Why People Make New Year’s Resolutions

The custom of making a New Year’s resolution goes back farther than you might think! According to History.com, the ancient Babylonians are said to be the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year, which, for them, began in mid-March when the crops were planted. There was a 12-day festival known as Akitu, when the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects … Continue reading

New Year’s Resolutions for Your Family

The start of a brand new year inspires many people to make some New Year’s resolutions. They make a promise to themselves to work on something specific that they believe will make them happier or healthier. This year, take the opportunity to make some New Year’s resolutions that focus on your family. You can make family New Year’s resolutions as part of your New Year’s Eve celebration. Sit down with your family and make some resolutions together. Decide on things that your family members want to work on as a team. The best part of family resolutions is that everyone … Continue reading

January Check In: New Year’s Resolutions in Housekeeping

It’s the end of January, which means checking in to see how you are doing with your New Year’s Resolutions. Not everyone includes housekeeping in their list of things to change but this blog might get you thinking about it. The biggest thing I had on my mind for the year 2012 was to cook more often for my family. I am happy to say that I have adopted a meal plan that is really working. It feels so good to accomplish something. But at the same time, I know that I need to address other areas in my home, … Continue reading

January Check In: New Year’s Resolutions in Marriage

It’s time to check in and see how you are doing on your New Year’s resolutions. Did you make any resolutions in the area of your marriage? If you didn’t, I strongly encourage you to do so. Call them resolutions, goals or whatever you like…all of us could take steps to improve our marriages. In fact, this is my challenge for me and you the reader. Think of one thing you can do in the upcoming month to make your marriage better. Is there something that you know drives your spouse crazy that you could stop doing? Is there something … Continue reading

Holiday Resolutions

I can’t stand the thought of dreading Christmas. Yet, here I am less than three weeks until December 25th with barely a gift wrapped, a tree ornament hung or a cookie recipe pulled from the bowels of my file cabinet. I’d love to stop time to catch up, but I don’t even think Santa can deliver on that one. Heck, I almost forgot St. Nick was coming to fill empty shoes last night. Thank goodness for barely wrapped gifts. The hustle and bustle that surrounds the holiday is clearly fueled by commercialism. Gone are the days when we counted down … Continue reading

Forget the New Year’s Resolutions

I realize this may not be a very popular thing for me to say but I am starting off my first fitness blog for the year 2011 with this, forget the New Year’s Resolutions. Why? They typically don’t work. It’s like Moses and the children of Israel who wandered around in the desert for 40 years. Do we really want to keep going around and around the same old mountain? I don’t mean to make light of the changes that many of my friends are attempting to make but it is almost humorous to me the Facebook statuses that I … Continue reading

Great Frugal New Year Resolutions

What are your New Year resolutions? The number one resolution overall, according to most of the poles is to get fit. While I do need to work on that one as well, most of my resolutions are centered around living frugally. Here are some great frugal resolutions that anyone can keep! Stop Paying for Things We Don’t Use From extra channels on the cable bill to seldom-used gym memberships to extra bank fees, there are a number of things that we pay for out of habit or because we don’t even think about them. One of my resolutions is to … Continue reading

My New Year’s Scrapping Resolutions

I don’t normally do New Year’s resolutions. Mainly because I never stick to them. But, it’s fun to set goals, and it always gives you something to strive for. And, seeing as it is the last day of 2010, why not set some goals for the upcoming year. So, here I am. These are just for sharing. Every scrapper has their own goals of what they want to achieve. Maybe you need to cut back on your spending, or learn a new technique, whatever it is that you want to accomplish this upcoming year, write it down, and hang it … Continue reading

Keeping Your Clutter Resolutions

This year is one of your resolutions related to your home? I know that mine is. I seem to constantly be in a war with clutter. One of my resolutions is to get more organized and establish systems in order to keep the clutter at bay. Recently I was in someone’s home. It was well put together and looked spotless. As we sat down to talk, my friend admitted that she was far behind in her housework and hadn’t done any cleaning in a week! I couldn’t believe it. She pointed out a cobweb on the ceiling as proof. So … Continue reading

Frugal Fun Resolutions for the New Year

Being frugal can be fun, just as long as you keep some fun in your life. Sure there is joy in the fun of finding the best deal and feeling like you are stealing, but being frugal day after day, can be a downer if you shut the joy out of your life in your pursuit of frugality. With that said, here are my frugal resolutions for 2010. Frugal fun resolutions #1: Find free community activities to do and do them at least once a month. There are movies in the park. There are free museum days. There are local … Continue reading