed to printing 130+ pages.

I use a very basic black 1 inch binder.

 First, I have a 3-hole punch. It might look backwards to you

but I'm left-handed so this is the "right" way for me.

Next you'll see 2 zipper pouches. The one on the left contains important papers, such as pay-stubs, upcoming bills, and my availability. The pouch on the right was a gift and contains my set of 12 Papermate Flair Point pens. I seriously love them.

My planner opens with a reminder of my 2014 goals I've set for myself. It's another step I've taken to help hold myself accountable.

The next spread features a monthly budget on the left and a January calendar on the right. This helps remind me to budget each month, hold myself to it, and keep track of my savings.

*These are color coordinated throughout the planner. 

Next, we come to the weekly schedule. The left page contains times from 8:00am to 9:00pm and the week runs Sunday to Saturday. As I want to be a counselor, I need specific times throughout the day to schedule rather than blocks.

On the right, you'll see my weekly to-do list. I've created blocks for specific days throughout the week so don't have to take up space in my weekly schedule to list items I need to do that day. At the bottom, I've included a 52 week savings goal block as a glaring reminder to put away money. Here I can write down how much I need to put away this week as well as the running table. I quick reference sheet is included later on. The final block works the same as the 52 week savings block, though it is for my wedding savings goal.

*Note: In the Etsy versions of my planner, this bottom block is editable or excluded.

Next is my Resolutions Tracker sheet and a 30 Day Habit Tracker Sheet. I use the Resolutions Tracker to mark my progress throughout the year. You can see in the photo that I have been able to keep up with my reading goals so far (it's only the 6th but still).

*Note: The 30 Day Habit Tracker Sheet is not included in the Etsy planners.

Next I have the 52 Week Savings Goal reference list, as well as a goal thermometer.

*Note: The goal thermometer is not included.

This next spread is almost identical to the previous spread except that it is a constant value of $30 rather than an increasing value throughout the year.

*Note: Nothing related to weddings in included in the Etsy planners.

Here is the Debt Snowball sheet and my Quotes page (see 2014 Resolutions if confused). I will use the Debt Snowball sheet record my minimum payments in June when I begin repaying my student loans and can focus my financial efforts on repaying as much as possible, as quickly as possible. 

Here we have my weekly meal planner sheet on the left and the pre-sorted shopping list on the right.

*Note: These items are available separately.

Here you will see my To Read sheet I made for books I'm hoping to read. You'll also see some previous meal planner pages I've used. I keep these in the back for reference so I can quickly glance back at our recent meals.

Some of the unique parts of my planner are the wedding sections (I'm getting married in 2015 so I'm currently saving up for the costs), the inclusion of savings goals in the to-do list sections, and the integration of budgeting into the monthly set-up. 

So, there you have it. This is what the inside of my planner looks like. If you'd like to purchase a copy of my planner, you can do so in my Etsy store.

With Love,

Elli