New Years Resolutions

I've sat down to make this post about 3 times now, but every time I try the baby wakes up! :) So, last year I made a list of about 10 goals for the year and I've done okay on about half of them and the other half... not so much! So this year I'm just going to start with a few goals and really work on them until they become habits! So, my New Years Resolutions are:

1. Clean House. I often get behind w/ the house cleaning and things can get very messy very quickly! So, my goal is to do 2 loads of dishes, and 2 loads of laundry every day - one in the morning, and one in the afternoon/evening. To be sure and get the laundry folded and put away each time! I don't mind laundry, but I never like folding it all and putting it away and we end up living out of laundry baskets, so I need to work on doing it right away! The kids and I are also going to do a "10 minute tidy' each day when they get home from school and the whole family each night before bed! I'm going to start following this plan: http://www.justmommies.com/articles/home-organization-plan.php for home organization and cleaning today! I have tried flylady twice in the past and failed, but I think this plan is much more 'doable' for me.

2. Meal Planning. This I tend to go in spurts with... I'll do really good for a while and then I slack on it. I think that by keeping up w/ the menu planning I can be sure and get all the groceries that we need when we are at the store, and avoid multiple trips. Tied into this is eating out less and eating better... it's way to easy to have my husband pick up something on his way home from work when I don't feel like making anything. Plus, we could all stand to eat better all the time! So, hopefully this will save us a little money and get us to eat healthier too!

3. Figure out bedtime routine. This is something that I need to get figured out still... I haven't been able to read the kids bedtime stories much since the baby was born. Also, we do baths/showers every other night which has always worked just fine but then sometimes on the non-bath nights I forget to remind the kids to brush their teeth! So I want to make sure they are doing that every night, and find a way to read books again w/ out the baby crying. Our bedtime has just been soo rushed and stressed and I want that to change.

4. Friday Night Family Nights. This was something we started a few years ago, and actually we do pretty good w/ it but I wanted to list it here as a goal so that I can make sure we keep up with it. I know soon enough the big kids won't want to spend much time w/ us as a family, and certainly not on Friday nights! LOL. But what we do is on Wed. evening at supper we plan out what we will do for family night on Friday. We all get to make suggestions for what we will eat that night and what we will do. We usually will do something like play board games, rent movies, play cards, or go bowling. We will order pizza or I make tacos or something that everyone likes. It's fun once we are all participating, but its just the getting everyone to want to participate that doesn't always happen. The kids love it though!

Okay, so I'm starting my resolutions a few days into the new year but today is the kids first day back at school and so I'm hoping that will help me to get into more of a routine. Wish me luck!