Well, now that we’ve been honest about how we did last year, I guess it’s time to post our list of goals for 2015. I had fun looking back at our resolutions and goals from 2014, 2013, and even 2012.

I’ve started calling these lists more goals than resolutions because resolutions typically are more general items, like “Laugh More,” Lose Weight,” or “Eat Healthier,” and our list is more of a checklist of items we want to accomplish. Things like “Go to the zoo,” or ” Buy a couch.”

But no matter what we call it, it’s a way of doing some planning ahead for the year as we strive to accomplish everything on this list. And yes, my mom did suggest we put fewer things on the list, which maybe is smart, but I am also going to say we should stay away from really, really long goals. A project that takes more than year isn’t a great thing for a yearly goal list, ya know?

Ok, so here we go!

1. Develop a weekly cleaning routine.

I know it isn’t realistic I’ll be able to stick to anything ridiculously ambitious, but I think I’d do better at cleaning regularly if I had a plan. Like Mondays were for vacuuming, and Sundays were for bathrooms. And so on. I need to make a list of tasks to prioritize and then just start trying them in different orders to find what works best.

2. Clean out and organize the garage. 

After a year of intensive renovations in the kitchen, the garage has turned into a full on disaster. I mean, it’s so messy out there, Wyatt literally had to spend an hour last night making room for one car. Just one! I have been searching for various storage solutions and I know we can do better with the space we have. We just need a warm weekend to pull everything out and get to work!

I mean, just getting rid of all the sawdust would be a huge improvement!

3. Clean out and organize the shed. 

We have a tiny shed attached to the back side of our house under the deck. It currently holds garden supplies and a bunch of random stuff that isn’t at all organized or functional to find. There are no lights in the shed and I saw a mouse there last year. (Wyatt killed it right away). Not to mention the spiders. It needs some work, let’s just leave it at that.

4. Buy a new car. (For Wyatt.)

We made the decision that when Wyatt got his next promotion at work, we’d buy a car to replace Rhonda. Well, that happened in the fall of 2014 and yet he’s still driving her faithfully to work everyday. The goal is to accomplish this in January to avoid having to renew her tags for another year. But we’ll just have to see what happens. I’m still sad to say goodbye to faithful old Rhonda the Honda, but I know Wyatt deserves something newer and nicer for his everyday commute. Something with air conditioning and a radio. And modern seatbelts. And all four door handles…

Poor Rhonda.

5. Read 20 books.

I’m upping my goal again. We’ll see if that’s smart of not. But I have really been enjoying doing a lot more reading over the past few weeks and I want to encourage the habit for next year.

6. Finish organizing and backing up all our photos. 

I’d also love to order some physical books in case one day our kids or grandkids want to look back at photos and whatever digital form of media they’re saved on is now obsolete. I know paper photos can be burned up in fires or lost or damaged, but there’s just something about looking through an actual book of photos. Not that I don’t want to have everything safely stored digitally as well. That’s just as important to manage.

7. Finish the kitchen project. 

That means the lighting fixtures, the trim, the pantry shelves. All those little things that are easy to forget about when we’re this close to being done. It’s been a long road to this point and I don’t want to give up now.

8. Finish the kitchen chairs.

Yep, I’m putting this on the list for the third year in a row. Maybe the old saying will hold true and this time really will be the charm. If nothing else…we HAVE to get them out of the garage. I mean, this is crazy.

9. Expand/reorganize the garden. 

Last year was great in that we had some new veggies out there, but a few other things didn’t do as well. Namely the tomatoes, blueberries, and raspberries. Fingers crossed this is the year we get all three of those right, along with a few other things I’ve been wanting to try. Last year, we conquered the squash borers, but it was a tedious process, and we know we need to find a better solution. I’m doubtful we want to go bigger, but I think we could use the existing beds a little better with some planning.

10. Do 5 smaller projects. 

This fall, Wyatt and I spent a lot of time talking about some small, crafty projects we’d like to tackle, but found ourselves too preoccupied with the giant kitchen project to do any of those fun little things. This year, we’re going to try and do at least 5 of those smaller, fun, creative projects, whether it’s making wall art, making a knife, or even simply just painting a picture.

11. Take a trip. Or several. 

I’m not sure if we will have the budget available for a big trip this year. Last year we went to Disney World! But after a big kitchen renovation and replacing our carpet with hardwood, we are feeling the need to save up some cash again. Still, traveling and vacation are important to us, whether it’s something far away or nearby.

12. Finish organizing our bathroom cabinets. 

We’ve now been in our house for over two years and I have yet to really organize our bathroom. The hall bathroom is functional. I did it in 2013. But our bathroom hasn’t seen the same attention and I’m starting to resent the over-crowded drawers and teetering tower of towels in the cabinet. It’s time for an overhaul. Hopefully one that includes some decent storage for my hair dryer and other bulky items. I mean, there’s just NO good place to put those!

13. Host things. 

We have a big, beautiful house and I want to work on being more hospitable and welcoming. I think I’ve been self-conscious in the past about projects I want to complete or if people really want to come here, and if they do, would they have a good time, but I figure, all we can do is invite people and see if they come! Whether that means inviting family here for holidays, hosting parties, or even more casual get-togethers with friends and loved ones, I want our home to be a place where people enjoy coming for food and fellowship.

14. Move the guest room downstairs. 

It’s time to use that space and I think having the guest room down there just makes sense. It’s private, and the room is nice and large. I’m not sure on the best layout, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Fingers crossed we can keep the rest of the basement clean enough we won’t be embarrassed to take guests down there!

15. Design and DIY a nursery!

Yep, we’re having a baby in 2015! That means some baby DIY is in our future, people. We are so blessed by this miracle and are very excited to see what the year holds. My due date is in the middle of July so we still have some time, but I’m feeling like this pregnancy is going to fly by before we know it!

So, there are our resolutions for the year. I’ve noticed several of them feature the word “finish” so I’m dubbing 2015 the year of following through and closing the door on a few big projects…all while opening a big, new exciting door…the door to parenthood!

Now it’s your turn, share some of your goals for the year. It helps us all stay on track and motivated!