My favourite time of the year has come and gone in the blink of an eye. I love Christmas, and usually feel a cloud over me in the days after it because I have to wait a whole year to do it all over again. This year, I do not feel that. I am not glad Christmas is over, but I don't feel sad about it. I just feel calm and relaxed and satisfied with the celebrations we had with our families. I also love my new coats!
I'm looking forward to 2012, and what it has to bring. Moments ago, I re-read my post last year regarding New Years resolutions, and the mistake of setting the bar too high (so common). This year, I'm taking it down another notch. While I am a huge advocate of achievable resolutions in order to better ourselves, I'm thinking this year, I'm just setting easy, realistic, and very, very do-able ones. Yesterday, my husband kick-started this idea in my head by talking about the fact that we let little things go around our house until they build up into bigger things. It started when he was drying the dishes, and noticed when the pan was empty just how dirty it had become. How does that happen? It holds clean dishes. Anyway, a regular wipe down would have kept our dish rack in good condition, and probably sucked a total of ten minutes out of our lives over the course of a year. However, because we just did not take the time to do that, the situation ended with the dish rack in the garbage, and me running out to buy a new one. Throwing away money, my friends. It seems we think we're swimming in it.
So, instead of saying "I'm going to keep a clean house all year", I've decided to make a list of small things I can do to help keep our house, and other areas of our life, neat and tidy. Are you ready?
Wipe the Keurig Coffee Drips Off the Counter
Why I don't do this as soon as it occurs is beyond me. It takes two seconds. This was also inspired by my husband who said "How often does the coffee maker drip on the counter? Every time we make coffee. Why don't we start wiping it up?" God, he's brilliant. I always think "I'll get it later when I am cleaning the kitchen." But seriously- why leave it?
Return Movies On Time
We are the worst culprits for dishonouring the movie rental agreement . We rent from a little corner store up the street, which we can walk to, and every GD time we rent a movie, I find myself paying kids outside the store to return it for me, as it's usually about four days late by the time I get around to taking it back. Okay, that's not true. I get Ashley to run it in for me, and run out before they can ask her about the late fee. Awful! This year, I'm going to really try to get the movies back on time. I promise.
Investing in a Second Garbage Bin
While I know this does not sound like a big deal, I can't explain the strange anxiety that comes over me when our only garbage bin with a cover is full, and I have a bag of garbage that needs to be taken out of my house. If I put it in the compost bin, critters can (and have) get in and tear it apart, making garbage morning even more of a joy. If I put it in the garage, critters can get in and start living in there (which, I am sure they do already). For under $20, we could just buy another bin, with a lid, so I could sleep at night. Doing this.
Using the Hooks I hung in the Closet
I lose Molly's leash and harness about twice a day. When it's 11:00pm, and Molly rings her bell to go out, you can often find me rummaging through the coat closet, cursing about how I can't find the leash. Yesterday, as I came back from our walk, Clinton watched me pitch Molly's leash into the closet, with no reason or order. It fell behind the shoe rack, and the next time she had to go out, there I was, rifling around for it, frustrated at the fact that I couldn't find it. The worst part about this is that about three months ago, I hung hooks in the closet for Molly's things, my purse, keys, etc. And yet, I take short cuts by chucking things into the closet, in turn, making it harder on myself later. Using the hooks this year.
Folding my Clothes
I fold all our laundry, and I think I do it pretty neatly. But for some reason, my dresser looks like a Frenchy's bin. While things go into it folded and stacked, I seem to tear through it on a daily basis, looking for clothes to wear, and shoving the items I don't want back in. Somedays, I can't even open my drawers because the clothes have just bunched together to form a blockage. It's extremely frustrating.
Taking Empty Cups Out of the Car
Another thing we are awful for. Often, Clinton and I will go through Tim Horton's drive thru, only to find we have no room in our cup holders in the front seat. So, we do some rearranging, and put the cups in the back cup holders. The next time we go through the drive thru, all the cup holders are full, and we find the emptiest ones and neatly place them on the floor. If we carefully position them on the floor, we actually believe we will remember them later, and they will not roll under the seat. Idiots.
So, those are my "real"-utions for 2012. They're easy, and they're things I should be doing anyway. Fingers crossed!
