2016, the Year of Less & Other Resolutions

It’s that time of year again…

Time to reflect on the previous year to see what we did right, see what we did wrong, and figure out what we would like to change for the new year.  I, like most, always love the new year because it feels like a good reason to have a fresh start. 

I have decided that my word for the coming year is going to be “less.”  I often find myself wasting time drowning in paperwork, picking up clutter, and cleaning out my email inbox that’s overflowing with hundreds of non-important emails.  2016 is going to be the year that I cut down on the clutter and commit to fewer things that distract me and take time away from all of the things that I love. 

Goals for “Less”

• Home – purge and simplify our entire house, my car, and my cube at work and donate everything that we don’t need or want.  I also want to start putting things back where they belong immediately after use.  I’m typically pretty good about this, but every now and then I get lazy and then I waste 30 minutes cleaning up a giant mess.  Our kitchen island is a prime example.  It is the catch-all for junk.  I want to live by the mantra, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
• Computer – delete programs that I no longer use and clean out old files
• Phone – delete apps and contacts that I no longer need
• Photos – take fewer pictures, delete the ones I don’t need (I’m looking at you, blurry Bigfoot shots!), and implement a new way of organizing and backing them up.  I take a lot of pictures.  A lot.  And right now my method of organizing and backing them up takes forever.  I have recently come up with a new plan that will reduce that time by a lot.
• Emails – unsubscribe to all emails that are no longer relevant.  I heard about the website unroll.me on the radio the other day.  It shows you everything that you have subscribed to and allows you to unsubscribe to all of the ones that you no longer need right in one place.
• Social Media – unfollow accounts that no longer pique my interest so I don’t waste time scrolling through photos that I’m not interested in. 
• Keepsakes – purge and organize.  This one is going to be extremely hard for me because I save everything.  I have every single piece of artwork that my kids have ever done (with the exception of the ones made with food) as well as tons of keepsakes from their babyhood, and I am going to finally be ruthless, clean out everything we don’t need, and organize everything that I do decide to keep.
• Paperwork – Clean out file cabinet, unsubscribe to catalogs I’m no longer interested in, put a stop to junk mail, and file only the things that we absolutely need right when I get them so they don’t pile up.
• To Do List – I have a “Master To Do List” and I would like to accomplish as many of these things as I can this year so I can cross them off and whittle it down!
• Shopping – buy less.  It’s as simple as that.  If I don’t need it or absolutely have to have it, don’t buy it… which means, fewer impulse buys… Target Dollar Spot, I’m looking at you!

In addition to my goals for “less” this year, I do have a few personal resolutions that I would like to make for myself, my health, for fun, and for the kiddos.

Personal Resolutions

• Be the best wife and mommy that I can be.  Very cliché, I know, and I really do always try my best, but there are some things that I could improve.
• Be positive – I’m a worrier.  I worry about every little thing which makes me focus a lot on the negative.  While I’ve made quite an improvement on this in the last few years, it’s an ongoing struggle that will be on my resolution list for many years to come, I’m sure.
• Complain less – I also have a tendency to complain.  It’s something that I would really love to change, but it’s hard.  
• Be more spontaneous – I’m not spontaneous in the least.  I’m a planner by nature, but this year it would be nice to loosen up a bit.
• Make bed – confession: we rarely make our bed, but it always makes me so happy when we do.  So I at least want to start making my bed on the weekends.  We just don’t have time on the weekdays.

Health

• Improve water intake – I’ve been slacking the past few weeks and I can feel the difference.  I want to get back to my eight glasses of water per day.
• Tone up – the few months before I got pregnant with Olivia I had been doing some Jillian Michaels DVDs as well as some aerobics and light weight lifting, and I was in the best shape of my life.  I do still work out most days, but nothing as hard core as what I was doing back in 2013, so I want to get back to that.  And soon.
•  Vitamins – find a good daily vitamin.  I’m actually still taking prenatal vitamins (even though we are done having kids, I promise), so it’s high time I discontinue them and find something more appropriate.  I also wouldn’t mind starting a Vitamin C supplement or Cranberry to boost my immune system.   

For Fun

• One date night sans kids each month – Brian and I tried this last year and we stuck to it pretty well.  There were a couple of months that we missed, but we had a few dates in December that made up for it. 
• Find a white wine that I like – I am just not a white wine drinker.  I’m a Merlot, Cab, and Malbec girl, but in the summertime heat sometimes the reds are just too heavy.  I’d love to find a nice, crisp white wine that I can enjoy chilled in the summertime.  Let me know if you have any recommendations!
• Try out new outfit combos and try to wear a different combo every day
• Try new things as often as possible – whether it be a new restaurant, a new dish at one of our favorite restaurants, a new cocktail, or a new store, I want to start doing different things to spice up life a bit!

Goals for the Kids

• Get the kids to clean up after themselves daily – we are really bad about just cleaning up for them or leaving the mess out, and it’s high time that they start taking responsibility for it.
• Help Jacob to become more independent – I’ll be the first to admit that we baby him more than we should and it’s not good for anyone, so I would like to loosen the reigns a bit and have him start doing more things for himself – pick out his clothes, dress, brush teeth, bathe, etc. – without us hovering over him while he does it.
• Get Jacob to poop on the toilet – for the love, we are still having issues with this.  Why are boys so gross?!  At the rate we’re going, I seriously think that Olivia might be fully potty-trained before Jacob and that is a major problem.  2016 is the year for no more poop in the pants!
• Give Jacob a “big boy” room – his room is still the exact same as the way it was when we brought him home from the hospital except for the fact that he’s now in a toddler bed.  Time to remedy that.  I want to paint, redecorate, and convert his bed to a full-size bed.  Maybe that will make him realize that he’s not a baby anymore and he’ll stop pooping in his pants?!  One can only hope…
• Get Olivia potty-trained... she's so ready!

Other than that, I just want to love hard, laugh a lot, and make lots of sweet memories with my favorite people because that’s what life is all about!

What are some of your resolutions for 2016?

*Linking up with Momfessionals for Show and Tell Tuesday and Family and the Lake House and The Hayes Homestead for The Monthly Meet Up.