Life is all about habits and I'm trying to establish them early.

My challenge this week is to clean up my rooms (bedroom and bathroom) each night (including wiping down all surfaces) and clearing the kitchen table. 

I'm also trying to do some stocking up of home cooked foods. I figure it's easier to make like items all at once (e.g. breads) and only dirty the kitchen a couple times. Today I made 2 weeks worth of bread. The little house on the prairie bread stays soft and good for that long. I also made biscuits, a pot pie, and some small cherry pies. 

Another thing I'm trying to get together is all my finances. I wanted to make a budget to keep my awareness up. I'm fortunate that I can spend a year at home with nominal "rent" and save for things down the road. It's never too early to invest in the future. I found this great secure website, mint.com, that pulls data from your checking and savings account and categorizes it to let you know how close you are to your monthly/quarterly/annual budget goals. You don't even have to save receipts! 

I'm very goal oriented with some things, and having a budget helps me with cutting back on impulse buys in the grocery store line if that's not where I want my money going. 

A fun thing that I've been doing the last couple of weeks is growing my own seedlings. Usually when mom and I plant flowers, they're ones we bought together. I am trying to make a window-box of my own, though, to take with me wherever I live. Plus herbs. One day I want to have a full kitchen garden with zucchini and parsnips and peppers. Our yard, however, lacks a full sun area to make that possible. I find myself moving my plants 3x a day just to make sure they get the sun they need. Plus spend some time under the florescent light. The seedlings are looking good though! It's so much fun!