I don't really do New Years resolutions. I find that's a great way to set yourself up to fail. However, in the upcoming year, I have some goals that I want to work on, which will hopefully allow me to better myself, and life for my family.
I wanted to make these changes anyway, and the new year just happened to coincide nicely. So I'll tell you what I'm up to today, and how that translates to the changes I want to make this year.
Today, I'm baking bread and planning a really yummy dinner with ingredients we already have. The dinner will hopefully have leftovers enough for a lunch or two and another dinner. I also downloaded a free Kindle book today (no, I don't have a Kindle, but I have a Kindle app on my Incredible 2) called Organized Simplicity. It was free today, which is awesome! How do these seemingly small things fit into the rest of the year? Let me tell you.
1) I want to become better organized at home. I'm pretty much a cluttered mess, and it makes me sad and drives me crazy. Brian puts up with it, but I doubt very much that he thinks it's wonderful. He's pretty much a neatnik, so I think that having a scatterbrained wife and a cluttered, messy home isn't something he would've dreamed of. It isn't something I want, either. I have discovered that I dislike our apartment a whole lot less when it's clean and uncluttered. And I'm home all day; I'm the one who needs to be keeping it clean. It's part of my job, and thus far, I've really fallen down on it. I was diagnosed with ADD as a teen, in the height of the ADD overdiag period. I'm not sure if I trust the diagnosis, although I wouldn't be surprised if I have ADD. My brain works in such a way that unless I have clear goal paths, I get overwhelmed by what needs done, and I do nothing. How can I combat this? Better organization and breakdown of my tasks.
2) The home management binder. Some people really go overboard with this and it gets almost creepy. However, I think having a place where I can organize tasks that need to be done, monthly calendars to consolidate our family appointments, recipes, etc, would be very helpful to me. I have some sheets printed that offer scheduling of the household chores to be done throughout the week. I want to print out some more organizational stuff to get me going, and then hopefully I can implement the household binder.
3) Grocery shopping and cooking. I want to get better at menu planning. I will work on sitting down Monday and plan out the menu for the week. Once that is done, I will shop accordingly, and stick to the plan. My goal is for meals that provides multiple days/nights of meals for one cooking, and using primarily ingredients I have on hand. I want to cut down the amount of meat we eat also, for both financial and health reasons. We'll be subbing in some alternate forms of protein in place of meats, and eating more veggies, as well.
4) Pantry/freezer organization, inventory, and pre-printed grocery lists. I want to inventory the pantry and freezer so I can make use of what we have on hand. Once those foods are eaten, I can start using preprinted grocery lists, marking off in advance what we already have. Then, when ingredients are needed for recipes, I'll utilize the shopping lists and/or write ins.
5) More foods that are better for our family. I want to start making more food that is better for our family. More homemade, less processed food. This means baking more bread and relying less on store bought. I will get away from convenience type foods, like using "cream of ****" soups in recipes. Making your own is easy, cheap, and much tastier. I'm tired from this pregnancy, but this is important to me, so hopefully I can get it going.
6) More exercise and outside time. Along with healthier eating, I want to spend more time doing outdoor activity. When our little girl gets here, I want to walk with her and Gage (for the first few months, we'll do walks with her in a wrap and Gage in the stroller.) When she gets a little bigger, I'll be re-starting couch to 5K to work toward my running goals. We endeavor to model healthy, active lifestyles for our children, and as of now, I'm the weakest link. While pregnant there isn't much I can do as far as new exercise, but I can walk. And it'll be imperative to get going when no longer pregnant!
So that's my changes I want to implement for our family. I know it'll take some work and self improvement and prayer, but I know I can do it. I want to be a better steward to all of the blessings I've been given... Monetarily, and family. I couldn't be more blessed to have Brian and our healthy, energetic son, and our sweet, healthy daughter on the way. I'll try to keep blogging about all of these changes as we go, so that you can follow my progress and so I can (hopefully) stay motivated to keep up with my progress.
I wanted to make these changes anyway, and the new year just happened to coincide nicely. So I'll tell you what I'm up to today, and how that translates to the changes I want to make this year.
Today, I'm baking bread and planning a really yummy dinner with ingredients we already have. The dinner will hopefully have leftovers enough for a lunch or two and another dinner. I also downloaded a free Kindle book today (no, I don't have a Kindle, but I have a Kindle app on my Incredible 2) called Organized Simplicity. It was free today, which is awesome! How do these seemingly small things fit into the rest of the year? Let me tell you.
1) I want to become better organized at home. I'm pretty much a cluttered mess, and it makes me sad and drives me crazy. Brian puts up with it, but I doubt very much that he thinks it's wonderful. He's pretty much a neatnik, so I think that having a scatterbrained wife and a cluttered, messy home isn't something he would've dreamed of. It isn't something I want, either. I have discovered that I dislike our apartment a whole lot less when it's clean and uncluttered. And I'm home all day; I'm the one who needs to be keeping it clean. It's part of my job, and thus far, I've really fallen down on it. I was diagnosed with ADD as a teen, in the height of the ADD overdiag period. I'm not sure if I trust the diagnosis, although I wouldn't be surprised if I have ADD. My brain works in such a way that unless I have clear goal paths, I get overwhelmed by what needs done, and I do nothing. How can I combat this? Better organization and breakdown of my tasks.
2) The home management binder. Some people really go overboard with this and it gets almost creepy. However, I think having a place where I can organize tasks that need to be done, monthly calendars to consolidate our family appointments, recipes, etc, would be very helpful to me. I have some sheets printed that offer scheduling of the household chores to be done throughout the week. I want to print out some more organizational stuff to get me going, and then hopefully I can implement the household binder.
3) Grocery shopping and cooking. I want to get better at menu planning. I will work on sitting down Monday and plan out the menu for the week. Once that is done, I will shop accordingly, and stick to the plan. My goal is for meals that provides multiple days/nights of meals for one cooking, and using primarily ingredients I have on hand. I want to cut down the amount of meat we eat also, for both financial and health reasons. We'll be subbing in some alternate forms of protein in place of meats, and eating more veggies, as well.
4) Pantry/freezer organization, inventory, and pre-printed grocery lists. I want to inventory the pantry and freezer so I can make use of what we have on hand. Once those foods are eaten, I can start using preprinted grocery lists, marking off in advance what we already have. Then, when ingredients are needed for recipes, I'll utilize the shopping lists and/or write ins.
5) More foods that are better for our family. I want to start making more food that is better for our family. More homemade, less processed food. This means baking more bread and relying less on store bought. I will get away from convenience type foods, like using "cream of ****" soups in recipes. Making your own is easy, cheap, and much tastier. I'm tired from this pregnancy, but this is important to me, so hopefully I can get it going.
6) More exercise and outside time. Along with healthier eating, I want to spend more time doing outdoor activity. When our little girl gets here, I want to walk with her and Gage (for the first few months, we'll do walks with her in a wrap and Gage in the stroller.) When she gets a little bigger, I'll be re-starting couch to 5K to work toward my running goals. We endeavor to model healthy, active lifestyles for our children, and as of now, I'm the weakest link. While pregnant there isn't much I can do as far as new exercise, but I can walk. And it'll be imperative to get going when no longer pregnant!
So that's my changes I want to implement for our family. I know it'll take some work and self improvement and prayer, but I know I can do it. I want to be a better steward to all of the blessings I've been given... Monetarily, and family. I couldn't be more blessed to have Brian and our healthy, energetic son, and our sweet, healthy daughter on the way. I'll try to keep blogging about all of these changes as we go, so that you can follow my progress and so I can (hopefully) stay motivated to keep up with my progress.
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