Saturday 4 January 2014

Mini Resolutions

Around this time of year I usually start thinking about new year’s resolutions, usually big stuff like lose weight, get fit etc. However this year is a little different, I have a good fitness regime at the moment with climbing 3 nights a week and I hope to start running again this week now my knee is better. I've given up smoking (nearly 2 years now!). I walk more and drive less now I don’t have a car. I eat well and cook fresh healthy (ish) meals. I'm a bit stuck for a resolution.
I also have so many things to do next  year (including a big thing which is not confirmed yet but hopefully will be soon and I can share with you – no I am not pregnant) and we are getting married in early 2015 so it’s going to be a very busy year for us. I thought to avoid my brain just bursting with all the stuff that I have to do I wouldn't put any more pressure on myself with big goals and ambitions and just make some little mini resolutions to try to make life go a bit more smoothly. These are just small things that I know I can work on to make life easier so writing them down just helps to motivate me. It’s mainly about breaking bad habits rather than starting new ones for me this year.
  • Put clean clothes away straight away. We take the clean dry washing off the airers and often leave it on the bed, or in baskets for days, then have a mammoth clothes sorting and putting away session at the weekend. It would make life so much easier if it just all went straight into the wardrobes (I don’t iron), and it would keep the bedroom much tidier. It’s one of those habits that we have gotten into where it seems easier to just leave things but in the long run it actually isn't saving us any time.
  • Wash dishes every night after dinner. Another habit that seems easier, especially when we are both tired or eating late. Also as we used to have a dishwasher and now we don’t doing dishes seems like a major chore, but if we just took 5-10 minutes after dinner with one washing and the other drying we could have a clean kitchen most of the time rather than the mess it often becomes (when I then have to spend 30 minutes cleaning it and washing the piles of dishes before I can even think about cooking).
  • Make more of evenings in the week and don’t leave so much until the weekend/days off, a lot of people who work full time will probably identify with this one. I never seem to get everything done that I want to at the weekend as I just have too much planned, and often don’t have enough time to really unwind. I don’t feel like I have enough time or energy during the week to do this stuff, but I actually do have plenty of time I just don’t want to do it after work. This isn't about forcing myself to spend every minute being productive because although I’d like to think that I’d get in from climbing and full day’s work at 8 or 9pm after leaving at 7am and have enough energy to clean the bathroom, I know that in reality this is not going to happen. However I could try to get more done on days where I am not busy after work, 3 days a week I have no set after work commitments. Obviously I would like to have some leisure time to eat, watch TV etc but I could still spend some time doing something productive like food shopping, cleaning, paying bills etc. This would add up over the week to a cleaner house and not so many errands to run by the weekend…meaning I can have some of the weekend actually to myself, or for things like wedding planning or sorting out stuff for our ‘secret thing’ to avoid feeling like my to do list is just endlessly growing…

I think the key with all of these is not to sit down or put the TV on when I get in from work or straight after dinner, does anyone else get this time warp effect where you think you’ll just sit down with a cuppa and watch little bit of TV then all of a sudden the evening is gone? This post over on ugly duckling house explains it really well.
Do any of you have any new year resolutions? Are they big and exciting or small but do-able like laundry?

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