Search Results for: three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/debt-burnout/budget-lesson-part-3/travel-expenses-why-i-splurge/how-to-complain-the-squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease/budget-lesson-part-2/financial-pet-peeve-fees-to-receive-paper-bank-statements/one-year-later/contact-me/subscribe-by-email

For those who don’t remember–or are just tuning in–I am doing a 30 Day Project every month this year, sometimes two.  For the month of January, I am doing two projects.  I am waking up at 5AM every day, and I had planned to read to my kids every night before bed.

Waking up hasn’t been that difficult. I’m tempted to snooze the alarm, but I haven’t done that yet.  My routine has been to wake up at 5, watch or read the news until I am fully awake, have breakfast, get ready for work, read all of the websites I follow in Google Reader, then get the kids ready.   Until this month, my routine was to get up at 6:30, rush to get ready, rush more to get the kids ready, head out the door.  This has been more relaxing and it let’s me start my workday fully awake, which wasn’t happening before.   I’m hoping to get some writing time in there and next month, exercise time.   The interesting thing is that I haven’t adjusted what time I go to bed by much, so this has actually added 90 minutes to my day.

It’s been interesting.   I’m dead tired at 9PM, but I’m surprisingly wide awake by 5:30.  It hasn’t been nearly as hard as I had feared.   I’m looking forward to spring, when I can greet the sunrise. 

Reading hasn’t gone as well.  At the beginning of the month, I told the girls I would read to them every night.   We started out wonderfully.   Then, the real world came in uninvited. I had a meeting at school that ran late.  My son’s wrestling season started.  Things just kept getting in the way of a bedtime story.  The solution?  We modified the deal.  It’s not a bedtime story any more.  I am reading to the girls whenever there is time.  I may not be home at bedtime every day, but I am certainly home at other times.  We’re making it happen, even if it’s not exactly as planned.

It’s just a demonstration of the old rule:  Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. A small amount of flexibility has turned a potentially failed goal into happy family time.  It’s still a win.
How are your resolutions progressing?

This month, I had two 30 Day Projects: Get up at 5am and read to my kids before bed every night.

Getting up at 5 wasn’t as hard as I had feared. I’ve never been a morning person, but this was nice.  I got a chance to wake up slowly, catch up on the world, make breakfast and get to work without feeling rushed.  Those are all good things.   I missed twice.  The first time, I rolled over to get out of bed and didn’t make it.  Somehow, I got stuck halfway through rolling over.    The second time, I was up until after 2AM talking with my wife.  I won’t give up that kind of quality time.  When the alarm went off at 5, I gave myself two more hours.

The really interesting part, at least to me, is that I didn’t go to bed earlier most nights.   This actually added an extra 90 minutes to my day. I’m going to keep this habit up.  I may not be as firm about it every day, but it’s going to be my regular habit.  No more snooze alarm, no more wasting half of my day in bed.

Reading to the kids was harder.  Wrestling season started this month, which means we spend a lot more time chasing around to get our 10 year old where he needs to be.  After the first week, the bedtime requirement went out the window.  I decided to read to the girls whenever there was time, which made it work better.  We chose practicality over strictly adhering to the letter of the goal.  Over the course of the month, I missed 5 nights which isn’t too bad.

“Get a book” has turned into one of my girls’ favorite things to hear.  They both run giggling for the bookshelf.  It’s quiet time.  It’s quality time.  It’s teaching them to enjoy one of my favorite activities.    Never turn down an opportunity to read to a child. It may be the only time they sit still all day and the experience will stick with both of your forever.   The little things matter. A girl’s head on each shoulder and a book in front of us is something is something I will treasure forever and something that I am going to work to continue.   I only have a few more years before they are reading on their own and won’t need Daddy for this anymore.