Thursday, January 03, 2008

New Year's Resolution: 12 Things

We resolve to make one improvement each month in each of the following categories:
- Going Green
- Household
- Owen
- Faith
- Family
- Finances
- Fitness

Our resolution started with wanting to do something each month to reduce our impact on the environment. Instead of setting an annual resolution to "be greener," we're going to make one small change each month. The idea expanded into making one improvement each month in each area of our lives. By making a series of small concrete changes, we hope to see a nice cumulative effect by the end of the year.

For exmaple, our January goals are:
Going Green - acquire more reusable bags for shopping; Change our air filter;
Household - Clean-up the living room and take all the stuff we've piled about to Goodwill;
Owen - Help Owen sleep without being mummy swaddled; schedule portraits;
Faith - say grace before dinner;
Family - hire a babysitter to have a date night;
Finances - don't make any purchases on the credit card (as opposed to "save money");
Fitness - Scott to run 3 times/week; Alissa to walk 2 times/week and figure out the logistics to start taking yoga or pilates again.

See, none of these things are monumental, but they are small steps toward improving ourselves and our family. We acknowledge that some of the goals (see Fitness) may continue from month to month, but the idea is to check things off and start fresh the next month. I'll try and keep us honest by posting some of our little goals each month.

2 comments:

Colleen said...

I love that! Great idea. Will you share your goals every month? I just got two more reusable grocery bags for Christmas, so I think I finally have enough for a regular trip to the grocery store. And date night is a great idea! We try to get one in every time Adam is home. I love all your goals! And want to hear more!

Alissa Maxwell said...

Maybe one of my goals should be to post our goals every month...

Since having a baby, I realize I get a lot more done if I spend 60 seconds making my to do list for the day. I get so much satisfaction crossing things off that list! This is (hopefully) our monthly equivalent for things bigger than "clean the bathroom" and "walk the dog."