The health thing - I hear ya! Today, when I go grocery shopping, I plan on buying one of those old-people pill things. I can't remember when I have taken what or when. I think that'll help. Plus I intend on setting a daily alert on my blackberry to remind me to take my pills.
Working out - I bought a treadmill off craigslist and it's made a HUGE difference in my life. I love it! I try to make a goal to work out at least 4 times a week and my long term goal is to run two miles comfortably. I'm only at a half mile, but I feel that I can DO IT!
I am a clean house nut. I wasn't always though...but I find it to be very therapeutic to clean. I also found that when I don't want to clean, setting a timer for, say, 10 minutes, and just forcing myself to pick up around the place helps. You'd be surprised at what you can accomplish in just 10 minutes! I think it's also helpful to break up the cleaning: mondays, clean bathroom. tuesdays, clean kitchen, etc.
As for spending sprees...you're asking the wrong person here! I'm TERRIBLE at it! But I try to refocus. I shop at goodwill for my brandnames and when I can't find them, too bad! It keeps me from destroying my finances, most of the time. And when I DO go shopping, which is very therapeutic for me, I set in my mind the maximum amount of money I can spend. That seems to help.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

For health:
Yeah, the pill box the only way to go, I did that untill I was able to remember to take them every day, now it is second nature, I get up, have coffee, eat breakfast, put pills in cup, take pills, get dressed. I DO NOT get dressed untill I have my pills, I can't leave the house with out clothes on, so I won't leave without taking my pills.
I make out my food menu for the week, helps when I go to the store to buy groceries, plus I eat better now, food tastes better and I am loosing weight too.
My wife and I walk around the park 1/2 mile every day with our dog for exersice.

Budget: I can't spend what I don't have. I have been unemployed for 14 months, I must pay my bills and so I don't have any money to spend. I save what I can, I put money aside in an envelope, when I get enough saved up, I rush to good will and go on a shopping spree, it is amazing how much you can buy there, people discard the greatist things. I bought a great pair of black slacks from Nordstroms for $3.00 and they look brand new. I bet they were $40.00 when they were new. I love them and they go very nice with my $2.00 Dockers Burgandy shirt that looks brand new.

Cleaning: I get overwealmed very easy, and cannot do this to well, so I set my goal low. I clean as I go. when I cook, I wash as I prepare so my kitchen never gets dirty. then when dinner is over, I only have the dishes to wash because the cooking pots and pans are already done. during the week. I am like Intheblue. the bathroom one day, the living room one day, the bed room one day. If you break things up into a ten minute tme slots like she said, you can concentrate on them very easy, you accomplish your goal, you feel good that you reached your goal, it's a GREAT DAY!!! Good Luck and God Bless you, Michael

WOW i this advice!
Sorry Hanna i dont have any except, the pill box thing, thats a must.
Good luck
hugs
dee

I'm in EXACTLY the same place, Hanna. Heatlh, Finances and and Home De-Cluttering/Cleaning/Redecorating. Have to do it all for myself and my family.

Good luck to you. I'm trying things one step at a time and holding my husband and son to their promises that they'll help me along the way.

Once my physical health is cleared, I'm going back to work PT.

I just have to believe in myself, which thankfully, right now, I do.

I know you can do it.

I am in the same boat. The only way I know how to tackle it is one step at a time. I have ADHD and my pdoc says to get started just try one thing for 5 mins. You'd be surprised how much you can get accomplished in that amount of time. Then gradually build up the time. Don't do everything on your plate at once. Just choose one thing or you will be overwhelmed and likely give up. Getting started is the hardest part. So go little by little and pretty soon things will take shape.Best to you. You can do it. BTW. I'm in the exact same boat so I should heed my own advice!!! LOL

Taking on too much at once can be overwhelming and in your case your tacking some big issues. Try setting small goals , ones that you can accomplish then tackle them. I Suggest you don't take it all on in onw day as that can set you up for failure further depresesing and overwhelming you . Try something different each day......

I agree with the others about not taking on too much at once. I, too, often try to tackle many things at once and it just doesn't work. So instead of trying to clean the house in one day, I do a load of laundry and fill the dishwasher or vacuum a couple of rooms. I feel better to have done something even if I didn't get the entire house clean. As for the pills, I don't have much advice, I also have trouble to remember my meds, escpecially at night.

I love this site, it helped me a great deal in the past. You can accomplish anything one small bite at a time and dont try to make up in a day what took years to create. Patience is the key sweetie...

http://www.flylady.net/

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and tips.

I know that tackling all of this at once could be a setup for failure...but each goal kinda ties in with another. I have to clean my room in order to exercise in it, I have to clean my kitchen in order to go food shopping, I need to budget to afford the food I'll need to diet and get some weights and to get the essentials for cleaning.

It is overwhelming, and I hope I don't fail...but I'm starting out by just cleaning. So far I've got every piece of laundry in the house done...and only 3 loads to put away. lol. My daughter will help me with that...I had my daughter clean the living room yesterday, and considering there was laundry in practically every room, it's already starting to look better. (I'm ashamed of how messy my apartment is...and I have a phobia of having people coming into my home and judging me by it). I also did dishes and have been going through clothes to donate to goodwill.

I can only seem to do anything for 5 minutes at a time, so I do 5 minutes, take a 10-15 minute break...then go at it again. Main focus right now....cleaning. I don't get paid for a couple of days, and I have no money (so I can't go out spending)...and the diet will have to wait until I have the appropriate foods and some light equipment (weights) to do so. :)

Thank you all for your replies. Anyone else who has any words of encouragement or advice, please!!! Tell me what you think. (((HUGS)))

The thing is to set yourself realistic small goals to get to the main one.

i don't have any advice but am here to say that you can do it!!!

Those are very important goals and I know how to help you with all of them. I am very organized and I have created systems for doing things that I would love to share with you and anyone else that could use help with similar goals. I have a lot of advice and information concerning the things that you mentioned. Too much to put in one post. I am glad that you posted this. I am sure that there are many people that could benefit from information on these things.

You can do it! Your post gives me an idea. Maybe I should start posting a series of journal topics that are open for everyone on ds to read them so that people from various groups on ds can benefit from the information and that they can comment.. I think I should post an announcement about it on the Daily strength members board.

I will have separate topics some for fitness, some for finances and some for organization and cleaning. I wish you all the best with your goals. You might want to add these goals to your journal goals so that you can track your progress and get extra encouragement..

And feel free to add me as a friend Hanna. I can teach so I think this would be a good time for me to start teaching a series of classes on ds through my journal. I think it would be the best way to pull all of my resources and information into one place. And if people have specific questions they can ask them when they make comments on my journal. Look for my journal postings on ds I will cover ways to help you with the goals you have. Take care Hugs...Art

Believe in yourself and just do it!

Hmmm, not a bad idea. A list of important things I'm working on would be:

1. Balancing a stressful job while looking for a new job
2. Trying to keep my Fibromyalgia symptoms to a minimum while staying sane even though I'm bipolar
3. Battling addictive behavior and trying to lose weight at the same time

My advice to you is that you should have fun and enjoy life. You won't have your health forever, so appreciate it now. Above all, don't stress about things that don't matter. Be happy - do what it takes to make yourself happy.

OK, now I'm going to take my own advice and just enjoy the rest of the day. :-)