My 6-year-old’s New Year’s resolution.

I rarely post New Year’s resolutions but it’s the perfect time to change my evil ways, right?

Last year I tried to focus on my personal fitness as well as time management at home and work (and in blogging) and most of my goals for this year fall under those two categories. I’ve been filling in for a co-worker on maternity leave for the past couple of months and because I also do social media for work I feel like I am constantly online. I love it BUT I know I fritter away time that could be better well spent. Hey, don’t we all?

Here are some things I’d like to work on in 2012 under a few categories with a few specific goals that, hopefully, won’t be too hard to attain:

Health (Physical & Mama’s Mental Health)

More playing, less posting. Get out with my girls and husband more on hikes, walk Jack the dog more, and just stay active. Discourage screen time for myself and the girls. Luckily they aren’t big gamers but my 9-year-old Miss C, especially, has gotten totally hooked on some of her new Wii and DS games she received for Christmas. Of course she also plays travel soccer so she’s very physically fit. But still, it’s all about balance.

Drink more water. This is pretty easy to attain since we have a filtered water machine at my office and I’m literally steps away from our kitchen. Basically I have no excuse to not get 8 glasses of water in my body every day.

Eat more whole foods. Starting this week I’m going to try green smoothies in the morning with hubby. I also want to try more vegetarian meals, especially this summer when we frequent the produce stand.

Temper, much? Work on my hot headedness and general mama bear grouchiness. Be more patient and less quick to blurt things out in frustration. I actually printed and taped this Bible verse from Psalm 19:14 in my planner last year, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” I love the Anne Voskamp quote Jennifer from Playgroups Are No Place For Children mentions in her New Year’s resolutions post: Life is not an emergency.

Date nights or, at the least, lunch dates. I know it would do my husband and I a world of good if we actually scheduled regular date nights but with his crazy workload, sometimes the last thing we want to do is actually go out at night so I’m hopeful we can get back to lunch dates. We used to do fairly frequent lunch dates but his schedule has been prohibiting that. Still, they’re easier to actually squeeze in the work week and it’s nice to just spend time together alone.

Time Management

Meal planning. It’s a plan. I suck at meal planning. There, I said it. I get off work at 2:30 Monday through Thursday and yet somehow manage to be a “dinner by the seat of my pants” kind of mom ALL THE DAMN TIME. For the entire month of January I have sworn off eating out for dinner for our family and this even includes ordering pizza. So far, so good. I find that we’re all a little less harried at the end of the work and school day if I’m not cranky and running to the grocery store at 5 p.m. or resorting to ordering a pizza, yet again.

Become a user…a crock pot user. On Wednesdays this spring Miss A has gymnastics and Miss C has indoor soccer. My goal is to use our slow cooker on Wednesdays in January and February.

Blogging. I’m limiting myself to 3 posts a week here as well as on my review blog. That’s still more than some bloggers, and less frequent than other. Oh, and quit comparing myself to other bloggers and what they’re doing.

Social media free Sundays. I’ve dabbled with this but I’ve never really stuck with it. I rarely blog on Sundays and I usually stay off Twitter but I am going all out hard core in 2012. No Facebook, posting blogs,  hanging out on Pinterest and drooling over super fab outfits or DIY projects that look incredible but that I know well and good I’ll never do, or Tweeting on Sundays this year. I’m also seriously considering giving up reading or posting to Facebook (except for auto-posting of my blog) for Lent. Of course Twitter…you complete me. I’m not gonna lie ya’ll. If I ever give up Twitter you should really check in on me. I’m not going to give up checking email on Sundays, though, so hopefully I won’t have complete Internet withdrawal.

Money Management

Paying extra money toward my car loan. I rarely think of budgeting as a New Year’s goal and that is wrong, so wrong, as money and bills stress me out. We just paid off my horrible, bad, no good hospital bill from my food poisoning, pass out on the potty episode of fall 2011 right before Christmas. Ugh. We have just one car payment right now for my 2003 Explorer and I absolutely loathe having a car payment! I want to start paying it off early and will allocate some of the freelance money I earn this year toward that goal.

Shop around for car insurance rates. My employer offers a discount on auto insurance through MetLife that I have NEVER checked into. Checking into it this month.

Don’t spend to save. I swear I am subscribed to every flash sale site and deal site on the planet, from Groupon to Living Social.  I’ve actually only bought a few Groupons and I want to make sure that when I do snag a deal that I’m not just buying it because it feels good to save.

What are some of your goals for 2012? Are mine insane? Doable? Should I print this, laminate it, and tape it to my bathroom mirror? Will my wine intake double in 2012? I guess I’ll find out! Does anyone want to join me in social media free Sundays?