Resolutions for the New Year

I've been giving some thought to the changes I'd like to make this year.   I realize most are coming down to wiping out the clutter and excess in my life.

De-cluttering our home is big on my list.  As you may have read in my blog post, To Shred or Not to Shred, I've already gone through and shredded our old paperwork.  Binging and Purging tells the story of how I've gone through the kids toys, stuffed animals and books.

Now for the rest of the apartment. 

The thought of all of this cleaning/downsizing, overwhelms me.  When I start to feel overwhelmed, I tend to shut down.  A little trick I use to overcome this feeling, is to go through the rooms in our apartment and clean only 10 things at a time.  It breaks it down into a smaller and more manageable task, and it works for me.  I reminded myself of this little trick this morning while cleaning up the apartment. 

As for my desire to wipe out the excess... I've begun by combing through our bills and getting rid of the things that we just don't need or use.  We haven't plugged our house phone in since we moved into our apartment 3 years ago, yet we were paying the phone company $30 a month for this service.

Aside from Curb Your Enthusiasm and Flight of the Concords, we don't watch anything on the premium cable channels.....so those are gone now too.  It's cheaper to order the whole season of these shows on DVD at Amazon.com, than it is to pay the cable company for this service.

It feels good to take charge of our home.

Next up on my list is to set and reach my goal at Weight Watchers.  My goal for the Holidays was to maintain my current weight and I am happy to report that I did!

I'm almost at goal, but the sooner I reach it, the sooner I become what they call a Lifetime Member.   Lifetime Members do not have to pay any monthly fees.   Aaaah, shedding excess weight and spending at the same time!  What a great accomplishment that will be.
 
What I'd like to focus on this year, that has nothing to do with clutter or excess, is to keep focused on my writing. 
 
As you probably know, I'm a stay at home mom.  I actually love it.  I'm living my dream!  It was always my opinion, that in spite of her in-laws, Debra Barone was living the life!  However, the time will come, when I will go back to work, and what I'd really like to do is write. 
 
I've found in times, when I'm struggling with something personal, I don't blog very much.  This is because I have clear boundaries of what I will and will not blog about.  Which reminds me....I just read my friend Alicia's most recent blog post and loved it.  In it she talks about MommyBloggers.  Her site is called How I Became a Tattooed Mommy and you can check her out by clicking here. 
 
Anyhow, I'd like to challenge myself to push through and write through those times.  Not to write about them, but to challenge myself to blog, in spite of them.
 
What resolutions have you made for the new year?