New Year's Resolutions

I have a few posts that should be before this one, but here are my New Year's Resolutions for me for 2012:

Financial:

1. Save $: Be smart and only buy things we need... aka... don't buy stuff because it is a great deal if we don't actually need it.
2. Live Simply: Buy only things we need, cut back on things we don't need and don't want for things we don't need. Enjoy life as it is! We pretty much already have everything we need (except for a car with air conditioning for Jeff, which I am placing in the category of need).
3. Keep track of our Annual Budget: So I am hard core at doing monthly budgets, but there was always all this random stuff every month that you don't buy every month (oil changes, shampoo, car registration, gifts, etc.) so I made my first ever annual budget! I have recorded every penny we have ever spent since September 2009, so I spent a few hours and calculated everything we spent that wasn't in our monthly budgets for 2009 and 2010 and most of 2011 and came up with an annual budget. I am really excited about it!
4. Pay tithing first-every month!!! So I used to be really good at this, but the last four months of last year I found myself being a little sneaky. I wrote out the checks and deducted it from our check book, but I kept the checks on our desk to be sure we didn't run out of money... I didn't mean for it to add up to four un cashed checks, but it did! And that is not paying by faith! So, we will pay it first thing and deliver it to the bishop first thing, because then I think of it more as the Lord's money and it doesn't seem so hard to pay as 4 checks totaling up to A LOT more money!

Social:

1. Invite someone over for dinner once a month. Jeff and I are not very social:) And Jeff doesn't mind much because he is with people all day, but I am an extremely social person and I really need that!
2. Stay involved with pre-school, play-dates, gymnastics, library, park day, etc.
3. Be really nice to everyone and make sure people feel included!

Physical:

1. Go to the gym 3-5 days a week. If we are spending too much on gas, then go less, but still do a run and/or lifting workout at home.
2. Designate 2 days of the week for no sweets. I want to do this to make sure I am not addicted! And I get too many cavities.
3. Try to eat at least one serving of fruit and one serving of veggies daily.

Spiritual:

1. Read scriptures or Ensign daily (first thing in the morning, preferably before the girls wake up).
2. Do at least one act of service a week.
3. Go to the temple more regularly... December-May- 3 times, June-July- 2 times, and August- November- 1 time.
4. Pray on my knees whenever possible.
5. Do visiting teaching by the 20th of each month.

Mommy/Wife/Homemaker:

1. Clean up at least one room daily
2. Clean up right after every meal (instead of at the end of the day when all the food is crusted on! This is so hard though, because you know it is going to be messy again in like 10 minutes!)
3. Read to each child individually at least 15 minutes daily.
4. Write out a schedule for the next day every night.
5. Teach Cheyenne a school lesson (letters/numbers/shapes/etc.) twice a week.
6. Make sure the girls get 30 minutes of physical activity daily (walk, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, playing outside, etc.)
7. Limit the girls tv watching to less than 2 hours total daily (don't judge, yes my girls have been watching a lot of tv lately... hey they learn a lot from Dora too!)
8. Plan the dinner schedule the night before (like what time I will actually start dinner and take meat out of freezer if I need to).
9. Go to bed by 11 on weeknights and 12 on weekends (I hate this one, I am such a night owl and I LOVE staying up late, but I feel so much better during the day and get more accomplished when I am not tired).
10. Wake up at 6:45 on weekdays and 8:30 on weekends (so I can read scriptures before the girls wake up and hopefully get more done too).
11. Teach Cheyenne 1 primary song a week.
12. Limit computer time... especially facebook! Only check facebook 3 times a day (morning, nap time, and before bed) Limit each check to 15 minutes.

There you have it! I know its a lot, but I LOVE setting goals! I don't really get mad at myself if I don't reach them, I just change them if I need to or try again when I fail. If I do all this stuff I know I will be happy, fulfilled and feel good about my accomplishments- Here's to 2012, a New Year, a fresh start!