It's the start of a new year and a new month. So its also time to start on a new 30 day Project. December’s 30 day Project was just coming up with Project ideas, and, although, the ideas slowed down a bit toward the end of the month, there are still plenty of good ones to choose from . The holidays slowed down posting significantly, and then on the tail ed of the holiday, I got sick (as did most of the county). So now here we are, ready to start doing actual projects instead of talking about what projects to do. Here's my first 30 day Project of 2022:
Comprehensive Financial Recording
I handle almost all the finances in my house. My wife doesn't really know much about them or really care. Finance interests me and doesn't interest her at all. But we are both getting concerned about what will happen if something were to happen to me. Our financial life and investments are . . complicated. And I would not expect her (or most normal people) to be able to figure out a lot of what and why we are doing things. Our first step was to get a financial advisor on Board – someone who isn’t me who knows about our finances and can provide good advice to my wife if I cant for whatever reason. We did that last year.
But I have a lot of investments that I manage myself and she would need tp understand what they are and how to get access. She has been after me for several years to make a physical book with all of this information in it. So that is what I will be doing this month. Creating a book on waterproof paper to keep with our estate and other important records that explains our financial life.
I will not be adding to the blog much this month while I work on this, maybe an occasional update here and there, but you should (if you have not already) for this month and regroup here a the end for some accountability. I will do the same.
Social media is the joy and bane of our modern existence. It's wonderful to connect all your friends and family, but it's also terrifying, anxiety-inducing, and highly addictive. And, as everyone knows, it's a giant timesuck. Wall-E may have had it right – we may all degenerate into wheel-chair bound, out of shape, social media zombies.
In that tone, here are some things you can do try with social media for a 30 day challenge.
Stop posting. Put a pause on posting and checking social media. A complete cold turkey is hard, but certainly doable, especially for only 30 days. Try it and see if you feel better. I guarantee you that ot will all still be there 30 days later.
Post every day. Here s the opposite strategy. Full engagement. Post every day. Shock and awe your friends. At least for 30 days. See what happens and how you feel at the end. My guess is elation initially, then depression. Try It if you are interested.
Friend purge. Take a good look at your friends. I will need the ones that aren't really friends and focus on what's important. My guess is that you enjoy social media a little more even if you reach isn't as far. Plan to have your list of friends and criteria for friend selection solid by the end of the 30 days.
Friend explosion. Again, the opposite strategy. Friend everybody. It's like the movie “Yes Man.” Say yes to every friend request. Send anyone you know a friend request. Just see what happens. This is actually a good strategy on Twitter to build your following. Not sure how effective it'll be on Facebook or Instagram though. You may enjoy it.
Privacy check up. This should be a regular challenge for all social media networks. The social networks constantly change their privacy settings. And you have to constantly stay on top of it. Otherwise, you're broadcasting all your personal details to the world. Some people are fine with that, but many are not. At least be aware of what you're doing. Try to understand all the privacy settings f each network so you will be all adjusted and up to date by the end of 30 days. Then scheduled the challenge again in another year or so.
Develop social media estate plan. This is something often overlooked. What happens to your posts after your death? If your friends and family don't have your passwords, it will be difficult to do anything with the posts and profile. Develop a plan upfront on how to deal with these issues and what your wishes are. Our social media profiles have become important parts of our lives, and they should be treated no differently than any other important part of your life. Take 30 days and come up with a plan.
The “No Spend” challenge has become a thing lately. So here are a few ideas for a 30 day “No Spend” challenge:
1. Stop buying books. If you are like me, you have way too many unread books sitting on a bookshelf. Stop buying books. Take a break and read some of the books you have before you buy more. Just for 30 days. Save a little money.
2. Stop buying clothes. Same as with books. You most certainly have enough clothes to make it a month without any new ones. Try it. Save a little cash. Maybe clean out your wardrobe instead.
3. Stop buying lunch. An easy to try “No Spend” challenge. Pack a lunch instead. I wont be doing this one though. Lunch is not only a place to eat for me, but a time to recharge. So I wont be slumming in the work area with my sandwich. I will be out and about.
4. Stop buying takeout food. I know a bunch of people that could save a lot of money by adopting this challenge of for 30 days. A lot . . .
5. Stop going to restaurants. Harder than giving up takeout, but remember it is only for 30 days.
Here are some ideas to reduce the clutter in your life over the next 30 days.
Cleanup 15 minutes every day. Is there some part of your life that has been a mess lately. Take 15 minutes every day and work on it for 30 consecutive days. Set a timer for 15 minutes and reduce clutter until the bell rings. A little each day goes a long way. You will be surprised how much progress there has been in 30 days.
Sell some stuff. Do you have too much stuff? Sell some of it. Use Facebook marketplace for eBay or whatever you like. Just decide to go on a selling spree over the next 30 days. You get rid of some stuff and make a little coin too.
Organize your closets. If you have closets, I would be willing to bet that they are messy or disorganized. Over the next 30 days go through everything in your closet and fix it. Get rod of junk. Make it nice. You don't have to do something every day, maybe mark out an hour or two on the weekend or 15 minutes each night.
Clean out your “room/garage/ kitchen”: Same thoughts as before. Just pick a room and work on it you do every day or an hour on the weekend, whatever it tales. Just write it down, make a plan, and do it.
Lose you Storage Shed. Storage shed use is growing and growing and growing. And honestly, unless you're moving or are in between homes, you don't need one. It's just sitting there wasting your money. Figure out what to do with it, make a plan, and execute it in the next 30 days.
Here are a few ideas for a 30 day challenge based on or related to your
Trade stocks. if you've always thought you wanted to be a “trader”, try it for a month. Set a side a small amount of money for trading stocks as much as much as you want in 30 days. Ttrack it and see how you do. This way you can kill the urge and maybe not take too big off a risk while you learn if you like it and how to do it.
Evaluate your insurance. Not sexy, but most of us neglect our insurance needs. So take the next 30 days look at your coverage, make changes as necessary, and sleep better in the future. Make sure you look at your life insurance and long term care insurance needs too.
Pay down debt. Take next 30 days and put all your extra money into paying down your debt. I recommend picking and being consistent about your payoff system, but you can do anything you want.
Follow a budget. If you don't like budgeting want to try it, you could set up a quick monthly budget and try to follow.
Evaluate your estate plan. This is another area that's often neglected. If you don't have an estate plan, take the next 30 days to get one. If you have one, pick the next 30 days to evaluate it and sit down with your spouse or family to see if it's what you want. It's a good idea to look at this every five years or so anyway, especially as your life changes, (marriages, divorces, kids kids leaving home, deaths, etc…)
I am not a particularly religious person, but it is still a huge part of many people lives. And if you are not religious but want to explore more or gain better knowledge of something that billions of people all over the globe experience, perhaps a religious related challenge is for you. Here are some:
Read the Bible / Quran / Religious text. Easy (3). Take 30 days and read the scared text of your religion or someone else’s. Here is a list of the Sacred Texts of the Major World’s Religions. Find one and check it out for 30 days.
Pray / Meditate. Easy (1-3). Every day for 30 days take some time to pray. Just one to thirty minutes will do it. Buy a daily prayer or mediation book and use it.
Go to Church. Easy to Average (3-5). Go to or visit a church for a month. Try a new church or go to your own church if you stopped going.
Plan a trip to a Sacred Religious Site. Average to Difficult (5-8). Find an interesting sacred religious site somewhere in the world and plan a trip there. There are many, but here is a list of some of the most famous ones. Obviously, you dont have to go to the site within 30 days, just plan the trip. Make it a goal to have a designation selected and trip planned by the end of the month.
Get involved. Easy to Average (3-5). Dedicate yourself to getting more involved in your church or religious group. Join a small group. Lead a class. Go to a class. Reach out to your fellow members. Do something, anything to get more involved. Try it. You need only commit for 30 days and see how it goes.
Well, after planning to post everyday this month about 30 Day challenges, I dropped the ball. I attended a series of Christmas parties over the past 3 nights – it is that time of the year. And I got back home later and later each night and it took me longer and longer to recover. So I was not able to post the past few days. . . .
And you know what. It’s OK. So I missed a day or two. One important lesson is doing any kind of daily plan – whether is is a 30 day challenge, or weight loss or exercise – is that that you can (and should) start all over again tomorrow. A miss or two doesn’t doom your plan – they happen and it is fine.
So that is my lesson for today. I am still dragging a bit and am going to bed early tonight to get some rest. But I did want to post. I didn’t want to miss another one. It is when you miss a few consecutive days is when you get in rouble.
So, if you miss, always remember hat tomorrow is a new day. And you can start anew….
Here are five 30 day challenges that involve exercise
Run a 5k. Average to Difficult (4-8, depending on fitness level). This is a classic challenge and, truly, most people starting at average fitness can run a 5K with 30 days of training. If you dont exercise at all, you may need a little more time, but you can certainly get started or make it a 60 day challenge. Couch to 5K is a popular plan, and there are even apps for it.
Walk every day – Easy (3). Just get out and go for a walk every day for a month, or maybe 5 days a week for a month (2 rest days). Walking is one of the best exercises for you and it is easy to do. You could also set a mileage goal for a month, weekly, or daily.
Daily Calisthenics (Push ups, Abs, etc . . ). Easy to Average (3-6). Commit to doing some basic calisthenics every day (or 5 days a week) for a month. You will feel better and it does not require an equipment and takes only 5-15 mins tops. It is something you could easy add to your daily routine – even the under-busy.
Daily Steps. Easy (3). Similar to dedicated walking, this is also walking, but often without a dedicated walk. Just commit to taking XXXXX number of steps each day (7500, 10000, etc . . . ) Dont overcommit yourself at first. Make sure it is something you can do consistently for 30 days. Fitness trackers and watches make this quite a bit easier than it was in the past.
Strength Training. (Average (5-7). Commit to a strength training regime for 30 days and see how you feel at the end of it. My guess is much better. Too make it easier buy some at home dumbbells so you dont even have to go to a gym, can do it in your living room. I can recommend the Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells, but anything will work. Start getting big and bulky in 30 days!
Here are five 30 day challenges that involve food.
Skip breakfast. Easy (2). You could skip breakfast everyday for a month and see how that works for you. Some may like it, some not. I know many people who only have a cup of coffee until noon.
Eat breakfast every day. Easy (1). The reverse of skipping. Make sure you eat something for breakfast every day for a month. Can be something small or big, but make sure you get some food in your stomach. You may feel better.
Try fasting. Average to Difficult (5-8). Fasting is all the current rage. I recommend looking at Dr. Fung’s videos and books, but there are a lot of great fasting resources out there. Try it for 30 days. Try different types of fasting. It can and does work for some.
Stop eating French fries. Easy (2-3). This is a sneaky easy way to I prove your diet. Fresh Fries are an American fast food staple. Give them up for a month and see how you feel. Get the fruit cup instead.
Drink water. Easy (2). Water can fill you up, suppress hunger, and is good for you. Drink a certain number of glasses a day a day for a month. See how it make you feel.
Well, you first have to pick something to do for 30 consecutive days or a goal to complete in 30 days. It can be as easy or as hard as you want. My first 30 day challenge is to provide a list of challenges daily that anyone can do to join the Club. By the end of the month, we should have plenty of options or ideas for Club members to choose from.
Each challenge will be rated as Easy, Average, or Difficult, and also have a rating on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest, 10 being the most difficult. Think brushing your teeth as a 1, and writing a novel as a 9 or 10. Keep coming back to site because I will be slowly adding them all after posting to an idea page. I will try to do 5 a day. If so, I will have over 180 challenge ideas by the end of the month.
Here are my Day One ideas for a 30 day challenge.
Check and track your weight every day. Easy (1). Benefits. if you track something, you can better understand it, then control or change it.
Journal every day. Easy (3). Benefits. Improve your writing, introspection, clearer thinking. Etc-
Blog every day. Average to Difficult (5-8). Harder than you think, but you could make it as simple as positing a picture a day, to as hard as writing a 2500 word post daily.
Have a Movie Month. Easy to Average (3-6). Do you have a list of movies you have always wanted to see? Or would you like to watch every Best Picture winning movie from the 1930s forward. You can do it as a challenge. Watch a movie a day, or a dah on the weekends, or 3 says a week, whatever works for you.
Read a book. Easy to Average (4-7). Like the Movie Month, read a book or books that you have always wanted to read. Have you it read a book in a while? Do it next month. Just carve out some daily time and read a chapter a day, 50 pages a day, or whatever it takes to get through your book(s).