New Years

I have never been a big "resolution" person. The few resolutions I have made were quickly neglected. For example, last year while AB was unemployed and finishing school I resolved to start using coupons and working hard to save money, particularly at the grocery store which is somewhat like the fabric store. I like going there and I like trying new things. (Which is a huge change from when I was a kid and wouldn't try hardly anything new.)

The coupons went by the wayside and now I just aim to get my phone number entered in the kiosk to get my preferred customer benefits and maybe fish a store coupon for $6 off an $80 purchase out of my purse, hoping it isn't going to be returned to me for a long passed expiration date.

So if I call them goals for the year will it make it easier to fulfill? And if I limit it to two will it not seem so daunting? Goals don't HAVE to be accomplished, do they?

Goal #1
-Tackle dinners. I have been hit or miss this year with menu planning. It is amazing how we can come home from a long days work and stand in front of a full pantry, fridge and deep freeze (like I said, I like the grocery store) and not find a single thing for dinner. I like organization, it just takes time, time I rarely have. I am going to find time to organize our dinner menus and grocery list. Oh and did I mention with a focus on being healthy?

Now anyone have any idea what I should fix for dinner tonight? (I am off to a roaring start I tell you.)

Goal #2
-Organize my house and purge unwanted stuff. This may sound like a resolution you hear every January 1st. But it isn't. It is actually a plan someone on my discussion board posted and the logistics have slowly taken hold of my head.

My plan is that I will focus on one room a month. I can do that can't I? That doesn't sound too daunting. It should, in theory, be lighter on the pocketbook too. So over the course of a month I will clean out the room, putting stuff in the garage for a spring garage sale, putting stuff in the trash (bye bye four years of National Geographic... I mean really, why?), and not only organizing things, but BUYING the items I need to organize. If I need some nice fabric covered boxes (since I don't like baskets) I am going to go buy them and use them.

10 rooms (Master suite, Master bath and closet, living room, library, kitchen, formal dining/playroom, kids bathroom, Skadi's room, Leif's room and utility room), 10 months. (The garage is AB's territory though I might throw painting the hallway into slot #11... it has taken a beating over the years.) Some rooms will be "gimmes" - like Leif's room... although the closet in his room really isn't "his" yet.

AB thinks he might be sitting quietly by and "letting" me do this, but I have plans for him. Most of these rooms also have little things that need to be done - example, Master bath has some trim that needs to be replaced and the little patch of linoleum in there needs repaired or replaced... jobs like this also need to be done in preparation for selling our house sometime in the next 1-2 years (hopefully?).

(Don't ask me where we plan to move in 1-2 years... I don't know. That could be goal #3... figure out what we are doing, where we are heading.)