Thanks to Jen for hosting! This past year has been the most eventful of my life. Since this is the last Friday before New Year's, I thought I'd share some of my resolutions for the next year! In an effort to fully enjoy all that God has blessed our family with, we are going to try to live and more intentionally - live our life instead of letting life live us. I've selected 7 ways that I'm going to try and help us do this, and we have 7 takes here. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway. Here we go!
Take one thing off. Have you ever heard the saying about getting dressed in the morning and taking one thing off once you think you're ready? I think you can apply that saying to day-to-day life. It's so easy to plan way more than is practical or feasible for a day or a week. "All the things" might get done, but they won't get done well and it won't be enjoyable. So this year, I'm going to look at my plan and find one thing - just one - to postpone. I think the difference will be almost immediately apparent, and I'm excited to see how it works! Make a daily priority list. There's usually one thing that I know needs to get done at the beginning of the day, and if I write it down, most of the time I can at least get it started. If I take the time to write it down and say it out loud, I find myself going back to it if I have a free moment. A whole to-do list can be overwhelming, but a list of one or two tasks is definitely doable. Eat real, organic food 90 percent of the time. I think it would be really difficult for us to do this all the time. It's just not feasible, since I'm not home every evening to cook dinner, to avoid resorting to something packaged. What I think we can do is to stick to the healthier versions of packaged foods, and avoid buying junky snacks and sodas to have around the house. Truth be told, we'd always done really well at this. This past year, especially once the restrictions of pregnant eating were lifted, I got lax. I bought what sounded easy and good, and I drank more soda than I had in a long time. I could definitely feel the difference, and I'm ready to feel better. As I've said before, I also don't want Emily and Erin to grow up with a taste for junk food. I don't plan to be one of the moms who forbid their kids to try anything with refined sugar (though I admire their determination!) because I know that the real world demands moderation. I'll go into more details on this in an upcoming post - look for it soon! Pray for each other and for our marriage. This one sounds kind of obvious, but I so admire couples who say that they pray for each other and each other's needs on a daily basis. I think that it's really important to incorporate your faith into your life, whether it's through Bible study, prayer, or devotionals. I saw a link the other day to a devotional book for wives, and I might pick that up as part of fulfilling this resolution. Exercise. At this point, I've taken a little over a year off from running regularly. I can't think of any better reason to have done so, but I know that I need to start again soon. There are tons of great reasons to exercise. The ones I'm using as my main motivation are energy and stress relief. It's easy to tell yourself that you are way too tired to even contemplate exercise, but the truth is that exercising makes you feel more energetic. It's also a really great stress reliever, and it makes you less grouchy even when you're tired. I know I'm capable of running about 2 miles at this point, and I don't know that with the stroller I'll be able to get much more than 4 miles in at a time, but I figure any running is better than no running at this point. We're headed to the coast this weekend, so I may treat myself to a new long-sleeve top - nothing like new workout gear to get motivated! Become a debt-free family. This might be easier said than done, and it might take longer than a year. I've heard great things about Dave Ramsey - any other suggestions? Be able to answer "Where's my...?" I remember reading in a 1940s-era book on marriage that the most important quality in a wife was to be able to tell her husband where anything of his was at any time. I must confess, I somewhat dread this question. I do know where most of my things are at any given time, but if someone else puts them away, I'm lost. That should give you a hint as to my default organizational system - it's not 100 perent foolproof! As for Dan's things, I don't even try. This needs to change. Any and all suggestions and advice welcome!
Well, we're headed off to the coast this weekend for New Year's. I hope you all have a great, safe, long weekend! What will you be doing to celebrate the holiday?
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Wow, those are hefty resolutions! I think this year I am going to work on getting back into regular Bible study.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great resolution! It helps that this time of year reading is a natural activity, so it's easier to get into a routine before the weather gets nice.
DeleteI love these! I hope you reach your goals! I am hoping to become a better budgeter.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah....budgeting. I'm not so good at that. I did find a nice budget template on Dave Ramsey's site - it might be worth checking out? I don't know if it's free or if you have to pay, but it was zero-based so you account for all your money, not just expenses. I liked that part :) unfortunately, I found it on my phone and now that I'm on the computer, I'm not finding the same one so I can't link to it!
DeleteYou're going to have a busy 2013 ;). But seriously, those are great resolutions! As for the last one, Steven knows his stuff is in certain areas, but I leave it up to him how he organizes those areas, unless it gets to a point where it needs a major cleaning out. He likes having his space and I like his stuff not being everywhere. Right now, he has the top of his dresser, the top of a bookshelf, his nightstand, his half of the closet, and a container under the bed.... that's all free game for him. Once a year or so, we will try to go through everything just so neither of our belongings overrun us, but otherwise he'll decide what goes where and whether or not to clean it out in between.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's a good idea! Maybe I need to try something like that. I'd love to have more definition to our storage space. Yes ... I do think it's going to be a busy year, but I figure if we get even partway through these, we'll be in much better shape (literally and figuratively) than we are now!
DeleteDave Ramsey. I like to tell people that he ruined my life, but exactly the opposite is true. 8 kids, 26 years of marriage and no communication on finances left our money situation dire. But 3 years ago for Christmas, out of the blue, my dh handed me the church bulletin with a blurb for Financial Peace University and said, "That is your Christmas present." $30,294.88 debt paid since then. We pay cash for everything. We have an emergency fund. And we have a weekly "budget meeting" to plan spending. In one more year we will be debt free. We like to joke that that our process has been more like a turtle than a gazelle, but we are succeeding--slowly and surely. Go for it!! It will radically, fantastically change your life......
ReplyDeleteSharon
Sharon, thank you so much for sharing your success story! That's really inspiring. It sounds restricting and confining when you first think about it, but it's so much more freeing in the end, right?
DeleteI am totally with you on #3. I have been feeling we should almost go do "The Makers Diet". It is definitely something that I have been feeling convicted about lately though. I hope you reach all of your goals! They are all worthy resolutions! :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jiza! I haven't heard much about the Maker's Diet - maybe I will look into it!
DeleteI think these are great resolutions! :) #5 really caught my attention. In our marriage, Hobbs knows where everything is (usually) and I am always asking *him* "Where is my ___ (cell phone is usually the last phrase of this question) ___" and I'd say about 50% of the time he can tell me. So maybe I should keep better track of my stuff so I don't need to ask him all the time... :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you and your family!
Jamie
For Love of Cupcakes
I love it, Jamie! It's not that I mind being the one who knows where things are - it's when I DON'T know that we have problems. Obviously the babies don't know yet, so if we can't find something, no one in the house knows where it is. That will have to change!
DeleteHappy New Year to you and your family as well!
Hi...new follower here!
ReplyDeleteWe never actually "did" Dave Ramsey, but did copy from what I had heard about his methods. We basically listed all our debt amounts and interest rates, and started paying off the ones with the higher interest rates or least amount owed first...we just poured every last dollar into one thing at a time. First we paid off my husband's student loans, then my car, then his car, then a loan from a relative, and now we just have my student loans (that should be paid off by September) and a mortgage. It is such a sense of accomplishment to be able to get rid of debt and each time you do, you just snowball that payment onto the next debt item. Go for it!!
Welcome, Colleen! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI love the snowball idea. Thanks for sharing your story! I figure that we could snowball a lot of debt right off the bat, and then use the same money to save up for a down payment on a house. Or something like that :) I think his methods are pretty well publicized, so it might be possible to do without taking the class, but I like the idea of having the community support with the class. So basically ... I haven't decided yet :) I haven't heard anything bad about Dave Ramsey yet though!