New Year Resolutions

“Fear not; only believe. This is a time to make resolutions that will be binding upon you. This is a season to set standards that will hold you to the right course and make you happy now and in the years that follow.” Gordon B. Hinckley

I realize that I'm a little late in my New Year's resolutions but I've been told if you don't write down your goals, the chances of you accomplishing them are better. I know some of them are cliche, but here I go. Hopefully I can stick to them!

1. Exercise regularly/be more healthy/lose weight. Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. Studies show that it reduces the risk of some cancers, increases longevity, helps achieve and maintain weight loss, enhances mood, lowers blood pressure, and even improves arthritis.

In short, exercise keeps you healthy and makes you look and feel better. Easier said than done I know, but how am I going to do this you ask? Along with drinking more water and cutting out late night snacks...sign up and train for two half marathons this year! I feel that I only run when I know I have a race to look forward to. I'm signed up for one this March and want to do another one maybe the end of Summer. If you want to hold me accountable for this, if you check at the bottom of my page I put a weight "ticker" just so I'll be more diciplined knowing that its public to view!

2. Read more. In our ward we have already been challenged to read The Book of Mormon again which is perfect because I bought a big coffee table edition for Christmas for the two of us! I also am apart of my very first book club with a bunch of girls in my ward. We are planning on reading The Hunger Games which of course I have heard nothing but great things of! One more IF I have time for that I would like to read is about Nick Vujicic called Life Without Limits. Nick was born without arms or legs but has and is triumphantly living a very full and happy life and has accomplished more than most people accomplish in a lifetime. If you have time, check out this video called the Butterfly Circus that we watched at a ward function starring Nick. Very inspiring, keep a box of tissues nearby though ;)

Source: http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Something very frustrating about living in Rexburg is that they do not have a recycling service! For the past month Ive realized how many plastic grocery bags I go through when grocery shopping but I could never bring myself to throwing them away knowing they would end up in a landfill or the ocean. So I would save them and when they started spilling out of our pantry, I finally would haul them to the local grocery store and put them in the recycle container they have for plastic bags. Finally it dawned on me, just get those reusable bags! I've been using an old hospital bag in the meantime but look what I found on Pinterest...

Source: http://baggubag.com

Baggu bags! Tons of reusable and washable different size bags for grocery shopping, travel, packing lunches(no more plastic zip locks) and much more! Oh and they are inexpensive with lots of cute colors and patterns to choose from! Totally getting some of these! Click here on more products I'm looking into!

4. SAVE! Although this has been a constant goal since we've been married, we've made a goal to put more into our savings account that we did last year. Though it may still be far away, eventually Collin will be going to pharmacy school (which essentially is a mortgage without the house) and hopefully we will be able to afford a modest home in the future. There fortunatly are tons of small things to do in order to save money! For example, I made my own laundry detergent and so far it's been working great! After buying ALL the stuff, the estimated cost for about $9.00 for 576 loads (depending on soap used and amount used per load) the savings are incrediable!

Source: http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html

Check out my Provident Living catagory on Pinterest for more DIY money saving ideas!

5. Do something new together. Originally this was going to be travel somewhere new together but if we want #4 to work, (unless its relatively inexpensive) I thought doing something we've never done before together would be a better option.

6. Add to our home/food storage. Just a few reasons why...

Job Loss: What if you or your spouse lost a job, do you have enough food stored to help reduce your expenses while you are searching for a new job?
Medical Emergency: What if a member of your family became seriously ill, do you have foods, and menus, that your family could easily prepare? Do you have medicines or a first aid kit handy?
Power Outages: What if you were without power for a week or two, do you have enough easy-to-prepare foods to get you by?
Major Natural Disaster: What if a major natural disaster occurred and you had to campout at home, do you have some foods you could prepare outdoors? And do you have enough fuel or a way to cook foods for a few weeks?

Source: http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com

We do have some home supplies and food storage but are always trying to add more!

7. Magnify our callings. When we moved into the married student ward in our church, we got called to be Provident Living Specialists together which focuses on teaching self reliance and preparedness to the members in the ward. We love it! I don't have much experience so there are at times where I feela bit inadequate and even sometimes intimidated, but we are both excited about coming up with new ways and ideas that will benefit those in our ward. You can learn more about "provident living" in our church by clicking here.

Well there you go! These are some of the goals we will be working on this year together. There are more that we have written down like worrying less and helping others. Hopefully we will do well and stick to them! What are some of your goals for this new year?