An Update on 2014's Resolutions

In years past, I haven't been one to really stick to New Year's resolutions. Most of the time they were vague or made up half-heartedly because I thought I needed to have a resolution. But then 2014 rolled around and I seriously pondered my resolutions and came up with five I felt like I could really work on throughout the year. As the year came to a close, I went back and looked at the resolutions I had made back in January and discovered that this is the first time in the history of me making resolutions that I truly stuck to them. I don't expect you to remember them so let me refresh your memory....

My 2014 Resolutions

Eat out less, cook more at home

Eating out was by far our biggest expense in the past. As I'd look at our bank statement, it would be covered with fast foods joints or restaurants galore. So when 2014 came around, I made it a point to do more to eat at home in an effort to save money and eat healthier. Despite that it was initially pretty hard to get in the hang of cooking most nights...especially with a child that was learning to be on the move, I'd have to say this was probably my favorite thing to accomplish all year. Through trying to meet this goal, I learned to be a better cook, discovered a few favorite recipes, and even became a pretty good master at menu planning. I'd say it definitely helped me become a better wife and mother... something I hadn't intended on when I wrote this resolution. 

Spend less on frivolous things, More on what's important

This year I really cut back on spending money on things I didn't need. In the past I found myself so often picking up things I really didn't need because they were a good buy or I might could use them in the future. But this year, I chose to look past good bargains and purchase the things I really wanted and/or needed. Each season I'd choose a few items I knew I wanted to add to my closet and focused on only purchasing those things. For example this fall, I made up a list of five fall must haves and stuck to purchasing just those items during the fall season. It also helped that when I went shopping on the weekends, I shopped with a purpose in mind. For example, if I was on the hunt for pillows, I'd only check out the pillow departments at stores such as Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Homegoods. I didn't allow myself to get caught up in the clothing and shoe departments. It definitely saved me a lot of time as well as money!

Keep our house clean

The biggest complaint in our marriage has always been that I felt like Kevin didn't pull his weight in housecleaning chores. Of course, that isn't really the case, but stress and anxiety can surely change a person's perspective. So this year I worked hard to tackle the growing to-do's at our home before I shifted blame where it didn't belong. I planned to do a weekly chore chart for me to help keep up, but none I tried ever stuck. In the end, I found myself just dusting furniture or vacuuming floors whenever I had a free moment. I'm not going to lie and say I feel like I accomplished this one 100% but I'd definitely say that there were much less arguments this year and I wasn't nearly as stressed about doing mounds and mounds of laundry week after week as I once was.

Entertain more

One of the biggest selling points of our house was it was great for entertaining. The problem was up until this year, we never entertained. But this year, we rocked it. We hosted game nights, dinner parties, birthday parties, holiday parties, you name it...we did it and it was awesome! So many new memories were made and I can't wait to continue making more this year!

Create and print our photo books

Thanks to social media, I take hundreds of photos and never print a single one. But this year I worked harder to change that. I made a conscious effort to print some of Harper's pictures and place them around the house. I even made a few photo books from family photos and one of our wedding. I still have many more to make but to have tackled three, I'd say that's pretty good. 

How'd you do at meeting this year's resolutions?!