Happy New Year 2010!!!

The other day, I commented about how much I love the fresh start of a new year and how I was trying hard to get organized.  A friend commented on this and asked that I blog about it, so herein lies my purpose with this post.
First, I have the advantage of having a husband who works in the public school system, so he's home for winter break making getting organized much easier than it would be on a regular day.  Maybe that's why I feel the urge to do this.  If I can get on top of things now, I won't have to scramble later.

My top priority is having a menu to follow for the year.  I have created a spreadsheet and have connected it with hyperlinks to this site.  They include wonderful recipes and a complete shopping list, so much of the work is done for me.  I am using the site's 2009 archive.

The next thing on my list is having my 2010 budget in order.  Z and I went on a date for breakfast this morning and discussed the special items and activities that require extra money at different times during the year.  One thing we started in 2009 that worked really well for us was taking the time on Sunday evenings to review the previous week's expenses and consider those of the coming week.  This is the plan for 2010--to become more unified in our spending and understanding of where our money's going.

One interesting thing that potentially lies ahead for our family is that with the budget problems in the schools, all school administrators have the possibility of losing part of their income during this school year--as days are cut, so will Z's pay be.  We're not sure what this will mean for our family, but because of this, we are planning to be much more careful in our spending and save more than we have in the past.  One site that I really love for financial things is here.

We had a party here this evening.  There is a New Year's youth dance going on, and our kids invited some friends over before the dance.  Each kid brought a munchie to share.  When they were done eating, they played games and hung out together.  We then took them to the dance at 9pm.  We ended up with fifteen kids going. 

The greatest thing about this party was that we had to prepare our house for guests.  We paired our kids up in teams and each chose jobs.  We got the house in order in no time flat.  I even had time to go grocery shopping this afternoon.

So, we are starting the new year with a clean house; all garbages are out; the fridge is clean; the cupboards and fridge are full.  All floors are mopped, toilets are scoured, etc.  It's a wonderful feeling.  I feel like we're starting the year all new.

Here are the things I'm concentrating on in 2010...

• I want to be more unified with Z and with our family.
• I want to focus on nurturing my children.

These are the areas in which I will set my goals for each month.  I haven't done these things yet, but this is where my mind will be tomorrow.  I will concentrate on Z and each child and what I can do to best benefit each one then I will set specific goals.  I feel like we're much more unified from our efforts in 2009, but we're only scratching the surface.  I'd love any input anyone has on this.

Here are a few of the things I'm looking forward to in 2010...

• Q learning to drive.
• Q getting her patriarchal blessing.
• Continuing my children's literature class and finishing my family processes class.
• Taking classes in statistics, organizational behavior, and financial planning.
• Kids playing basketball and soccer.
• T finally being completely potty trained.
• L learning to walk and talk.
• G going to high school.
• Helping DJ with Personal Progress.
• B possibly playing baseball.
• I'd love to talk A into taking piano lessons--do I dare teach him?
• G going to EFY for the first time and Q going for her second time.
• Q and maybe G having summer jobs.
• Getting to know a new group of nursery kids and having the joy of being with the kids each Sunday.

I feel strongly that we, as a family, need to come up with a good goal to save money toward.  Q and G are working toward saving money for EFY, but I would love to have the other kids have this experience as well.  I also need to rework the system we use for household chores.  We had it down so well before L was born, but with school and sports starting, it became a bit more tricky, so that's what I'm going to revisit in the next few days.

So, there it is...so far.  A continual work in progress, I'm afraid.  2009 has been a year of incredible ups and downs, but I'm grateful to say that the ups have far outweighed the downs.  I'm looking forward to what life holds for this madhouse in 2010.