New Year's Resolutions.

I'm a list maker. I always have been and more than likely, I always will be. I love the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment that a simple strike through or check mark on a list can bring. It's no surprise to me that every year when New Year's rolls around, I just whip out a notepad and jot down a list of things I want to accomplish throughout the year. When it's finished, it's nothing but another to-do list that I can quickly mark off to help me feel accomplished. But the problem is that none of the resolutions are really life changing. They're all simple and require little to no effort. In fact, most of my list is usually checked off by mid-January. Not much of a year long resolution if I say so myself. So this year I want something different. I want to push past my norm and create a list that isn't as easily completed. I want a list that requires effort. A list that is a challenge. I want my list of resolutions to mean something. I want the items to benefit my family. As 2013 came to a close, I took time to really think about my resolutions for the upcoming year and what I could do to better my little family and myself. Here's what I came up with...

1. Eat Out Less, Cook More at Home

When I look back over our bank statements each month, almost every other transaction is for a restaurant or fast food joint. It's amazing how we spend hundreds of dollars eating out when I spend at least a hundred dollars a week at the grocery store. My goal this year is to limit our eating out to ten times per month. This allows for us to have dinner every Thursday night with my in-laws and every Friday night with my parents or our friends, plus two date nights for mine and Kevin's choosing. In hopes of sticking to this goal, Kevin and I are going to try to plan out our meals bi-weekly or monthly. In order to help cut back on our grocery bill as well, we're going to try to start using our Sam's Membership and grocery shop just a couple of times a month, as opposed to the several times a week that we do now. 

2. Spend Less on Frivolous Things, More on What's Important

I have a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. Sound familiar?! I'm pretty sure every girl says it. I know I do at least three times a week. But in reality, it just isn't true. I have more clothes and shoes than the average person and whenever I'm shopping I still feel the need to look at what's new in stores. My goal this year is to spend less money on things that don't matter and spend it on more things that do. Instead of buying more clothes and shoes that I don't need, I want to invest that money into purchasing items to help make our house more of a home or spend it on family outings that will create memories with my little family. 

3. Keeping Our House Clean
My biggest argument with Kevin is that our house is always a wreck. Again, in reality it isn't; I have a tendency to blow things out of proportion. But the sight of laundry piling up, cups on the table, mail strewn out on the counter tops, and couch pillows thrown around haphazardly can get my blood boiling until I eventually snap and begin blaming him for not ever helping which is again, not true. But sometimes when I'm mad, perspective shifts and it seems that way. This year I want to stay on top of our housecleaning routine in order to prevent me from falsely accusing my husband of not pulling his weight; as well as to help me keep my own sanity. In hopes of staying on top of laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc, I'm going to create a daily chore chart that'll help me tackle the house to-do list throughout the week. Then hopefully I can come home and relax with my little family in an environment that looks less like a pig sty and more like a home.

4. Entertain More
When Kevin and I were looking at homes, one of our top priorities was to have a home that would be good for entertaining. Thankfully we found it when we found our home. However, we haven't entertained nearly as much as we'd have originally liked. So this year, instead of going out every Friday night for dinner with our friends, we want to invite our friends to come to our house some. After all, what's more inviting? Sitting around a crowded table in a restaurant where you can barely hear or sitting around the living room of your home with the people you love? Easy answer to me. Not only do we want to have our friends and family over for dinners, we want to host a variety of parties this year along with some game nights and bonfire nights in our backyard! Just the thought gets me super excited! I'm envisioning lots of memories being created at the Holt house this year!! (:

5. Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
Thanks to social media, I haven't printed pictures off in years and I mean YEARS! My goal this year is take the thousands of photos I have stored on the internet, my memory cards, and on my computer and put them into photo books from Shutterfly. I've always had plans to do it I just have never taken the time to do it. So this year I plan to print out our wedding album, an album for each year Kevin and I have been married, my pregnancy journal, and Harper's first year album. I figure if I do a photo album every 1-2 months, I should have it done by the end of the year (: We'll see how it goes! I can't wait to get them finished and laying on our coffee table for friends and family to flip through as they visit!

Here's my resolutions, what are yours?