The 5 Best Ideas of 2007
Dec. 30th, 2007 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsThis morning I posted my resolutions for next year; this post is for summarizing the things that were THE most useful lifestyle changes of 2007, in the hopes that they may help/inspire someone else.
1) - The Sunday Seven/Seven Items Project. By breaking up the frighteningly massive job of decluttering into something manageable, I've been able to clear out something like 1/5 of my unwanted possessions. (Which reminds me - there's going to be a couple of things up for LJ swap soon.)
2) - The morning yoga/evening strength training. (Routines here) What has made them so sustainable, I think, is that neither routine takes a long time or requires anything special, and they're both built into regular parts of the day. The strength training hasn't shown a lot of effects yet, but it has only been started relatively recently. The yoga has definitely paid off in balance and flexibility.
3) - Bentos. Yes, it's a bit of a toy, but it has also put a major focus on my making my own lunches rather than buying them (significant money savings) and pay attention to nutrition (in the effort to have the traditional 5 colors per box.) Although I have a lot of boxes at this point and my favorites have been constantly shifting, the ones that I turn to the most often right now are the Tiger Lunch Jar and Aladdin Lunch and Go Salad Set. The Tiger with its leakproof 1-cup container is good for soup-based lunches, with a muffin in the small container and fruit and a sweet in the large one. The Aladdin salad container is superior to their lunch box because it has a half-cup leakproof container. The Aladdin is too large to fill to the brim in proper bento style - it would be far too much food - but the larger shape beats the traditional tiny bento boxes because you can put oddly-shaped things inside, such as chips. And you don't have to cut sandwiches into odd strips to fit them. Also, I like to fill my bentos several days in advance sometimes, and the traditional boxes allow things to go stale after about two days; the Aladdin doesn't. It is also leakproof, so you can put jucier things inside than the traditional bentos.
Also, the Aladdin and a Stonyfield yougurt drink container (they're washable and reusable) both just fit into my insulated lunch tote. And neither one spills if carried on edge.
4) - Moleskine Weekly Planner Notebook (second on the right as you scroll down). I had a palm pilot, but I got so comfortable with this specific planner that the batteries on my palm pilot died from neglect. I'm a compulsive listmaker, but the problem with most paper diaries is that I end up copying list items from one day to the next if they don't get accomplished. So with these, I put daily stuff in the daily page, but make my lists on the lined page. (I've penciled a line down the center, like a steno notebook, to double the listmaking space.)
5) - LJ. No, seriously. Knowing that I am going to post my status has kept me honest and focused.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
homekeeping has had some amazing ideas for organizing the house and keeping it organized. And I have high hopes for 52_indulgences for helping to come up with inexpensive ways of pampering and destressing.
1) - The Sunday Seven/Seven Items Project. By breaking up the frighteningly massive job of decluttering into something manageable, I've been able to clear out something like 1/5 of my unwanted possessions. (Which reminds me - there's going to be a couple of things up for LJ swap soon.)
2) - The morning yoga/evening strength training. (Routines here) What has made them so sustainable, I think, is that neither routine takes a long time or requires anything special, and they're both built into regular parts of the day. The strength training hasn't shown a lot of effects yet, but it has only been started relatively recently. The yoga has definitely paid off in balance and flexibility.
3) - Bentos. Yes, it's a bit of a toy, but it has also put a major focus on my making my own lunches rather than buying them (significant money savings) and pay attention to nutrition (in the effort to have the traditional 5 colors per box.) Although I have a lot of boxes at this point and my favorites have been constantly shifting, the ones that I turn to the most often right now are the Tiger Lunch Jar and Aladdin Lunch and Go Salad Set. The Tiger with its leakproof 1-cup container is good for soup-based lunches, with a muffin in the small container and fruit and a sweet in the large one. The Aladdin salad container is superior to their lunch box because it has a half-cup leakproof container. The Aladdin is too large to fill to the brim in proper bento style - it would be far too much food - but the larger shape beats the traditional tiny bento boxes because you can put oddly-shaped things inside, such as chips. And you don't have to cut sandwiches into odd strips to fit them. Also, I like to fill my bentos several days in advance sometimes, and the traditional boxes allow things to go stale after about two days; the Aladdin doesn't. It is also leakproof, so you can put jucier things inside than the traditional bentos.
Also, the Aladdin and a Stonyfield yougurt drink container (they're washable and reusable) both just fit into my insulated lunch tote. And neither one spills if carried on edge.
4) - Moleskine Weekly Planner Notebook (second on the right as you scroll down). I had a palm pilot, but I got so comfortable with this specific planner that the batteries on my palm pilot died from neglect. I'm a compulsive listmaker, but the problem with most paper diaries is that I end up copying list items from one day to the next if they don't get accomplished. So with these, I put daily stuff in the daily page, but make my lists on the lined page. (I've penciled a line down the center, like a steno notebook, to double the listmaking space.)
5) - LJ. No, seriously. Knowing that I am going to post my status has kept me honest and focused.
homekeeping has had some amazing ideas for organizing the house and keeping it organized. And I have high hopes for 52_indulgences for helping to come up with inexpensive ways of pampering and destressing.
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 02:36 pm (UTC)That is a biggie. I have a couple of Mr. Bentos - they were my start - but they seem to have so much *food* in them that I shifted back to the smaller boxes... and then had to have a spare piece of fruit for a midafternoon snack. I'm still working out the proportions.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 11:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 11:06 am (UTC)I have to agree with this one :) Your posts have inspired me to start doing the Sunday 7 too (although, as I have so much stuff, it might be a daily 7 for a while!). I would have never heard of that without the wonder of LJ :)I might even start doing bentos too.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 02:38 pm (UTC)New souls for the fai - I mean, what a wonderful idea! :>
no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 04:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-31 06:15 pm (UTC)