February Fun (or February Resolutions...Same Thing, Right?)

If you recall, this year I began tackling my New Year's Resolutions in September. I also decided to choose one resolution each month, rather than choosing one or two resolutions to attempt - and at which to most likely fail - over the course of the year. With only 30 days devoted to each resolution, my goals have been and will continue to be small, measureable, and empowering. Smaller goals are more attainable, which increases the chance of success. Measureable goals are more manageable, which once again increases the chance of success. And empowering goals are more inspirational, which…you guessed it…increases the chance of success.

Here are the details on February's resolution, as well as an update on months past:

February's Resolution: clean out all of my kitchen cabinets and drawers. After cleaning out and paring down the contents of (some of - see the update below) my closets in January, my kitchen cabinets and drawers suddenly feel agitatingly disorganized and unnecessarily full. I expect that my friends and I will hold a joint garage sale come April, so while I don't want all of my resolutions to revolve around cleaning out different areas of my house, it makes sense to tackle clutter in January, February, and March.

January's Resolution: clean out all of our closets. My goal was to take care of the kids' closets with them before they go back to school, and then tackle the rest of the closets throughout the last three weeks of the month. The result? A moderate success, but there remains work to be done! I started off strong at the beginning of January, but getting sick meant I made absolutely no progress throughout the last two weeks of the month. I thoroughly cleaned out both kids' closets, the linen/guest bathroom closet, the front hall closet, the playroom closet, and my half of the master closet. I still need to go through the guest room closet and Tom's side of our closet, and then organize my donation and sale piles.

If your schedule allows, I strongly recommend dedicating at least one of your months' resolutions to decluttering and organizing. It feels so good to know that the clothes and toys and linens and decor that are taking up space in our closets and our lives are those we actually use!

This was what I pulled from the kids' closets and my closet. (I
forgot to take an updated picture after I added the linen/guest
bathroom closet, front hall closet, and the playroom closet.)

December's Resolution: read to my kids every night. My goal was to sit on the side of their beds - or better yet, snuggle up next to them - and either read to them or let them read to me. The result? A moderate success on paper, an overwhelming success in reality! I read to Hallie almost every night, and to Will about every other night. We missed a few evenings because of late-night activities like Snowmageddon 2017, Nutcracker performances, Christmas parties, a birthday sleepover, and travel, and a couple of times Will opted to read his own book rather than join Hallie and me. December worked perfectly for this resolution as our evenings held fewer commitments, and I truly hope I can carry this resolution into January - when our regular evening activities begin again - and protect this precious time together.

November's Resolution: write in my gratitude journal daily. My goal was to document at least one thing for which I was thankful every day between November 1st and November 23rd (Thanksgiving Day). The result? A moderate success! I missed a couple of days but realized fairly quickly I had done so; I remembered the days I had accidentally skipped with enough clarity to go back and update my gratitude journal.

October's Resolution: drink more water. My goal was to down at least two full water bottles every day. The result? A complete disaster! I probably met my goal only one day a week. I do a great job of drinking water during the summer, but for some reason my school year schedule doesn't have the same triggers as my summer schedule to remind me to drink water. I left water bottles on the counter and somehow walked right by them. I set reminders on my phone but if I wasn't standing right next to the sink when they went off, I would forget all about my water by the time I made it to the kitchen.

September's Resolution: turn off the light by 11:30pm on school nights and by 12:00am (midnight) on weekends. My goal was to get at least seven hours of sleep a night, and to settle into a peaceful schedule of falling asleep and waking up that would continue through the school year. The result? A complete success! Not one cheat day. On October 1st I stayed up a few minutes after 11:30pm just because I could, but after that day I went back to my 11:30pm and 12:00am bedtimes and now most morning I wake feeling well rested and refreshed.

What have you resolved to change about yourself and/or your life this year? How are those resolutions going?