New Year Home Goals

Happy New Year everybody! I hope 2015 is off to a good start for you.

We have had a wonderful post-Christmas week. Fortunately, Hubster was able to take off all the same days as the kid's school break, so we have all been together enjoying some down time. We've been playing games, watching, movies, sleeping in.... a little Christmas clean-up thrown in....no pressures, no place to be. It's been nice. Usually I'm ready for the break to be over and for the kid's to get back into their school routine. But we've had a good time and they've all been able to hold it together for the most part (for being out of our normal routine, that is huge.) So getting back to some "normalcy" today is coming just at the right time.

The blogiverse is already abuzz with home goals, resolutions, and organization. I've had that on my mind too as I've packed all the Christmas away. But I must be honest. I'm not great at keeping resolutions, commitments, or whatever you want to call them. I'm not a resolution person or a "word of the year" person. Honestly, I just hate to fail.

BUT......that doesn't mean I don't want to get organized and accomplish some home projects this year. I just need to take it at my own pace, not according to someone else's schedule. Change is hard for me so it's better if I take it in chunks instead of all in one fell swoop.

I have found that it is good to put some things in writing though. A couple years ago I went around our whole house, room by room, and really looked closely at it. I made a list of all the things I'd like to accomplish in each room, from small repairs that needed to be made, to painting projects, to big transformations. Surprisingly, when I look back over that list, we have accomplished a lot in our home. And some of the ideas of what I wanted to do and what my priorities were have changed in that time too.

So here is my list of things I would like to accomplish in our home this year. My ideas may change, and more things may come up, but these are a few things that feel like priorities to me right now.

1.) De-clutter our main bathroom. We have a tall cupboard in our bathroom that, with the exception of two small drawers and a very small area under our sink, is our sole storage area. About two years ago, I emptied the whole thing out and implemented some organization. That has actually served us pretty well. It's just time to clear it out a bit and start fresh. It's not a huge project. I'm sure there are just some things that can be thrown away or rearranged. It just needs to be done. And while I'm at it, I also need to clean out those small drawers and find a better way to use that space. Hubster's goal is to do some major renovations in this bathroom this year. I would at least like to get it painted. We'll see if that happens, but having things more organized would help that project get off to a good start.

2.) Reorganize and de-clutter our laundry area. I am fortunate to have my laundry area on our main floor. When we put on an addition about five years ago, we moved the laundry from the basement to a laundry "closet" in the mudroom. I had great intentions of getting this space more organized at the same time I took on the mudroom closet in late 2013. But that project took way longer than I thought it would and by the time it was completed, I was not ready to take on the laundry area. It mostly needs de-cluttering. I also need to move some things around. For example, I have a laundry basket on a high shelf that is for clothes the kids have outgrown and are ready to be given away. The basket tends to get full quickly and when it's full and hard to pull down, I tend to just toss items up there and hope they don't fall back down on my head. I need to find a better place for it so that it is easier to manage and so I am more likely to actually donate the stuff when it gets full. (Which reminds me. I also need to go through all the kids clothes and figure out what they have outgrown. Why can't they just stop growing?!?)

3.) The basement. Yes, the dreaded basement. This has been hanging over my head for years! But when I put away our Christmas decorations, I started working on getting things straightened around a little bit. I got Hubster to move a couple large shelves for me that made them more useful. I started to see a light at the end of the tunnel. It will still take a long time probably. And this is one of the areas that I just need to do in small chunks. But if I keep at it, it will get accomplished.

4.) My son's bedroom. Since my son is unable to really keep his own room clean and organized due to his physical limitations, it pretty much falls to me. His room is a good size to accommodate his wheelchair and it has become a drop spot for me. It's easy to "hide" stuff there when company is coming, or to "temporarily store" things that I don't know what to do with or am not ready to tackle. Hubster also made some accommodations to his room and bathroom this year and some things just never were put right after that was all done. So the room really could use a good de-cluttering and deep cleaning.

5.) The playroom. This room was one of my main goals last year. It has come a LONG way, but there are just a couple loose ends that I would like to tie up to really finish up this room. More on the playroom later this week!

6.) Have our living room painted. We've been in our house for ten years now and the living room and bathroom are the only rooms that haven't been painted, I think. It REALLY needs it. Because of the high ceilings it will be a pretty big project. Hopefully I will be able to convince Hubster that this is too big for us to take on ourselves....but then there will be the cost. So we'll see.

So that's my list for now. And it may change. You just never know when things will come up that cause you to adjust your priorities.

So how about you? Do you have goals for your home this year? I would love to hear about your plans!