New Year’s Resolutions

Current Mood:

First, some trivia that I found around the web…

History of New Year’s Resolutions:

The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.
Source: http://www.goalsguy.com/Events/n_facts.html

Top Ten Resolutions People Make:
1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Tame the Bulge
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get Out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized
Source: http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm

Tips to Successful New Year’s Resolutions:
1. Create a Plan
2. Create Your Plan IMMEDIATELY
3. Write Down Your Resolution and Plan
4. Think “Year Round,” Not Just New Year’s
5. Remain Flexible
Source: http://www.mygoals.com/about/NewYearsTips.html

So I hadn’t had a chance to take a breath, much less make New Year’s Resolutions. Frankly, I’m not sure why I bother since they always get broken within a month of making. But there is something about a new year that prompts making new starts. You don’t have the baggage of past failing months to bog you down. A new year, new goals.

So here are some of my New Year’s Resolutions/Goals for 2008:

1) Make my relationship with God a priority

I tried making it a priority in 2007. But when I was pregnant and so sick for so long, everything seemed to slip by the wayside. I stopped going to church, stopped reading my Bible, and didn’t hardly pray at all. And my actions showed it.

Somehow, even when I have trouble just finding time in the day to take a shower, I must fit in time for God. He can’t be in the backseat. He needs to be the driver.

Plans:

Read one chapter of the Bible every day.

Set aside 15 minutes are devotions and prayer.

Participate in an online Bible study… be accountable to someone else.

Go to bed early on Saturday nights so that I can actually wake up for church Sunday morning. (Sounds easy… but for me, not.)

I know it sounds easy enough but with an infant, a demanding 2 year old, and homeschooled 9 year old, PLUS a part time job… it is not going to be easy. But baby steps. January I will begin by reading a chapter a day in my Bible. Febuary, I’ll add another baby step goal, and so on until I have carved out time to build my relationship with God as it should be.

2) Focus more on my family

I feel like I have been stretched thin sometimes. I need to focus on my family more than anything else. Re-prioritize my duties…

Plans:

God has given me the role as a wife to support and encourage my husband. I need to provide a safe, calm haven for him to come home to after work. I need to have a meal ready for him and keep his clothes clean and ready for him. I need to provide encouragement to him whenever I can. I think I try to do all these things already but I know I could so much more for him… or do it better…

God has given me 3 beautiful kids. They are growing up so fast. Yet, how much time have I not just been with them but actually engaged with them. Undivided attention. Focused. I don’t feel I have focused much at all. God has entrusted me to teach them about Him. But I have failed at that this past year. 2008 will be different. For my oldest daughter, I’ll start by simply adding a girl’s devotional reading each day and bedtime prayer. We’ll also read a chapter from her Bible every day as well. Because Rachel is so young, we’ll just read a bit from her New Living Translation Story Bible Series. We have read her from books 1, 2, and 3. She seems to really like listening to them but it has been awhile since we have done so. I’d like to play Bible songs on the CD player as well during the day.

3) Take better care of myself

Ahhh, my yearly resolution… this year will be different. (I say that every year.)

Plans:

Drink more water. Cut down on the Pepsi. This one will be my hardest yet as I am addicted to Pepsi. I will start by substituting every other Pepsi with a glass of water.

Eat healthier. This really boils down to better planning of meals. Buying healthier and cooking healthier = eating healthier. I’ll use my cookbooks more when planning my dinner meals. Cut down on junk foods (I used to never keep any junk food in the house until I got pregnant.)

Exercise. Well, it is winter and I *don’t* do the cold. Period. So this plan will wait until spring unless we manage to swing a YMCA membership. Perhaps for wintertime I’ll look into a video alternative? Summertime is much easier… we go to park days, start walking in the evenings, etc. will help me get moving more.

4) Make more time for me

I never do this. I am awful about taking time for me. It seems the only time I have to actually do the things *I* want to do is after midnight. But I also know that when I do get time for me, I am a better person - wife and mom - for it.

Plans:

Carve out 30 minutes a day for me. When the baby goes down for a long nap, ask my oldest daughter or my husband to watch Rachel so I can do something for fun.

I started a new hobby: photography. I love it, too. It allows me to do something creative and gives me down time. If I can use a portion of my 30 minutes, it will be spent doing this relaxing hobby.

5) Learn to manage my time better

Oh man, is this a hard one for me. I have a part-time job (20 hours/week), a webhosting and design company (10-20 hours/week), and manage an online parenting community (10-20 hours/week). On top of that, I have an infant that is nursed every 3 hours, a 2.5 year old who is demanding, and a 9.5 year old who is homeschooled. Let’s not forget that I also am responsible for cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and cooking. I just don’t have time for anything else. I don’t even get daily showers most of the time!

My problem? I know I am not managing my time right. (And maybe taking on too much?)

Plans:

I live by lists! Without lists, I get distracted and never return to whatever it was I was first doing. I started trying to use “Motivated Moms” but never followed through after I gave birth. (I’m a FlyLady flunkie as well.) Perhaps I will try it again?

Read other WAHM stories to see how they manage their time. Find support for WAHMs so I can glean practical in-real-life tips that I can use.

6) Be more strategic in my business pursuits

I have a web hosting and design company. Why has it not grown in the last year? Because I haven’t been strategic about growing the business! Any websites I have design or hosted as come to me purely by word of mouth and not purposeful planning or advertising on my part. It could grow by leaps and bounds. Because I target small businesses as potential clients, I know there is a need in the market for affordable hosting and design, but I don’t follow through in advertising and reaching the market. Now in my defense, I’d say it was because I was pregnant and baby mooning for much of 2007. But is that really an excuse?

Plans:

Finish my web hosting/design website. It is 1/2 way complete. It has been 1/2 way complete for quite some time now. Time to finish it!

Start advertising. Word-of-mouth is wonderful but not enough. I need to advertise locally and online in the communities I frequent since those have the main target audience I am reaching (WAHM/Ds).

Be more strategic with my online community. Start accepting some “minor” advertising… to start: enough to pay its own bills.

Register my business name with the State of Michigan.

Start keeping track of business expenses to write off next tax year.

Upgrade my design software… I so badly need this but at $800 for one essential software that I need, it is not in our budget to do so. But unfortunately that software is something I need to do my job successfully. Not sure if that is a plan that could be accomplished in 2008.

Upgrade my hardware. I need a scanner/copier. A professional grade camera as well. I’m doing OK with my laptop, though, so that is good.

7) A greener kitchen

For the past 1.5 years, I have been slowly transitioning my home to be healthier and less toxic. My family now uses natural soap and shampoo. We use non-toxic cleaners and natural laundry soap. We’ve been ditching the plastic toys for wooden and natural toys. We use cloth diapers instead of disposables. Slowly but surely we are trying to live a more natural life.

My goal for 2008 is to transform my kitchen into a healthier kitchen.

Plans:

Replace my cookware with cast iron and stainless steel cookware. We bought 2 cast iron cookware from Lodge and are impressed with the quality. I’d like to add to the pan and dutch oven we have.

Replace our plastic dishes and cups with glass/ceramic dishware.

Replace our bakeware with an alternative solution. Still researching this. I can get muffin pans that are cast iron but I am unsure about my cookie sheet.

Replace my storage plastic containers with glass. After cookware, this will be our 2nd most costly replacement.

Replace my plastic cooking utensils with ??? I know metal will scratch non-stick surfaces but will it work for stainless steel or cast iron? It’s another thing that I’ll need to research.

Buy more dish towels so I do not need to use paper towels. Buy cloth napkins instead of using paper.

The only items I may not replace are the plastic sippy cups. I am just not sure that a toddler and glass will be practical.

Our goal is to replace one item a month, therefore spreading the cost of new kitchen items out over 12 months. It will be budgeted in with our household needs. And by 2009 our kitchen will be greener and healthier!

8 ) Purge the junk in our house

All last year, I have been on this kick of purging junk from our home. I am continuing this project into 2008.

Plans:

One room one month at a time.

Donate, sell, trash the stuff we don’t need or use.

Stop buying so much, adding to the clutter.

Shop strategically. No more buying toys that get pushed to the side in boredom within a month. No more items that have limited uses. Checking out books whenever possible instead of buying. Take the toys for example: Shopping strategically means buying toys at discounted rates when possible, that are well-made, can-last-through-several kids quality, and are not only non-toxic and natural but that encourages creative play.

I think that is enough for me to tackle in 2008. LOL I hope by taking baby steps each month that I can succeed this year in keeping and accomplishing my goals this year.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? :)