After a good creative brainstorming session with my husband over martinis on Friday (read: I’m classy), I have come up with my New Year’s resolutions. First, I thought about the last couple of years to figure out what works for me. From there, I just talked it out with J and came up with a few things for 2014. Let’s look back first.
In 2012, my resolution was kind of funny, kind of serious. I wanted to become more classy and eat more vegetables. That was the year I stopped eating meat and really started blogging.
In 2013, my resolution was to become more worldly (because I wanted to go to Iceland… but moved instead), continue to eat more vegetables, GRATITUDE and getting Call Me Maybe out of my head.
I have read many blogs in the last month that talk about one word. That one word really worked for me last year, but there’s no way my indecisive mind can come up with just one word again this year and not get bored.
In 2014, I will have four words. I will stick with each word for 3 months and really try to embrace it (think Happiness Project style). Each word is pretty general so I won’t get bored. I can split them up into smaller goals and knowing my love of lists, I will feel amazing to check them off. And it is very cheesy, but they all start with the same letter. On top of these 4 words, I want to travel more, cross some more things off my 30 before 30 list, continue to be grateful and keep working on that classy thing.
CLEAN: January – March
– Think twice about what I’m eating. Less boxed meals. Using the new juicer we got. Only buying food with expiration dates and then eating it before it goes bad.
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– Keep our apartment clean. Get on a schedule. Don’t leave clothes in the dryer… or worse, the washing machine for too long. Clean my floors. Wash my sheets regularly. Replace my pillows when I should. Basically, just take care of our home and get into a better routine. Pretty much, follow any cleaning advice that Steph gives out.
– Mail. Paperless billing, auto bill pay and unsubscribing for junk mail. Organizing finances, magazines and fun mail so nothing gets lost. It sounds so easy, but it just hasn’t been in our household.
– Yoga. Maybe you don’t think of it as clean, but this girl is working through her 30 day yoga challenge and it feels good.
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– Declutter. We did so much of this when we were preparing to move, but it’s easy to let things pile up again. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been to Target and haven’t bought anything for me in the last 2 months, however things keep appearing and it MUST be a constant battle.
– Take good care of my skin. I’m blessed with pretty good skin, but that doesn’t mean that things will always look like they currently do, so finding good moisturizers and cleansers is important. Better to start now then wait until the damage has been done.
– My Internet space. It is time to clean up my email accounts – personal and work – and then keep them organized. It’s time to clean out my social media accounts. I spend a lot of time scrolling through things I don’t really care too much about (sounds harsh, but you know what I mean) and I have to remind myself that it’s quality over quantity.
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I won’t keep you in suspense for the other three words. Connect. Create. Chill. I’ll get more into the specifics when we get to that time of year. In the meantime, any articles, books or ideas you have on being “clean” – please share it with me.
i love all of this! i'm also all about doing things on time and faster/more efficient so:
cleaning: steam mop for real. get on that shit; it'll make cleaning so much fun (whoda thunk?!) and you'll be done in no time.
also, mid-week laundry helps a LOT. i do a load on wed and then on sunday and instead of attacking the MOUNTAIN on sunday, it's only a small hill if i do a cycle mid-week. also, i split the chores with the hubs so it's easier with 2 sets of hands doing stuff.
skin: depends on your skin type but i'm a huge fan of face oils and serums. i'm pretty sure it's why people think i'm in my mid-20s than 38.
eating clean: hard but doable. just avoid anything that comes out of a box, bag or can and you're golden. oh, also skinnytaste.com – great healthy, yummy and easy to make recipes.
declutter: omg, i don't even know what to do here so no help here 🙁
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
I totally love how you've broken this down, and I love your words too!
I'm working on a how to declutter post for later in January!
Love it! Especially the clean part – I definitely need more of that in my life.
I love what you came up with!
Yes! I love this! I'm trying a lot of these myself. Clean and simplify for the win.
These words are great – I don't know how people can choose just one! I'm intrigued by your 30 day yoga challenge! Let me know what you think of it at the end 🙂 I think I need to implement one myself!
I don't have a word for 2014 but I do have a phrase and it's "GET SHIT DONE" lol.
I don't have any tips on cleaning, I'm actually trying my best to develop a regular cleaning schedule. I usually let our place go to complete hell before I go on a cleaning binge, but I'm learning to be mindful that a clean home is a happy home. We just have a small one bedroom apartment so it's really not all that hard to keep it clean … I just suffer from a case of the lazies lol. I've broken days into clean the countertop days, dust days, vacuum days, laundry days. Having little tasks like that has been working for me 🙂
This is such a creative way to have goals! I love the ideas you bring to your clean theme. I am doing some similar stuff around here too. Best of luck you can do it!
Unfollowing and unfriending people feels like such a weight lifted off. Not that their life isn't important, but what so many people choose to share just isn't important or relevant to me. Seriously, high school acquaintances, I do not need ten pics of your baby per day!
LOVE the idea for four words! I did one word because that's all my brain can focus on at once, but I think the thought you put into just this first word is fantastic! It looks like 2014 is definitely going to be your year 🙂
I LOVE this idea! So perfect that the words/themes are broad enough that you can do so much with them! Also makes me want to read The Happiness Project again!
You can find TONS of cleaning schedules on Pinterest. None of them were exactly what I wanted so I just worked off a few of my favorites and made my own. It has seriously changed the way I take care of the house. And it feels so good to check off that I did the dishes or swept the floor 🙂
Oh my gosh I am the WORST with leaving laundry in the dryer. It will sit in there for days and go through 5 cycles before I finally put it away. I've also done the washer too… *dry heave*
hat good choices, I should totally adopt this! I think you not calling them "resolutions" is a good way to NOT set yourself up for failure. You seemed to have done quite well in the past 2 years, so why not keep it going with your 4 words this year! And seriously, don't you just want to crawl into SMD's brain and learn her ways? No? Just me? Ha!
That juicer I told you about? It broke on Saturday. Not kidding. The plastic cracked and the piece wouldn't ft in. Pretty sure that's God's way of saying, "Woman, stick to the Oreo's" We returned it, and got a mor reputable brand.
I so need to eat better this year. I love that you're not calling them resolutions!
Sarah
aroseinthecity0.blogspot.com