Four Reminders for the Fourth Month

How is it possibly already April? Twenty-twelve has exhausted its first quarter and I still feel like it’s February. As this flight-of-time encroaches as I age, I often need reminders for things that I might want to do, but tend to forget about as time barrels forward.

So here are a few reminders. Pick one that jumps out at you and make it happen this week.

1) Review Your Annual Aims

(time estimate: an hour or so)

If you made goals or resolutions for 2012, dust them off for a review. Personally and at work, physically and spiritually, are you purposing toward your aims as you’d hoped?

If you didn’t begin 2012 with setting a course for the year, consider setting aside an hour or two to reflect on things.

(For the past two years I’ve used this worksheet from SimpleMom.net. But this technique from Livestrong looks good, too.)

2) Care for Your Mattresses

(time estimate: 20 minutes)

According to mattress.com, it’s a good practice to rotate your mattress every 3 months. Most newer mattresses don’t need to be flipped, but if you have an older model, turn her over if you haven’t done so in a while. While you’ve got the sheets off, run a vacuum over the surfaces to remove any extra invisibles hanging around.

3) Clean Out Your Pantry

(time estimate: 15 minutes – 1 hour)

You can do a quick purge and just scan your pantry for things that have been in there a while and are either a) expired or b) unlikely to get used before they expire. In this quick purge, anything you can’t remember purchasing is a candidate for getting checked and/or chunked.

Alternatively, you can do a serious pantry cleanse. If you don’t already have a system for this, try this. Pull out an entire shelf at a time (onto the counter or another waist-high place) and then replace only what should be kept for future consumption. Pitch the rest. Repeat as time allows.

4) Preview Your Summer

(time estimate: 15-30 min)

Now is a great time to preview your summer. Maybe you’re hoping to take a vacation and you need to begin making arrangements. Perhaps you have home-improvement projects that could use a little forethought. It only takes a few minutes to prevent big things from sneaking up on you.

If you don’t already have a system in place, try this. Grab a piece of paper and spend about five minutes writing down anything that comes to mind about the upcoming months. Consider your home, your family, your well-being, your work… whatever floats across the gray. Once you’ve done that, pull out your calendar, scan the next five months or so and jot down anything that gets triggered as you scan. (Oh yeah, anniversary in August… what might we do?) Lastly, go through the list you’ve created and notes about anything that can be aided by acting on in the near future. Be sure to put those notes somewhere you’ll see them again.

These twenty minutes could save you a lot of money, a lot of grief, or both.

What About You?

What things do you regularly try to take care of in the spring? Have you done them yet?

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