I know some people are all about New Years Resolutions and some people loathe them, and I think I’m somewhere in between. I think at any point throughout the year you can change or come up with a resolution- I don’t think it has to revolve around starting on the first of the year.

But I do also like writing down resolutions that I intend to stick too, and the start of a new year definitely has that sense of a fresh beginning, you know?

So this is what I’ve come up with and maybe some of them will even inspire you.

+ Be present : When I’m out running errands, driving to work, at dinner with friends, watching TV- I want to be more present and less distracted by other things, like the never ending to-do list that is always going on in my head. When I’m out driving around, I find myself racing the clock and counting the time I have to complete a task or get from point A to point B. I want to flip the script in my head and make the drives enjoyable, listening to podcasts or music and actually hearing it. Rather than multitasking and doing multiple things at once, I want to be more intentional and stop myself from feeling like I’ve got to constantly have more than 1 thing going on in order to feel productive. This is going to be SUPER hard for me, so I’m putting it first!

+ Read more : last year I did not stick to my reading resolution so I refuse to lose to it again! Completing 1 book every 2 months (at the very least). I have a few books I got for Christmas to start me off already!

+ Cook more fresh foods : Definitely easier said than done, but I’m giving myself a rule- if the food doesn’t expire in 1 week (other than milk, eggs), than I’m not buying it. I want to cook and use up fresh foods rather than things that can last forever which mean they’re full of preservatives. I actually think this is also going to help with my next resolution too!

+ Be less wasteful : I cannot tell you how many times we’ve thrown out expired foods (because we decided to eat out instead of cook) or have bought things that we just don’t need. We’ve always recycled (which makes me happy), but I want to cut back on the things we accumulate without even thinking about it. With a toddler this is going to be tough, I cannot tell you how many times we buy toys or accessories we don’t really need, but buy because we think it’s cute for Avery.

+ Plan a trip : Joey and I have made it a joint resolution to plan a big trip with Avery this year and we’ve actually already started and it’s making me SO excited!

+ Donate : This is probably going to be the first thing I do this weekend. I’m going to go through Avery’s entire room- toys, clothes, accessories, etc and fill bags of the things she doesn’t use or fit in anymore to be given away. I’m also going to do the same thing with my room/closet and have asked my husband to do the same with his. I can personally say, I know I have shirts and sweaters from college that have not seen the light of day in probably 8 years. There is a local church here who we’ve donated to before, which we will continue to donate too.

+ Take Avery to her first in theatre movie!!! Fingers crossed it works out the way I would like it too, but I’ve already got the movie picked out- the live action Little Mermaid!

+ Drink more water : Okay so if you don’t already know this about me- I don’t drink alcohol or soda and other than coffee or tea, water is literally the only thing I drink, with sparkling water being the closest thing to soda I’ll have. That being said, the past 6 months I’ve been SO busy with various things that I know and can feel that I have not taken the time to drink enough water. So this year, I bought myself one of those lame bottles that has the time of day written on it so that you make sure to drink that amount of water by that time- so hopefully that helps!

Alright, so that’s it! Simple enough and if I fall off the wagon one day or week, I’ll just start brand new the next day!

Happy 2023!!