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So glad to hear that about your daughter!!!

Health: I switched my toothbrush to a Sonicare, saves me a lot of time with my teeth brushing.

Finances: we set up an alert where any credit card charge over $50 sends both my husband and I an email, helps curb my impulse shopping because I know he's going to ask me if I needed that, and vice versa

Attitude: I am making June the month of positive thinking. I have been doom and gloom lately, but I am vowing to find the positive in all situations this month.

I started painting.

I am generally pretty athletic and play multiple team sports but painting is more of a "me" thing and helps me feel centered and more focused.

I don't actually know how *small* this is, but DH and I made a commitment to get up an hour earlier every week day and switch off going to the gym (which is 1/2 block from our house). He goes MWF, and I go TTh. On our days "off," the person at home uses that extra time to get ready earlier so we have more playtime with DD before work, to read, catch up on household stuff, etc.

This has had a MAJOR impact on our lives - we are sleeping better, less stressed, in better health mentally and physically... plus we are getting more done and feel like we have more time with DD. *I* also see the benefit because I feel like I am *finally* doing something that is all for me. (And I catch up on my tv shows while on the treadmill, which is a whole separate bonus.)

Other things that really help keep my life and finances balanced...

(1) We finally hired a regular babysitter so we get 2 Saturday date nights a month. We usually use one on ourselves and then do a double date to catch up with friends on the other night. It's definitely an expense, but so, so, SO worth the money and the effort for our marriage.

(2) I meal plan two weeks at a time and do one big grocery shopping trip every two weeks. (I have to do small stops for fish and produce in between.) We use our freezer a lot to make this work and have to get creative with plans and leftovers, but shopping and eating this way makes my life SO much easier.

(3) Amazon Subscribe & Save. I use it for everything I possibly can. It's a lifesaver (and sanity saver).

(4) While DD is eating breakfast and dinner in her high chair, I do as much kitchen stuff as I can - loading/unloading the dishwasher, packing lunches, prepping dinner... I have gotten really efficient and this allows me to give DD my 100% undivided attention for play time after dinner *and* keeps me from having to do a million things after she goes to bed. I like being able to just focus on DD for a while.

(5) DH and I sit down for dinner in the dining room most nights. We use nice linens, light candles, open wine... even if it's just Tuesday, it's important for our marriage to focus on each other and have real conversations rather than just plopping down in front of the tv. It takes a lot of energy to do this some nights, but I am always glad we did.

Personal health: drinking more water (its amazing how good it makes me feel) and cutting 'white' carbs (bread, white pasta, white rice).

Finance: Signing up for Mint.com (budgeting site), and sticking to a budget.

Food: meal planning and price-matching with flyers not only saves a lot of effort, but saves money too!

I moved downtown so I can literally walk everywhere- to her school, to the grocery, to target, next to an indoor/outdoor local upscale mall. It has changed my life. I walk her through her second nap! Now we get out every day.

No matter how tired I am I always feel better after a walk.

I also started eating whatever I want for breakfast. It works for me because then at night I can remind myself "I can eat ice cream for breakfast!" and it helps me not eat at night. Hey, whatever works! Baby steps... to me sustainability is key to lasting change, so I gotta start small.

Glad lo is doing better!

I automated as many bill-pays as I could (even those that fluctuate, I have a minimum amount set to be paid so even if I forget, at least they get a payment).

I went for e-bills on as much as I could to limit the amount of mail I have to go through (and for ID security, less statements and things in the trash).

Personal health: walking at least 3km every day

Finances: selling things I no longer need! I just recently sold 7 Coach bags that I haven't used in over two years... of course I didn't get close to what I paid for them, but I did get a big wad of cash, which I then used for things I actually do want/need

Food: tracking what I ate for 2 weeks straight. It really made me think about what's going into my body

Home: I have started cleaning one thing every day. I used to clean the entire house every Wednesday and Saturday and then I started to dread my full day of cleaning. Now I do what I can on other days of the week so that the "big cleaning days" are only 1-2 hours or so.

@TemperanceBrennan: This is awesome! I am going to do this and use the break to do my squat challenge and my kegels!

If you have the budget, get a robot vacuum cleaner. It's a lifesaver for us. I hate cleaning and this helps keep the mess at bay (since we run it on a schedule and know that it can't do its job unless the toys are put away) and it cuts down my floor sweeping to a weekly job rather than daily.

I also agree with paying yourself first. Put money away in a specially marked savings account and don't touch it.

I know this sounds really silly, but I started putting makeup on every day in the morning.
I've never been a huge makeup person (I probably wore it once a week before?) but weirdly this is improving my anxiety!

One, it gives me a few minutes of relative peace, focusing on myself, before getting into the cleaning and laundry and what not.
Second, I find that I'm much more likely to make impulse trips out of the house if I am already ready - and that's a good thing for my mental health and Vi loves it.
Third, I get more done on days when I've gotten "ready". It's like, ok, I'm ready, let's do the day! Otherwise I can get bogged down and end laying around feelings lobby and getting nothing done.

We started a meal plan program (with a little nudge from @TemperanceBrennan:) that we LOVE! Its called The Fresh 20. 20 unprocessed ingredients a week for 5 meals. It feels so nice to sit down and eat a real meal, and the plan saves us money and time.

Focusing on drinking water and almost exclusively water (save for the glass of juice I have -- no more than 8 oz. a day) helped me shave off a lot of calories.

Finance wise, I can say the thing that helped me the most was using a credit card like a debit card. I use it for all my purchases and then go online and pay it off immediately. I try not to spend outside my means, and as an added bonus I have a credit card with reward points, so once a year I get a nice item for free like a Bose radio or Dooney & Burke purse. It has helped increase my credit score tremendously.

This is a great thread! For me it was implementing a routine and a meal plan. When I fall off of those I always end up regretting it as my life falls into chaos.

A couple health related ones:

Before I had LO, the single best thing I did was to get myself to sleep longer by going to bed earlier. I used to stay up late reading or watching TV, but I felt so much better after I started getting an extra hour of sleep every day. Not sure if you could do that though! I hope when my LO starts STTN, I can get more sleep again.

Also, a few years back, DH and I got into the habit of bringing one piece of fruit and one container of cut up veggies to work every day. More recently we started drinking green shakes every morning. So now it's pretty automatic that we will both get a decent amount of fruit and veggies every day, no matter what.

I am 12.5 weeks postpartum and just went back to work. I also added yoga twice per week back into my schedule. There is an 8pm class on Wednesdays so I can still get home and nurse my son before I head to class, and then I go at 9:15 on Saturday mornings while my husband stays home with the baby.

I also found time for my husband to get back to the gym too. You have to take care of yourself; otherwise you will not be able to take care of anyone else.

@Kimberlybee: They will send you a sample week if you want to give it a whirl! It has really reduced my prep time/cooking time since the days flow into one another - for example, I cooked the whole flank steak for the nachos on another night for carne asada, and you reserved the other half for the nachos. They were yummy and easy!

working out regularly began for me in january and i've kept up with it since! first time ever in my 30 years of life. (aside from school sports)