What small habits you have that make your life better?

[misscheery]

Obviously posting here for traffic

As part of "new year new me"resolutions, I am trying to establish a set of habits/small things to do in order to be either happier/healthier or look better/be smarter

What I do now-
-Gym 3 times a week (either zumba or cross fit for now)
-Have a nice cup of tea in the morning
-Reading 30 mins a day either the book I am currently reading or a nice magazine
-Bubble bath

Nothing else crosses my mind now. What do you do?

I hope this post makes sense as I have an exam tomorrow and am a bit crazy today

Bump! I have nothing useful to add.

peanutbuttercheese we do the timed housework here too. 20 minutes each morning and night (sometimes there are three of us living here, sometimes just me) the house is always visitor ready now.

I am making a list from this thread. All my NYR went tits up in a fog of flu and jet lag..........but fortunately I live in China so we get another NY in 2 weeks so I can start again

Definitely

• eat the frog
• do my mobility work while I'm watching TV
• No phone between 9pm and 7am
• Body lotion

definitely never watch anything in real time, either record or just pause for a few minutes so I can fast forward through adverts, I loathe them with a passion, just noise pollution to my already overcrowded brain

Bumping this as I can see you guys loved it. Thanks everyone for their contribution!

I’ve established lots of good habits this year but the one I can’t conquer is putting my phone down at night.

It ruins my sleep but I’m addicted

Getting up 40 minutes before getting ready. Cup of coffee & breakfast telly to wake up properly.

Walk at least 10,000 steps a day.

Using a list app - if I am stressed about work I just add to list and forget about it until I get to walk.

Don't try and change people or their opinions - waste of time.

Getting my stuff together the night before (clothes, accessories etc), ensuring that phone is charged.

Meal planning and weekly shop. Anything we run out of goes on a list immediately.

Charity bag so when it gets full up, off it goes to be donated.

Don't stockpile. Buy what you need. There is always an offer somewhere so you don't have to rush and buy xx before you need to. Cuts down on clutter and waste and money. Sometimes I have bought toiletries in bulk, and then decided I wanted to try something else, and then the original stuff sits there, unused and given away or binned.

Moisturise feet everyday. Saves those marathon foot grooming sessions when the sandals come out.

Putting my Pjs on and washing my face when the kids go to bed ready for a thrilling evening of tv

Timefortea I really like your list! Especially the one about not stockpiling. I so agree. I tend to sail pretty close to the wind with groceries as I'm really keen to reduce waste. it's amazing how long you can last with "nothing ".

Marking place to read after work. Some of these are brilliant.

Having a to do list and crossing them off as I go.
Meal planning.
Nail polish.
Baths.

Plan my work clothes for the week on Sunday night. Saves the half-asleep 'what shall I wear?' phase in the morning where I used to wander round in a zombie-like way plucking things from my wardrobe and discarding them.

I get up and do one small job when the adverts come on. Put the washing up away, start the washing off, put shoes away etc.

I delegate. Heavily.

Great idea. A few years ago I was on the 52 changes thread, which was about making little changes each week. Some of them have stuck, some not .

Yoga every morning, either Yoga with Adriene on YouTube or Shiva Rea dvd, made easier with yoga mat, blocks etc. in the corner of living room.
Headspace meditation, app on my tablet, even if only a quick 1 min one
Getting everything ready the night before, encouraging dd (12) to do the same
Meal plan, but I have a quite basic guide, rather than detailed:
Monday - Fish
Tuesday - Taco night (Mexican of some sort)
Wednesday - Fish
Thursday - wildcard (whatever we fancy)
Friday - Fish
Saturday - Meat
Sunday - Slow cooker meal, after day out
No housework rota, as such, but a weekly list of what to do, that gets done in priority order
Using Fitbit to track steps and MFP to track food
Going to bed early and no screens after 9pm

Have a nice candle burning every night whilst I’m relaxing and watching tv. I also have a stockpile.
I buy a luxury hand wash to use (this makes me happy)
I meal plan and I never used to. I buy the food for the whole week, freeze some and leave some in fridge and since January it’s been working very well as I was finding I was going to my local shop most days and spending a small fortune.
I post 1 photo on Instagram every day. I find the pics comforting to look back on (say from this time last year)

We have a kettle in the bedroom and a cafetiere. We take milk in insulated cups up the night before and make coffee upstairs - saves time and distractions in the kitchen when you go downstairs to make a drink and end up doing other things instead of getting ready. Nice at the weekend too!

^

This has gotta be my fave

most days if I am working from home I have short nap after lunch (as part of my self-allotted time as we're not clock watchers). I set the alarm for 10 mins, get on the bed & pull a throw over myself. I wake up energised and un-stressed.

Highly recommend it!

Fixed time for exercise-
Make lists and cross off things
Iron clothes as I go along
Wake up one hour earlier

Smile at myself every time I look in the mirror. It makes my face much more attractive and thus makes me feel more accepting of the rest of my bocy, and it's always good to have someone smile at you.

Putting a few euro coins or two-euro coins into a money box whenever I have a lot of change. It adds up eventually and I buy myself something nice I otherwise 'can't afford'.
Every evening, think of three nice things that happened.
For an early start, arrange every last little thing and lay it out before bed.
Put mending aside asap and then just do it.

Fabulous thread. I'm going to attempt to compile a list of some that appeal to me.

Just marking my place...loads of great ideas

I forgot I do this till someone mentioned similar. You're supposed to do it every night but I've lapsed into once or twice a week. Write in a notebook 3 good things that have happened that day. It can be something as simple as the sun was shining all day, or the sun came out today Or someone held the door open for me, or I had chocolate or I watched a good telly programme or the traffic wasn't as bad as it usually is on way to work. Anything. Sometimes it's hard to find anything if you're fed up or things are going badly but there is always 3 things you can find. I'd got into a habit of being quite negative and moany but I read about this somewhere and doing it every day it really helped my outlook on life. I'm much more grateful and aware of the simple things in life now.