I’ve been making new year resolutions and sharing them on my blog the past couple years. It has been fun and actually helped me accomplish them more than I normally would. With that being said, I still forget to do them most of the time and as much as I try to have good intentions, life happens and I get unmotivated to keep up with them throughout the WHOLE year! SO, this year, I’m going to do them different. I’m calling them New Year Resolutions, because that’s what they are. Last year I called them my To-Do list, but it didn’t help me accomplish them any better so, I’m calling them what they are, New Year Resolutions. And this year, I only have THREE. Not 12 or 10 or 8 or even 5. Only 3! That way I am more able to accomplish them ALL by the end of the year.

I know you’re just DYING to know what they are, but before we get to that part, I want to go through the “To-Do” list I made up last year. You can view the original post HERE if you’d like to. This is the list I came up with for 2013:

1. Continue organizing our home ~ I wasn’t that great with organizing this year. I did it every week for about the first 4 months, maybe, but haven’t really kept myself on a strict regimen since then.

2. Read the Book of Mormon all the way through ~ I ALMOST did this one!! I came SO close and I’m a little sad that I didn’t accomplish it. I stopped reading in Helaman and I’ve been bad about reading since October.

3. Pray daily ~ I completely failed this one. Its sad to say, but I did. Still a work in progress.

4. Attend the temple ~This one is the same as the year before. I went the first few months of the year and then stopped going. *SIGH* BUT, I have come up with a plan for the coming year! My best friend in town has a son the same age as my 3 year old and so we’re going to trade babysitting once a month to help each other out! Yay!!

5. Exercise 3 times a week ~ Uuuuummmm, I DID NOT do this one consistently at all!!

6. Spend time playing with kids ~ Failed this one once again:( I’m getting better, but still not happy with myself.

7. Eat out less ~ I don’t know if this one will ever be accomplishable for us. It’s just so much easier to go out to eat some days!

8. Read 1 book each month ~I did this until about June and then haven’t really been excited about reading. Any suggestions on some good books?!!

9. Eat healthier ~ Did not happen. *SIGH*

10. A monthly date with my husband ~ This did happen. I think we missed a few months, but for the most part we went on at least one date a month. Some months we went on more, so I think that makes up for the months we didn’t go:)

11. Become more prepared i.e. update 72 hour kits, food storage, make a fire escape plan, etc ~  I did go through our 72 hour kits, but I have yet to put them back together. LOL That kind of defeats the purpose, but I needed to switch out the clothes and update toys and entertainment items and just haven’t had time to go back to it again. Food storage is an ongoing struggle still. I used to be so good at it. We talked about where we would meet if we get separated if there’s a fire and we kind of talked about what the kids should do to help each other if there is a fire.

12. Make birthday and Thank you cards and send them out every month! ~ YES!! I did this!! I think I missed a couple birthdays, but for the most part I remembered to send out birthday cards to EVERYONE on both sides of o

13. Be Honest ~ I did better with this, but I still need to practice more!

14. Serve more ~ I didn’t do so great with this one.

15. Write something I’m thankful for Every Day! Also known as a Gratitude journal:) ~ Started out strong and I don’t think I’ve written in the journal since about May or June.

16. Become more organized with home schedules, chores and discipline ~We did a great job with this during the summer, but I have a hard time doing this during the school year. 

WOW!! That was quite a list!! I didn’t even remember I had THAT many things on my “To-Do” list!! I am definitely making my list MUCH shorter and simpler this year! Are you ready to hear it?!

2014 New Year Resolutions:

1. Be more spiritually minded (i.e. attend the temple, pray daily, read scriptures, and serve others) ~ Like I said above, a friend and I are going to trade babysitting. Every night and morning the first thing I am going to do is kneel in prayer and then read scriptures. I’m horrible at serving my family. That sounds weird since I’m a mom, but I want to actually ENJOY serving them and doing the daily things I need to do for my house to run smoothly. This year I am going to focus on enjoying being a mom and housewife more.

2. Finish my work before I play ~ My husband goes to a job 5 days a week and he doesn’t get out of it because he HAS to get a blog post done, or read what everyone is doing on facebook, craft, watch tv or browse the internet instead of clean/organize my house or take care of my kids. This is my job and I NEED to realize that it’s the most important one out there! When my house is clean I feel SO much better about my life and myself, but it’s so hard to motivate myself to clean on a daily basis.

My plan for the year is to sit down every Sunday night and write out my daily schedule for the whole week. This way I remember important things, like appointments that I forget about sometimes because I just don’t look at the calender on the day of said scheduled appointment. I tried the time blocking schedule, but it just isn’t working for me, so I’m going back to the way I used to do things at the beginning of 2012. I think I will revisit those posts again in January sometime.

3. Spend more time with my family ~ My husband and I have been really good about going out on dates the past 4-5 months. We usually go out once a week or about 3 times a month. I love having that time with him to enjoy just being us! We definitely need it! 🙂 I would like to start having a weekly game night as well as going on special “dates” with each kid once a month. We already do a family movie night every Friday and the kids LOVE that time we spend together.

So those are my 3 simple resolutions for 2014. I am going to put monthly reminders in my phone to keep me on top of them and to keep me excited about them.

What are some of your resolutions for the new year? I’d love to hear them!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Tuesday!