New Years Resolutions

It’s that time of the year! Time for change, time to clear things out, time to regroup.  I love making New Year’s resolutions.  They act as my guide for the year.  They give me projects to focus on and push me to address something that I feel needs change.  Here are my resolutions for 2015!

• Plant a Garden
• Decorate the Kids’ Bedroom and Bathroom
• Work on getting the kids to sleep in newly decorated bedroom
• Live Simply: To be specific – No more useless spending on clothes that I do not need!
• Create a Cleaning Schedule

Plant a Garden

As a family, we enjoy spending a great deal of time outdoors.  With 2 toddlers running around in full-force, it’s nice to simply open up the backdoors and let them roam around outside.  I want to do more of that in the coming year.  I want to plant a garden and make it a family activity.  Let’s let the kids play in the dirt, water the plants and grow healthy foods that promote good health.  I’ve always had a small dream to grow a modest garden but never could find the time or the energy to do it.  I hope to make it happen this year.

Here’s a shot of our small area for gardening.

Decorate the Kids’ Bedroom and Bathroom

What can I say?  I love home decor projects!  This resolution is multifaceted though – I need to create a true space for the kids to play, sleep and live in.  I want my bedroom back!  Admittedly, I LOVE sleeping with Malia by my side.  After working long hours and only having a few hours of true quality time with her, it’s nice to feel her next to me when I sleep.

But she needs to have her own space.  And I need to reclaim mine!

Live Simply

As the kids’ stash of toys grow and we try to fit everything into our fairly large home, I’ve found myself often wondering “Why do we have so much crap?!?!”  And the truth is, we don’t need it.  I don’t care if the jeans at The Gap have an additional 40% off the clearance price….Do I need it?!?!?

The answer more often than not is, “No I don’t”.  So I’m going to spend this year clearing out the stuff I don’t need.  Curbing my spending and saving that money to serve a better purpose.

Create a Cleaning Schedule

Okay – housekeeping for a family is kind of a new thing for me.  Sure, I’ve been a parent for 3 years now, but that doesn’t mean I know what the heck I’m doing?!  However, I can’t keep going on barely keeping afloat when it comes to running the house.  It needs order.  It needs cleaning.  And at this point in time, my pride can’t handle adding a cleaning service to our monthly budget.