Resolutions from a mom for her family

    As we are coming up on a new year I have been thinking a lot about resolutions.  The past four years I have been... well lets just say surviving.  It seems like the last four years (the years I have been a mother) have been a bit stressful and I have not had a lot of time for improving our lives.  As my youngest has turned one and is starting to be a bit more independent I am realizing where some of our weaknesses as a family are.  So this year I am really going to work on setting up new behaviors for me that play an integral part in my families activities.  I know that I can't make resolutions for anyone else but I am hoping that my behaviors will have a positive impact on my family.

   So here is what I have come up with.  There are three areas in my life that I know need some big changes; home organization, healthy eating, and finances.  Ideally I would love to have a clutter free, clean home while eating non processed "Real food", and have no debt.  Now I know that is a big order for immediate change.  What I have decided to do is each month make a new resolution in each area.  So I will have three little projects each month to improve our family.  Each month I will build on the old resolutions or tweak them for what will work for our family and add new ones.  So here we go

January:

Organized home:  There is one room in my house that drives me crazy every night.  That room is my bedroom.  I used to watch all those home improvement shows where they would remake a couples bedroom and call it their sanctuary.  My room is absolutely not my sanctuary.  Every flat space in our room has junk on it.  In January I am going to declutter our room and keep it that way.  This is going to include cleaning all dresser tops and not piling junk on top every night. I will also go through my closet and drawers and get rid of clothes I don't need.  I am 40 pounds lighter than I was in January 2012 so there are lots of clothes that no longer fit me so they need to go.  My biggest struggle is keeping the lid to my hamper cleaned off.  It always has stuff piled on it so I am constantly leaving clothes on the floor.  So at the end of each night I will not go to sleep if there are clothes on the floor.  I know I was working on this a few months ago but this time I am going to stick too it!

This madness has to stop

Nutrition:  I want to get on the road to eating non processed real food.  For awhile last year I had given up soda but I had one every once in awhile.  I am going to continue on that route, no soda or sugared drinks.  I am going to drink water, tea, milk and the occasional glass of wine.  This is not too big of a commitment.  I have been doing this for a few months but I had a few slip ups.  

   My big commitment in January is going to be eating out, or I should say not eating out.  I want to limit my eating out to only twice this month.  I don't know if my husband will be on board with this but I hope he will be.  Not only is this for healthy eating but it should help with our finances.  My plan to avoid the urge to go out is to have meal plans ready.  When I have the food planned out I am much more willing to go into the kitchen and cook it then when I have to just come up with something random.  Besides dinners, I have a horrible habit of getting the kids fast food or snacks from Starbucks when we are in a rush.  So in January there will be no fast food/Starbucks stops with the kids.  On days when we frequently have stopped before I am going to pack lunches or snacks to have on hand for the kids.  

Finances:  This month I am not going to purchase anything expect for groceries and house hold items such as toiletries and paper goods.  This is going to be a hard one for me. Obviously this one wont go all year long but I am going to see how it goes for the month.  I am terrible about going into target for diapers and walking out with over $100 in things I didn't plan on buying.  I think this will not only help with keeping our finances under control but I want the kids to see that they can't always just buy everything they want.  Often when we go to the store they are asking me non stop for things they want.  I don't want them growing up with a sense of entitlement.  I truly want them to learn patience and the ability to wait for things they really want.

  When I told Ray about my ideas he said, but I really wanted to do a project with my new tools.  Like I said, these goals are for me and I won't make him not purchase things.  He did say maybe his first project could be something for our bedroom to help with organization, or maybe a nightstand.  

So here it is...a mother's resolutions for family improvement. I will update on our progress at the end of the month and set up my February goals.

Who wouldn't want to make improvements for these adorable kiddos!!