I’ve decided to create a freedom account to cover 3 months of expenses and 2 years worth of irregular expenses. First I need to figure out how much I need to save.

One month is:

Food, rent, shared monthly bills.
Personal bills (repaying student loan taking up most of this)

One year of irregular expenses includes

Holiday
Birthdays
Christmas
Electrical bill
Clothing
Computer stuff
Travels

After finding the numbers for the items listed above I will set up a monthly transfer to my savings account.

But since some of that was a baby and stuff associated with the delivery I consider most of it “cheating” and doesn’t count towards the 20 I would like to lose.

I started counting when I weighed 82 kg (180 lbs) and I have lost 3 kg (6,6 lbs) so far: 79 kg (174 lbs).

The last couple of weeks I have gone through my home and taken each and every single thing I own and asked myself:

“Do I use or will I use this item?”
“Do I love this item?”

If I don’t use or love, I throw or give away. It does not belong in my home.

“Use my time more efficiently” is a very vague goal, but I think I have met it now. I am juggling a new baby, household and an education, and it works. That’s efficient.

I’ve taken a combined Flylady / GTD approach and I am trying to slowly gather “stuff” in my Inbox and decide what to do with it. Yesterday D and I went through the closet for 15 minutes. We gathered a bunch of clothes that we no longer use ( no wonder I never fell like I have something nice to wear, most of my clothes were just hanging there, unloved).

Today I asked D to clear out the stuff hiding underneath the bed, which he did.

Our home is a bit messy at the moment since my father went away not too long ago and I have to find a place for or give away all the things I inherited, but I will let it take its time. I don’t want to get overwhelmed by this task.

My plan:

• Use GTD workflow to collect, process, organize, review and do. First I need to clear out my mind by writing down all the things I think I need to get done or buy: http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Trigger_List. Next I will move things off this list by completing them.

• Declutter for 15 minutes a day and completing Kelly’s missions: http://www.flylady.com/pages/FlightPlan_Missions.asp