Great Moms Do the Attainable: How to Have a New and Improved Year

Are you battling with yourself over goals like exercise or organization? Check out these positive, practical ideas on how you can beat defeat in the bathroom and beyond.

Exercise Anywhere

When you are prevented from executing your exercise plan for the day, console yourself with the fact that house cleaning burns calories too--and hop to it. Pushing a shopping cart briskly down crowd-free grocery aisles is physical activity as well; you might even see how many other shoppers you can lap.

Do you and your kids ever feel cranky right before supper? Play tag with them in the backyard for 15 minutes, carrying a weight or small child on your back for a more strenuous workout. Fresh air can have a miraculous effect and make you all forget your hunger for a while. Or blast some music and dance a jig in the living room.

Celebrate Success in Exercise, Smart Eating and Plate Management

If you sit down to dinner and are then requested or require yourself to pop up every minute to get something, do so graciously; think of how many calories you are using in the process.

Inject more vegetables into your family's diet by every means possible. Bring vegetables along in the car for snacks when you are in transit. Set out a veggie tray for hungry souls to munch before mealtime, hide vegetable purees in other foods, and learn to cook fresh vegetables in irresistible ways. Set up an enticing salad bar in your home. Who can resist crumbled bacon or toasted sunflower seeds?

If you do not want or do not have a dishwasher, you are entitled to set the table with paper plates for any meal you so desire. You are saving three precious resources--water, energy, and time.

Pamper Yourself

Starting your day with bath confetti may not propel you to get yourself and multiple children ready to go somewhere on time. However, the soothing, fragrant water will help you not to fret about it. Instead of arriving harried, you can be a beacon of tranquility.

When said bath confetti pops open and flutters all over your bathroom floor, you and your willing toddler may put it in the empty bath tub. Not only can this divert your toddler from eating the dots, it then requires you do one of these two beneficial activities: a) Thoroughly scrub the bathtub so it is clean for the next person. b) Take another hot bath in the name of bath product conservation.

Approach the Piles from Last Year

Whether it is a credit card balance, mountains of random papers, tax paperwork, or unmatched socks, try to remain hopeful and make small steps forward. Make a colorful chart of small tasks to combat your inner procrastinator. Enjoy checking off each little task you've done for the day to increase motivation. Soak up wise counsel and seek out a support team if you need to reform bad habits.

Be sure to add fun stuff to your must-do list. Finish a book, work on a hobby, or return to an interest you've set aside for years, even if only for 20 minutes. Leisure is just as necessary a part of your routine as taking out the garbage. Stop putting off the pusuits you truly enjoy. The HGTV camera crew probably won't be coming over tomorrow anyway.

Involving Others in Your Attack

On the other hand, one of the best ways to compel yourself to take action is to schedule visits from friends, babysitters, or maids regularly. Knowing you will have others come into your space motivates you to clear things out and make the house more presentable.

Close friends and family members may also be willing to help your transformation move forward. They can work alongside you and offer reorganization ideas. Or you can agree to let them to bag up and cart off your style-cramping, space-cluttering stuff if it is still lying around the next time they visit. Wouldn't it be great to have someone just carry your lingering burdens away?