Day 8--Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Goals. You have to have goals. Oh yeah, you have to write them down. Trust me.
I want you to go back through your dream pages and make one list of your dreams.

Example: Home
-to have a clean and decluttered place where my family can rest
-to have a new home with 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms

Financial
-to be debt free
-to have an emergency fund

Marriage
-to reconnect with my spouse
-to be in love with my spouse again

Get the point? Do this for all of your dreams. When your finished I want you to go back and write a time period in which you want to accomplish this.(Preferably in a different color, but use what you've got)

Example:

Home
-to have a clean and decluttered place where my family can rest -- in 6 months
-to have a new home with 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms -- in two years

Financial
-to be debt free -- in 9 months
-to have an emergency fund -- in 3 months

Marriage
-to reconnect with my spouse -- in 1 month
-to be in love with my spouse again -- in one year (this depends on your relationship now of course)

After determining a realistic time period to accomplish this, I want you to work your way backwards in developing smaller goals to help accomplish the larger goals.

Example:

To have a clean and decluttered home in 6 months

Steps to take:
3-6 months decorate to our liking
by 3 months have routines in place to help keep the house clean and decluttered, have the house decluttered
by 2 months develop routines for deep cleaning and continued decluttering
by 1 month have routines for everyone to help with the daily and weekly cleaning
by week 3 introduce more responsibilites for the kids
week 2 develop and activate additional routines for myself
week 1 develop basic routine and stick to it


If it's a yearly goal then maybe break it down by 1 year, 9 months, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, then weekly. If it's a two or more year goal then I suggest breaking it down like this: 2 year, 1 year, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, weekly. However is best for you. I like breaking it into somewhat small increments so that you can measure your progress easier.

Do this for each goal. I know it sounds like a lot. The past week has been a warm-up for your mind in order to get you to the right spot in your life in order to tackle the remainder of the month.

You can do this. Know you can. If you want to do the first half today and the second half tomorrow that's fine. You will have an assignment tomorrow, but it won't take up quite as much time. (I hope)

Side note: For tomorrow you will need some sort of calendar/planner, whatever you write down your appointments on.

This is all about you changing your life. No one else is going to do it for you and your "prince charming" isn't coming to your rescue. It's all about YOU. I know, I know, that's not politically correct. I'm not saying the world revolves around you. I'm saying that YOU are responsible for where you are. (Don't give me that victim whiny garbage.) Your present is a direct result of the decisions you've made in the past. Your future will be based on the decisions you make now. The fat won't melt off if all you do is sit on the couch and stuff your face. You make the decision by sitting or getting up and exercising. I am just as guilty as the next person. That's how I came up with this bootcamp. I was sick of simply existing. I wanted to live. So write down how you're going to get that dream life!

Day 7--Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Our title for today is Spiritual. I saved this for last because this first week has been about reconnecting with ourselves. Our dreams and desires. Your body, mind, and spirit are all connected. Search yourself for how you want your spiritual life to be this year. Do you want to be closer to God? To do more for others? To feel more at peace with yourself and where you are in your life?

Challenge: Spend 15 min. at the beginning of everyday connecting with God. Meditation, prayer, personal quiet.

Journal: What has God shown you about yourself/your life this past week?

Day 6- Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Career time! Maybe you're a working woman who wants to be a stay-at-home-mom(SAHM) or a SAHM who wants to go back to work, start your own business, move up in your career, go back to school, or increase your already existing business. Wherever you are in life, it's time to set some goals and get off your butt.

Challenge: Spend a minimum of 15min. a day working a plan towards your "career" goals.
This may mean reading more about your chosen career, business, or determining what it will take for you to become a SAHM.

Journal: List five reasons to persue your career goals.

Day 5- Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Welcome back. How are things going? Are you still keeping your patience with your husband and your kids? Are you excited about your house becoming a home?

Now on to finances. Grab your notebook and label a new page: Finances.
Take a good, hard look at your financial situation. Are you scraping by every month? Are your bills paid on time every month? Are they behind or are you having to choose which bill gets paid this month and which one has to wait until the next month?
Do you have an emergency fund? A retirement fund? College fund set up for the kids?

Challenge: Create a budget to live within/below your means. Start by listing your income and your monthly bills. Which is higher, income or outgoing? If your income is higher, then start tracking where all the other money goes. Keep a record of every transaction even down to the soda at the gas station.

Journal: What five things do you want to accomplish financially this year?

Day 4- Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Today we tackle our homes. Ok, our houses. Because is your house really your home? Get out the pen and paper and think about your dream house. Come on, sky's the limit, remember?

Now that that is done I want you to walk through every room in your house and write down how you could make it into a home. Is there clutter everywhere? Cobwebs hanging from the ceiling? Dust on the furniture or cheerios under the table? Or maybe it's just an ugly couch, hideous curtains, an old bedspread, or bland wall color. What would make it your home? What could you do to make it warm and inviting and make your family (and YOU) comfortable? The best advice I ever read/heard was that your house/home is the quiet/soft place where your family retreats from the big, bad world. How can you make your home that place?

Challenge: No complaining. I don't want to hear "my house is too small" or "but there's so much stuff" or "I'm broke, I can't afford to fix up my house". NO WHINING! Just write it down and no complaining to anyone about your home. Including to yourself!!

Journal: Five things you love about your home. No kidding. Start writing.

Day 3--Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

If today is your first visit to Mommy Makeover Bootcamp then start here. Notebook time! Today it's all about the kids. So under the heading "kids" I want you to do so serious thinking. Stop, breathe, think. What type of relationship do you have with your kids? Do you spend time(play) with them? Know what their hopes/dreams are for the future? Know what their interests are? Do you listen when they talk? I mean really listen. BE HONEST. This work doesn't do any good if you're lying to yourself.

Now, what type of relationship do you want to have? Think back to your childhood. What would you have changed from when you grew up? More alone time with your parents? Sharing your interests? Needed encouragement even though they didn't agree? What type of mom do you want to be? I'm not saying be supermom. I'm saying that when the kids are grown that they still come around (willingly) and that you have no regrets about their childhood.

Secondly, what type of grownups do you want your kids to be? What characteristics should they have? Responsibility, honesty, compassion, financial awareness, good personal relationships, basic household skills of cleaning-cooking and laundry?

Do you portray these things? I know I still struggle with my witness to them just as a human being. You are their teacher and their role model. Now is the time to not only work on yourself as a person but to figure out how to teach these things to your children.

Challenge: No nagging, yelling, screaming, talking down to your kids, comparing them to their siblings (or anyone else). PLUS-you must tell each of your children something you love about them-EVERYDAY. It can be something as simple as "You are such a good helper to make your bed." or how beautiful they are or how cute or how much you love their laugh/smile.

Journal: List 5 things you like/love about EACH of your children.

Day 2-- Mommy Makeover Bootcamp

Grab your notebook and find a quiet spot. On a new page write: Marriage
If you're not married then consider this page for your significant other or future partner. For the sake of this project this person will be referred to as your husband.

How are things with your husband? Put a label on it. Fantastic? Good? Okay? Comfortable? Bad? Considering the big "D"?
**disclaimer: if you are in an abusive relationship then by all means get help and get out.

Now close your eyes and imagine what your dream relationship would be. When you were a little girl, what did you expect your prince to be like? Yes, I know that fairy tale princes don't exist. But what made you fall in love with your husband? Would you like to have that feeling again? Write it down. Write down exactly what you want. Really. Put down your dream relationship.

Challenge: You are not allowed to nag, yell or scream at your husband for the entire month. You cannot talk bad about your husband to anyone including yourself. You also cannot talk bad to your husband. No negatives this month.

Journal: List five things that you love about your husband.