LESS Alcohol ~ FEBRUARY 2025 ~ One Day at A Time

Well, my husband had a doctor appointment in town today. And, he did what @NonnieDoiron's husband does...he bought me a pint of Jim Beam. It didn't magically appear on the counter though. He had it stashed. I had no idea it was here.

I was kind of bored, so I decided to go across the street to play the slots. I was thinking to myself, "I better not drink any beer because then I'll want to go to the liquor store". When I told him that I was going across the street, he said, "Well, I know you'll drink beer and then want to go to the liquor store. So I saved you a trip 🙂" I thought...well, I might as well have a couple of beers. And then to a add insult to injury, I lost!

February:
AF - 3
A - 3

Born2Run1958 wrote: »

Hope everyone has a great day. Question, how many if any plan to imbibe on Super Bowl Sunday?
Jan 31 AF 0 A
Feb 5 AF 0 A
Sharon

Probably won’t even bother to watch the game. I used to be a huge football fan, but my husband is really not into it. He’d rather watch movies all day. So since we’ve been married, I think I’ve only watched one Super Bowl, and he played on the computer in another room the whole time. I don’t watch football anymore.

All that to say, more than likely, I won’t drink. But, if I do, it’s not because of football. 😁

SurferGirl1982 wrote: »

Well, my husband had a doctor appointment in town today. And, he did what @NonnieDoiron's husband does...he bought me a pint of Jim Beam. It didn't magically appear on the counter though. He had it stashed. I had no idea it was here.

I was kind of bored, so I decided to go across the street to play the slots. I was thinking to myself, "I better not drink any beer because then I'll want to go to the liquor store". When I told him that I was going across the street, he said, "Well, I know you'll drink beer and then want to go to the liquor store. So I saved you a trip 🙂" I thought...well, I might as well have a couple of beers. And then to a add insult to injury, I lost!

February:
AF - 3
A - 3

In their efforts to be kind and loving husbands, they don’t often help us in the right way. It’s hard to be mad at them when we know they are just showing their love and thinking they are doing us a favor. And, then we are even less bothered by it when we’re drinking it thinking “so glad he got this!” It’s such a conundrum sometimes.

@NonnieDoiron Your house sound just like mine and I would also be interested in a good cleaning routine.
@SurferGirl1982 If I had slots across the street from me, I'd be broke and drunk all the time :hugs:

I just drank my sparkling water last night. I was going to have one of 0.0 Stellas, but I decided to save them for Super Bowl in case I get an urge to drink. Plus I didn't want to waste the calories on drink. Isn't if funny how I'll do that for a few glasses of wine and plan my whole day around it but won't drink 60 calories in an NA beer

AF = 4
A = 2

@NonnieDoiron my mother was right… do a little bit every day and it’s easy to keep clean. You never have to do the full, big , overwhelming cleaning. So, here is my schedule (based around my part time job):

Tuesdays: Bathrooms

Thursdays: dust (including baseboards). This is a good time to put things back where they belong is they’ve been out for a couple days.

Fridays: vacuum and wash the floors

Every day: make bed, run dishwasher at night, and clean counters after each meal.

As needed in between scheduled days: clean spills. Touch up bathrooms.

I find that my house gets a little shaggy after a week, and by two weeks it’s a real mess. If I don’t keep up with the above schedule, my house quickly turns into a disaster zone, and then I have the big project of deep cleaning it to start fresh.

As for decluttering, start very small. Clean out the junk drawer. Just one. Clean off just one small section of your kitchen countertop. And then move on to another small section. All in all, you can see a huge impact with just 10 minutes per day. I usually start with public areas. Paperwork and photos are last.

Need to donate something? Put it in your car for a once per week donation drop off. Just get it out of your house. Forget trying to sell stuff, I’ve found it’s a huge waste of time. The first axiom of declutterring is “nobody wants your old crap”. Just donate and take the write-off. Don’t be afraid of throwing things out. Stained ripped clothes? Broken toys? Nobody wants that, even at a thrift store. Throw it out.

If you have big bulky items, hire one of those junk removal services. I’ve found they are very reasonably priced and they deal lifting and getting rid of heavy stuff.

Here are some great books on the subject:

“A Slob comes clean” by Dana K. White

“Decluttering at the speed of life” by Dana K. White

“How to keep house while drowning” by KC Davis

“Unf*ck your habitat” by Rachel Hoffman

“The life-changing habit of tidying up-“ Marie Kondo

Ok as for others in your house…. Sometimes you just have to say to them all “put your *kitten* away”. They need to build the habit of putting things where they belong-even if it’s a ten minute pick-up before bed. If things don’t get have a place, find one. Once you start decluttering , you’ll have room in your storage areas for the stuff you want to keep that just doesn’t fit right now.

If your daughter can’t reach everyday items, move them to somewhere more accessible to increase the chance that she can easily put them back. Same with your MIL’s breakfast items. At least put them in a cute container on the counter if she’s really going to struggle.

Clearly this is something I am very passionate about. I grew up in a very cluttered, but clean house, and I’m kind of ruthless getting rid of stuff. I love a lived-in, inviting and comfortable home, but I know what you mean about feeling all the stuff encroaching on you. We all need some breathing room!

Hope this helps! It’s all common sense, but schedule it like you would schedule a meeting or a hair appointment.

My AF streak ended today....hard to not have a beer when sitting on a beach in Naples, FL.....80ish degrees, perfect weather, slight breeze....just have to start over after i get back to Texas....😀

Feb...
AF - 6
A - 1

AF streak - 37....

Entirely too much to document but we had a good evening

Did buy Stella 0,0. Anxious to try and too wonder if I threw away $$$

Going to be an early night 😅

My Feb:
AF=3
A=4

5 mo. + 7 days AF done for Feb. Today going out to lunch with friends (a spot that does not sell wine, so that was an easy one). Superbowl husband is making "bourbon" wings (Weber smoker). https://oklahomajoes.com/recipes/bourbon-smoked-chicken/

We substitute apricot preserves for the apply jelly. I'll make the "easy" side dishes like boil xl shrimp and mix horseradish and ketchup to make a shrimp cocktail. I'll try to get in a long 1000 calorie burn hike beforehand to earn my Superbowl calories.

@NonnieDoiron today I am intentionally skipping the gym to do a "full" house cleaning. That means the ceiling fans, blinds and oh heaven the nasty oven. I will initiate, then my husband will see me struggle, then he will get out the ladder and do a good % of the work.

My best tip to have a "cleaner" house - train the kids (or any others) right. I did a very bad job as a mom by giving my daughter routine cleaning responsibilities and she has a lovely home now but I didn't with my son. You can imagine what his nasty bachelor pad looks like. The best solution to a clean home: we need to clean LESS and assign cleaning jobs to all the house inhabitants, everyone putting in their % of the effort. If the kids are young-ish, have a reward system in place. If they're grown-ups, post the task list on the fridge or menu board so nobody "forgets".