Earlier today I took a picture of myself and balked when I looked at it. “Omg!” I thought. “I can’t be this fat!”

Truth be told this was nothing new to me. I had gained 10 pounds in the earlier part of the year. Then I lost a few, gained it back, lost it again and gained it right back. So here I was again, disgusted and ready to do something about it.

“No. For real… This is ridiculous! I’m going home tonight and I’m going to get on that air climber and go for 30…NO! FORTY-FIVE minutes.” Take that fat! The rest of the evening I plotted what else I would do to lose this weight. I smiled inwardly thinking, “You’re so bad ass.”

Three hours later I walk in the house still semi revved up. However, with each step towards my bedroom, where I keep my make-shift gym, I lost more gumption to do any physical activity and thought, “Eh…tomorrow.”

Now, truthfully, how many times have you done that? How many sweet goals rest on the promises of tomorrow? Except…one tomorrow turns into 50 tomorrow’s and it’s only until the next horrific picture you see that you gasp and think, “I gotta do something about this!”

In contrast, two weeks ago I came across a blog post shared casually on FB. A woman in the UK drank 12 glasses of water for 28 days and experienced miraculous health benefits. On top of that her before picture looked 10 years older than her after picture. When I saw this I thought, “I want to do this. I need to do this.” I forwarded the article to my best friend and asked if she was in? She was.

Since then we have been drinking approximately 96 ounces a day, give or take a few (we’re not perfect). Each day we check in-in between our regular texts and say, “how much did you drink today?” We congratulate each other, “Wow! Look at you!” when we are making good progress, give tips to the other when we’re not, but most of all we each get motivated from the check in and run to get more water seeking to fill our quota. All this is done in a loving, non-competitive way and though I haven’t been perfect I feel like I’m drinking more water than I ever have in my life. We have two weeks to go. There is nothing like having an accountability partner. This is how I accomplish most tasks in life. In fact, it is how I encourage most people to accomplish theirs as well.

What is your vice? Are you fighting with the same 10 pounds like me? Or is it budgeting? Time management? Saving? Or even going back to school? Make your best friend, your coworker or any old trustworthy random, your accountability partner and do the following things.

 1. Set a goal.

2. Break the goal up into the smallest parts possible.

3. Decide how you will help your partner and how they will help you.

4. Put the plan in action.

5. Check in regularly.

Having someone you know you are accountable to defeats the resident procrastinator within that says, “You know what?…I’ll do it tomorrow.” I’m going to revisit my weight loss goals and find someone to be my accountability partner on the matter and hopefully some day soon I can tell you how much weight I’ve lost.

Who needs an accountability partner? Maybe two or a few of you Frugalista’s can pair up and attack some of your goals. Let’s start a dialogue in the comment section below.

[info_box type=”alert_box”]Caring for yourself including takes care of your finances.  I encourage all ladies who are serious about self-care to go on The Happy Finances Challenge. In 42 days you can learn to make money decisions that will lead to long-term financial happiness. [/info_box]