New Year

Get Organized for 2008

Get Organized for the New Year

INTRODUCTION

Many people make New Year’s resolutions and quite often one of those resolutions is to get organized. Why not start now and work toward getting organized instead of waiting until next year? There are many things that you can do to get organized for the New Year.

Before you begin to work at getting organized, it would be helpful to know what it is you’re working toward. Is your goal to clean and organize your entire house or do you have only one or two rooms that need to be organized? If you know what you hope to accomplish you’ll know when you’re finished.

If you haven’t noticed, you’re not alone in your desire to get organized. There are television shows, books, magazines, websites, and blogs galore about organizing. You can try your own method to organize your home or you can take advantage of others’ experience to get the job done.

Maybe you don’t want to spend money on a book about organizing. There’s always the public library. If you don’t remember how to use a card catalog or know how to use the new computer programs to help you locate a book, ask any of the library workers and they’ll be able to help you find what you want. You can use that book to give you ideas or many books will list websites that you can go to for further information.

Websites and blogs are additional sources you can use to find organizational help. Choose your favorite search engine and type in “organizing your home” or “how to organize a room” and you’ll find millions of hits that will lead you to anything you need to know for organizing, cleaning, or de-cluttering your home.

Make organizing your home a family affair. You’re not the only person that lives in your home and you’re probably not the only one who has created the clutter and disorganization there. The old saying goes “many hands make the load lighter.” This idea works with housework and organizing as well.

One of the benefits of having your family involved in organizing your home is that they’ll realize the effort it takes to maintain it. Everyone that lives in your home has a choice in how successful the home is which includes being responsible for helping to maintain the home.

When your family is involved in helping you clean and organize your home, you can expect them to be more careful about leaving dishes in the living room or not putting food back in the cabinets when they’re finished with it. They’ll be more concerned about how things look and hopefully be willing to help when the work is all done.

What do you do if your family refuses to help you when you’re ready to get started cleaning and organizing your home? Ask a friend to help you, of course! In fact, it’s possible that the your friend is struggling with organizing as well, so why not help each other get organized for the New Year? You may find that having a friend is actually more helpful than family because they can be objective about what’s in your home because they don’t have an emotional attachment to anything you own. They can encourage you to let go of things that are out of date or no longer needed. You also won’t have to worry about someone complaining when you want to throw out a favorite pair of blue jeans or a worn out tennis shoes.

Once you have your help in place, you need to think about how long you’d like to take to organize your home. Do you want to be finished before the New Year begins or are you willing to take your time and possibly do a more thorough cleaning and organizing job? Having this information will help you to plan accordingly.

Begin with a plan.

Your first step in getting organized for the New Year is to make a plan. A plan will help you prioritize what needs to be done, allows you track your progress, and helps you recognize when you’re done. You don’t need something that is complicated or fancy. Instead, you want something that is user-friendly, easy to take with you, and will encourage you to keep going when the going gets tough.

Don’t look at everything that needs to be done. Think in smaller terms. You may be concerned about looking silly, but hold your hands up like you did when you were a kid pretending to look through a telescope. This will help you look at small areas rather than focusing on an entire room.

Look through your hands and zoom in on area in your home that you feel is the most disorganized and cluttered. Maybe it’s the stacks of papers on your desk top, kitchen cabinets that have no room to allow you to cook, or the pile of magazines you have next to your chair. You may have a problem with the many pairs of shoes that are cluttering up your foyer or your organizational disaster may be the too-full book shelves. Whatever it is that bothers you most, this is where you want to begin. Write this down on a sheet of paper or notepad.

Continue to look through your hands and find the next area that bothers you and needs some work. As you look around your home, make note of the areas you want to work on. Write each one down so you know what your priorities are when you start work.

Here’s where you create goals for yourself and for getting your home organized. Set realistic goals. Don’t give an arbitrary date; instead get your calendar and actually think about how long this is going to take you. Determine a deadline for each area that you’ll be working on and write down on your notepad.

Maybe you’d like to work on a little larger scale without going crazy trying to work on your entire house at once. Again, get a legal pad or notebook to keep notes in. Think of all the things you think need to be organized in one room and write them down. Go through each room of your home and make a list of organization challenges for that room. This will give you a better idea of what needs to be done in each room for your room to get organized for the New Year.

When you look at the list you’ve created for each room in your home, you may think there’s no way you’ll ever get everything done. There’s nothing to say you have to be completely organized for the New Year, but this list will at least let you know what you have to do.

Figure out which room bothers you the most and this will help you in determining the room you’ll start in. Which one is next in how you feel about it? Continue to think about each room and decide which order you’ll work on each one. After you have your order of work determined, set realistic deadlines to go through each one and get it in order.

Don’t forget to reward yourself for your hard work. Think of something that would entice you to keep working when you get tired of it. Use this reward, a day spa trip or a nice dinner out for instance, to keep you working until you’re done. You may want to think of an appropriate reward for completing each room in your home.

Gather your supplies.

To begin the next phase you’ll need a couple of things. Boxes or totes to put items in, plenty of garbage bags for trash, vacuum cleaner, and cleaning supplies. When you empty out a closet, vacuum the floor. When you clear off a surface, clean it or polish it. The more cleaning you can do as you’re accomplishing the next step of organizing, the closer you’ll be to a clean and organized room.

Purging is next.

Go to the area or room that bothers you most. This is where the work begins. This is also where you really need to focus on the smaller tasks rather than seeing the room as a whole.

You may have already heard about purging, sorting, or dumping things as you go. Create the following labels – trash, keep, sell, donate, repair, relocate, and undecided. Use either sturdy banker boxes or plastic totes to store things in.

Suppose you’re working in your bedroom. Put on your favorite music on so the task won’t seem boring. Here’s how the process would work:

* Empty everything out of your clothes closet including things on the floor and on any shelves. Go through each pair of shoes and decide whether you will keep them, sell them, donate them, or throw them away. If you’re not sure, they go into the undecided box.
* Don’t be afraid to be ruthless. If you haven’t worn them in six months (unless they’re seasonal), you don’t love them, or they don’t fit, get rid of them. Toss them into the trash, give them away, or sell them on an online auction. You may think about saving them to have a yard sale but unless you’re planning on having one right away, it’s better to let them go.
* If you find items that need to be repaired, and you plan to repair them, toss them into the repair box. If the repairs needed are extensive, it may be better to put them in the trash box.
* The items that you love and wear often will be placed into the keep box to be dealt with later.
* Take each piece of clothing and use the same process. Decide which of the boxes everything will go into. Remember, you’re keeping only the items that you love, fit properly, and you wear often. Everything else will be put into one of the other boxes.

* If you are storing or have other items in your closet, go through each of those items and place them in one of the seven boxes. Your goal is to make a decision about everything in your closet. Don’t take time to think, trust your instinct, and work quickly. If you take too much time to think about each item, you’ll be less likely to get rid of them.
* Now’s the time to give your closet a good cleaning. Go over every surface and vacuum the floor.

Try not to get sidetracked or leave the area until you’ve completed the task at hand. If you find items that don’t belong in your closet, resist the temptation to get up and take them where they belong.

Here’s what usually happens: you get up to take a pair of shoes to your child’s room. On your way back, the telephone rings and you have to answer it. After several minutes on the telephone, you decide to get something to drink. Then you remember that you had to take a letter to the mailbox. Before you know it, you’ve done so many other things that you’ve forgotten what you were doing and your bedroom is still a mess. It really is best to put the item in the relocate box and deal with it after. Finish this one area before moving onto another.

Organizing is the next step, but before you start doing that you may want to do something with everything in the boxes. You may have multiple boxes for each category depending upon how much you had shoved in your closet. Now is the time get up, but don’t go too far.

* Take anything that belongs in the trash right outside to your garbage can or to leave on the curb. By removing it when you get to this point you won’t have to worry about tripping over it or dealing with it any longer.
* Relocate items that belong in other rooms but don’t do anything else with them. Just leave them in the room and go back for the next box.
* Donated items can be put into another box or bag unless you have plenty of boxes on hand. Take this box or bag directly to your vehicle. Plan to take to your favorite charity tomorrow.
* Things you want to sell on an auction site will have to be placed in a location that will encourage you to actually do something with them. Don’t leave them sitting around too long or they will quickly become more clutter to have to deal with.
* Repair items should be placed near your sewing machine. Make plans to repair these items as soon as you can so you don’t end up having clutter in your sewing area.

You should have two boxes left – the undecided box and the box of things you plan to keep. The items in the undecided box are things that you still have some question about. You may actually like the items in there, but not as much as you used to. So let’s tackle the undecided box, but not until after you’ve had a break. Take the box into the hallway so it’s out of your way in your room but will be in the way enough that you won’t forget about it.

Get ready to organize.

Group your clothing by season and function (blouses, skirts, slacks, etc.). Seasonal clothing, if it will be a while before you need them, can be put into storage. Put a label or index card on the outside of the box with the contents of the box listed on it. Set the boxes aside so your spouse or a friend can help you put them into storage or put them into under your bed tubs and get it out of your way.

Hang up your clothes according to function and color. This will make it easier for you to find separates that go together. Line your shoes up on the floor of your closet or place them on a shoe organizer on the back of your door. Replace any other items that belong in your closet and then get ready for a much deserved break.

Now is the time to take a break. Get a drink and maybe a snack. After you’re refreshed, go back to the box of undecided items.

Go through each item again and decide again whether you need to keep them or not. If you’re still undecided after this time through, close the box up. Write or tape a date, six months in the future, on the outside of the box and set the box in the bottom of your closet or in storage. When the six months is over you can go back to the box. If you haven’t needed anything out of the box it obviously wasn’t that important to you. You can then take the box, unopened, to your favorite charity.

And on it goes.

Use this same process to go through your dressers, chests, or other storage areas in your bedroom. Purge as much as you can and you’ll find you don’t need a bigger house after all. You will be able to put the items you kept away and be able to find them when you need them.

This same process can be used in each and every room in your home. Of course, you will want to have the help of your family if you plan on going through their things. You definitely don’t want to go through their belongings and getting rid of things without their knowledge or their permission. If you do, you may have some very upset family members on your hands.

Don’t forget to take the items you planned to donate or sell to the charities or businesses that will handle those things. Since you may be organizing more than one room of your house, you may be making several trips to each of these places. While you’re at the charity don’t forget to ask them about receiving a receipt for charitable contributions. You may not receive much by the way of deductions on your taxes for them, but then again, you just may. It won’t hurt to ask.

Remember that you planned a reward for yourself for when you completely cleaned and reorganized your bedroom? Don’t put off rewarding yourself. You’ve worked hard and you deserve it. Then you’ll be ready to start working on the next item on your list.

Organize your time.

What if the organizational problem you have isn’t stuff, per se, but related to time management? There are ways you can organize your time as well as you can things.

Start by getting a few calendars. You’ll need one that’s large enough to write appointments and a smaller calendar you can carry with you. Give each person in your family a specific color and use markers of that color to write activities for each person on the calendar in their own color. This will help everyone to easily recognize the things they have to do.

Make a copy of the family calendar on the purse-sized calendar you bought. You’ll be able to see at a glance what each member of your family has planned for the day which should make your life a little bit easier.

When your children come home each day, take time to go through their backpack with them. Take out any papers that need your attention. If there is a meeting or date on the paper immediately transfer that information to the family calendar using that child’s color. You can also do this with meetings your spouse tells you about as well as your own appointments and activities.

If there were papers that your child brought home that require your attention it is better to handle that right away rather than setting it down where you might forget about or lose it. Sign the sheet allowing them to go on their field trip, write the date down on the calendar, and write a check if it is required. Do whatever you can right away so you only have to handle that piece of paper once.

Each day go over the calendar so you’re aware of what’s going on with each family member. Help them remember what they have coming up if there is something written on the calendar. This will help prepare children that may not like change. It gives them a head’s up and something to expect rather than to be shocked the day of a doctor’s appointment or some other event. You will also know, in advance, if something that comes up will conflict with something already planned.

This method of writing appointments or activities on the calendar right away also works in regard to mail. Any important dates that you need to remember can be added to the calendar so you won’t have a reason to forget them, unless you want to, that is.

Another way to organize your time is to guard it. You have your calendar that lets you know what is going on in your family. Don’t take on extra tasks from work unless there really isn’t anyone else that can do that particular task. Your time at home is as precious and important to you as any of your co-workers is to them. Also, try to keep from taking work home because it eats into your family’s time.

Try creating a general schedule for the next day before you go to bed at night. Keep a notebook to write down anything that you need to do the next day that may not need to be added to the family calendar. For example, you know you have several telephone calls you have to make. You don’t want to add that to your family calendar, but you do want to remember to make them. Write down everything you can think of and then create a to-do list for the next day; doing this each night will help you to relax and sleep better.

When you’re planning your day use the idea of organizing your closet by keeping like items together. If you have several telephone calls to make, block out time during the day to make all of the telephone calls at the same time. Be sure to write down any notes you can think of that pertain to each call so you’ll have everything at hand when the time comes.

In today’s technology-rich environment at work, it’s easy for you to get lost in all of the emails you receive. Limit the amount of time you spend reading email by using the filter function to help you determine which emails are important and which can be deleted without reading them. Most email programs have filtering capabilities. If you haven’t learned how to use the one with the program you use, now would be a great time to do so. This one activity can save you a lot of time.

No matter what it is that is unorganized in your home, and in your family’s lives, you can start now to get organized for the New Year. Don’t berate yourself too much if you don’t get finished before December 31, at least you’ll have begun and can keep working at it until you’re satisfied with your progress.

Organizing is something that many people in the United States and around the world are interested in. Remember that if you have less you won’t have to deal with it. Purge the items that you can and find a place for everything that’s left. This can work with things like clothes, your children’s toys, books, or music. The funny thing is, after you’ve spent the time getting rid of and organizing what is left, you won’t miss the things you let go. You can get organized for the New Year if you really want to. Now you know how, there’s no excuse for not doing it.

New Year

Movies for Our Military

As alot of your know my baby brother is an Iraq war veteran who was injured while serving in Iraq! One of the care packages he loved to receive the most was packages with movies and snacks that he could share with his fellow soldiers! It always brighten his mood when he received a great package!

Well today I was contacted by Tommy who is stationed in Kirkuk Iraq area and asked if I could ask my listeners to send previously viewed DVD’s to soldiers in Iraq! Something to help them during their down time to relax and maybe enjoy a laugh or two! Now as a sister of a fellow Marine how could I say NO!

Here is Tommy’s Email:

am currently in Iraq and was wondering if you would be willing to donate some of your previously viewed DVD’s? We now have a place where we can watch movies when we are not out and we are trying to build a good inventory so that there is something that everyone can enjoy. Movies are one of the very few thing’s that allow us to get away and get our minds off of what we are doing over here, if only for a couple of hours. With your help, I would love to surprise the guys over here with me with some great movies for them to enjoy.

Tank you so much for your time. My mailing address is below if you decide to help me out with this request. Have a wonderful New Year!

Sincerely,

Tommy

So as I promised Tommy we are going to do our part on this show to NOT only send out DVD’s to our soldiers but we encourage you to send a couple of letters that he can hand out to soldiers and maybe brighten a soldiers day and maybe a pen pal in return!!Trust me when I tell you there is NO better feeling in the world than to give back! I cannot tell you the HUNDREDS of care pkgs my family and I have sent out to fellow soldiers to thank them now let’s everyone involved to NOT forget our soldiers over seas!

If you want to donate a DVD and are SERIOUS I will give you the address to mail to Tommy! We area also asking if you have site or blog if you could please add our logo to your site that is in this posts and link it back here!

Lets do our part!! Movies for Military!

MOVIES BEING MAILED

1. Grumpy Old Men-Linda
2. Grumpier Old Men-Linda
3. Happy Gilmore-Linda
4. Christine-Sarah
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-Sarah
6. Lord of the Rings The Two Towers (2 copies)-Sarah
7. Sideways-Sarah

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New Year

Frugal WAHMS Talk Radio Tuesday January 6th

On today’s show we were discussing our New Years Resolutions! And one most people have on their lists is getting more organized! As that is also on my lists! LOL Cathy shared with us photos of her desktop which you can find in this post. Today we talked all about great ways to help you organize your desk and office space.

New Year

A New Year, A New You

Each New Year millions of Americans make resolutions to change things about their lives.  They may want to lose weight, use their time more wisely, conquer clutter in their homes, or take time to learn a new skill.  With a new year, a new you is possible if you set goals and work toward achieving them.

Some people haven’t been very good at setting goals or at attaining them.  These ideas for setting goals may be what you need to make a new and improved you become a reality.

What is it about yourself that you would like to change in the coming year?  Decide what your final goal will be, but don’t fixate on that final goal.  Instead, think about small steps that you can take that will lead you, ultimately, to that final goal.

Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past but haven’t succeeded.  The beauty of a new year is that it’s a chance for new beginnings.  Start out thinking positive about what you want to change; don’t think back to the failures.  Try one more time to affect the change you want to see in yourself.

Even if there are several things you want to work on or change in your life, it’s a good idea to focus on only one aspect at a time.  Too many resolutions will cause you not only to fail, but to fail at all of them.  You’ve felt bad enough about failing with one resolution in the past, so don’t set yourself up for a fall in relation to all of them.

Make your own resolution because it’s something you want to do, not because someone is pressing you to change.  If you truly want to change something about yourself, you may ask your friends and family to encourage and cheer you on, but don’t make a resolution based on what they want.  The decision to change has to come from within.

Write down your goal, what it is you want to accomplish, and set a time frame to master it in.  Give yourself time if you have a good deal of weight to lose.  You didn’t gain the weight overnight; you can’t expect to lose it as quickly.  Set small, measurable, and attainable goals.

Remember that New Year’s resolutions are goals that we set for ourselves that will hopefully give us the courage to step out and change ourselves in some way.  If you have a day that you blow your resolution, it’s not the end of the world.  Pick up the next day right back where you were when you fell, then do your best to reach your individual goals and you’ll be that much closer to the final goal you set.

New Year

Set a New Year Goal That Is Not Beyond Your Reach

New Year’s resolutions are made every year by millions of people.  Unfortunately, many if not most of them are never completed.  If you plan to make a resolution, you may want to set a New Year goal that is not beyond your reach.

Your ultimate New Year’s resolution may be to learn a new language or how to dance all forms of ballroom dance.  However, an unreasonable goal is to assume you could do either of those in a short period of time.  Some goals are possible within a month, such as losing five pounds, but learning how to speak fluent Chinese in that amount of time absolutely is not.

It is important for us to plan for the future so we’re not aimlessly wandering through life.  Sometimes setting long-range goals can be overwhelming because they’re so far out in the future that we doubt if we’ll ever meet them.  If there aren’t intermediate goals along the way to your ultimate goal, it will be too easy for you to lose focus and give up.

Instead of having just the one, long-range goal, consider having small goals that you can work on – even on a daily basis.  This will help you by allowing you to feel a sense of accomplishment when you meet one of the smaller goals, as well as letting you know you’re on the right track to reach your goal.

How do you break down one big goal into several smaller goals?  That all depends upon what your goal is.  You can choose best what you need to do each day to help keep you on track.  Don’t let your gaze go too far down the trail that you have laid out for yourself.  If you don’t stay focused on the day at hand, you might miss something wonderful along the way.

Remember that reaching a goal is much like going on a journey.  If you’re too focused on the destination, you’ll miss the beauty along the way.  You can stop along the way and smell the roses rather than speeding along the path you’re on and missing them entirely.  By setting smaller goals that you can reach, you’ll be moving toward your goal and be much more likely to actually reach it.

Don’t give up if things don’t work out exactly like you’ve planned.  Things in life happen that may keep you from reaching a small goal in the time you had hoped.  When things settle back down you can pick up where you left off.  It may take longer to reach your goal than you wanted, but that’s no reason to give up.

Give yourself a reward when you’ve reached a smaller goal, rather than waiting to complete the large goal.  Knowing you’ll have a small reward when you have met a goal may be the impetus you need to keep going when you feel discouraged.

When you have a goal in mind, consider the steps you can take.  Set New Year’s goals that are not beyond your reach.  Reward yourself when you’ve reached a small goal and then keep going to the next one.

New Year

Make a Time Capsule for New Year’s Eve

There are events in every person’s life that they want to commemorate, whether it’s the birth of a child, moving into their first home, or their child’s first day of school.  You may want to build a time capsule each New Year’s Eve so you can remember the previous year for years to come.

What is a time capsule and why would anyone make one, especially on New Year’s Eve?  New Year’s Eve is automatically a time when we think about the future and the past, so putting together a time capsule seems like a great activity at this time of year.  Basically a time capsule is a container that can be used to store items that will bring back memories when it is opened at a later date.  You may want to include things to help you remember specific events of this year, people that are important to you, and predictions about the future.

If you’re having a New Year’s Eve party, you may want to ask your guests to each bring an item to include in the time capsule.  Have them put a sticker or something on the item to identify who put the items in and why this item was important.  Decide when you’re going to open the time capsule and write a note not to be opened before that date.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own time capsule this New Year’s Eve:

* Coffee can or large jar with a lid, a plastic box with a lid
* Any items you may want to include that show what’s going on today
* Paint, stickers, or other items to decorate your time capsule

If you plan to actually bury your time capsule, you may want to paint it rather than cover it with some type of paper.  You may want to paint it with a grandfather clock, fireworks, or “Do not open until 2025” (or whatever year you decide).

After you’ve decorated the outside, it’s time to start filling the inside.  Include items that are common today.  Some coins, postage stamps, a grocery receipt, mall toys from popular television shows or movies, an extra copy of a music CD, a message for people in the future, or a newspaper for the date the time capsule will be buried.  Don’t put in food because it could possibly draw bugs or animals, and it won’t be good in the future.

You get the idea.  Put anything into the time capsule that will give someone opening it in the future an idea of what life was like when the capsule was buried.  Be sure to include a picture of everyone who shared something so people can see what you looked like and how people dressed at the time.

Glue the lid on the container to keep the elements, bugs, and animals out of it.  You can bury it in your yard, place it in the basement or attic so it’s out of mind, or find some other place to store it.  Making a time capsule for the New Year is a great way to help you remember the year that just passed and have something to look forward to in the future.

New Year

Party Games for an All Grown-Up Party

New Year’s Eve parties can be so much fun if you have something to keep you occupied until the ball drops ushering in the New Year.  Why not plan party games for an all grown-up party?

Charades

Almost everyone played “Charades” when they were children.  This fun game has you act out titles to books, movies, or songs, events, or people.  You can make this game pertinent to the year that is closing out.

Count off 1, 2 until everyone is on a team.  Have both teams write down things that the other team has to act out onto a piece of paper.  The first player takes a piece of paper from the other team’s bowl and has to act that item out.  You can’t talk, only act out, each clue.  Set a timer and watch the fun begin.

If the clue isn’t guessed, no point is awarded.  If the clue is guessed, the team gets a point.  The other team now gets to try.  Keep alternating between teams until all of the clues have been played.  The team that has the most guessed correctly wins.

Clue

It’s amazing how many people have played the game “Clue” when they were younger.  You may have seen the movie, as well.  Why not play a live party version of the game?  It’s time for a New Year’s Eve Mystery Party.  If you plan on using this idea for your party, you may want to begin looking around as early as possible to find a Mystery Kit (either a toy store will have them or you should be able to find them online).  The price for these games can be quite high, anywhere from $25 to $100 each, but they are reusable and so much fun.

Plan to invite twice the number of people as are in the cast.  Inside the kit you’ll get instructions for the host and the guests, character descriptions and motives, game clues, guest invitations, name tags, pre-game clues, suggested party recipes, and scripts.  Well ahead of the party ask everyone, cast and guests, to dress in the theme of the mystery.

As the host, you begin the production and ask the guests to pay attention to try to rout out the person guilty of murder.  The cast acts out the script (hopefully with exacting detail to timing) and the guests may ask any question during the production except for one, “Did you kill X?”  The game can take a good amount of time, so you may want to start early so you’re ready to ring in the New Year at midnight.

The Cherry Game

The Cherry Game is much simpler and decidedly messier than the other ideas.  You, as the host, ask your guests who likes cherries.  Anyone who raises their hand is allowed to play the game.  Explain to them that they have to remove and eat the maraschino cherry that has been placed into each bowl that is in front of your contestants.  You may hear a few people say, “Oh, that’s easy.”  At this point you fill each bowl with whipped cream.  Make sure you have a camera ready for this one because the pictures will be priceless!

It’s not hard to think of party games for an all grown-up New Year’s Eve party.  There are a myriad of card and board games available, or that you may have already.  You may want to try something different and any of these games would fit that bill!

New Year

Games For the Kids in All of Us

Do you remember playing games as a child that you absolutely loved to play?  You may still long to play your favorite game even though you’ve grown up.  There’s nothing that says you can’t still enjoy your childhood favorites.  If you’re looking for things to do on New Year’s Eve, here are some games for the kid in all of us.

Twister – Twister became popular in the late 1960s when Eva Gabor played the game on national television with Johnny Carson.  This is the first game that was created that used the human body as a part of the game.  While the game may be played with more than two people, it gets increasingly difficult when there are more than four.

Twister is played by placing your hands and feet on specific colored circles on the plastic playing mat.  If you’re planning on playing Twister for your New Year’s Eve party, you can either purchase more than one game so more people can play, or everyone can wait their turn.  Why not have a Twister tournament and get everyone involved?

Scavenger Hunt – Scavenger Hunt is another game that children have always loved playing.  If you’re hosting the party, you are the one who makes up the list of objects to find.  You don’t have to stay at your home to play.  Update the game by having enough video cameras or digital cameras available for the number of teams you’ll have.

Get children and teens involved in this updated scavenger hunt game.  When planning the list, have the teams find specific items that are common to each age group.  Ask the groups to find the items on the list and take a photo or video of each one; that’s how they document what they’ve found on their list.  You may also want them to include some items that the teams actually have to bring back to your home in order to win.

Monopoly – Break out some of the older board games that you used to enjoy as a child.  Monopoly is one game that has been popular for many years.  There are updated versions of the game that are different from the classic game, but the premise is still the same.  This game can be played by several age groups at once so children can play with adults as long as the adults don’t mind.

You don’t have to give up playing your favorite games from childhood when you get older.  Take the time on New Year’s Eve to reach back to your childhood and play one of these games for the kids in all of us.  You’ll have fun and may find that you’re still a bigger kid than you thought you were.

New Year

Set a New Year Goal That Is Not Beyond Your Reach

New Year’s resolutions are made every year by millions of people.  Unfortunately, many if not most of them are never completed.  If you plan to make a resolution, you may want to set a New Year goal that is not beyond your reach.

Your ultimate New Year’s resolution may be to learn a new language or how to dance all forms of ballroom dance.  However, an unreasonable goal is to assume you could do either of those in a short period of time.  Some goals are possible within a month, such as losing five pounds, but learning how to speak fluent Chinese in that amount of time absolutely is not.

It is important for us to plan for the future so we’re not aimlessly wandering through life.  Sometimes setting long-range goals can be overwhelming because they’re so far out in the future that we doubt if we’ll ever meet them.  If there aren’t intermediate goals along the way to your ultimate goal, it will be too easy for you to lose focus and give up.

Instead of having just the one, long-range goal, consider having small goals that you can work on – even on a daily basis.  This will help you by allowing you to feel a sense of accomplishment when you meet one of the smaller goals, as well as letting you know you’re on the right track to reach your goal.

How do you break down one big goal into several smaller goals?  That all depends upon what your goal is.  You can choose best what you need to do each day to help keep you on track.  Don’t let your gaze go too far down the trail that you have laid out for yourself.  If you don’t stay focused on the day at hand, you might miss something wonderful along the way.

Remember that reaching a goal is much like going on a journey.  If you’re too focused on the destination, you’ll miss the beauty along the way.  You can stop along the way and smell the roses rather than speeding along the path you’re on and missing them entirely.  By setting smaller goals that you can reach, you’ll be moving toward your goal and be much more likely to actually reach it.

Don’t give up if things don’t work out exactly like you’ve planned.  Things in life happen that may keep you from reaching a small goal in the time you had hoped.  When things settle back down you can pick up where you left off.  It may take longer to reach your goal than you wanted, but that’s no reason to give up.

Give yourself a reward when you’ve reached a smaller goal, rather than waiting to complete the large goal.  Knowing you’ll have a small reward when you have met a goal may be the impetus you need to keep going when you feel discouraged.

When you have a goal in mind, consider the steps you can take.  Set New Year’s goals that are not beyond your reach.  Reward yourself when you’ve reached a small goal and then keep going to the next one.

Graphic from Heartland Graphics New Years Collection

New Year

A New Year, A New You

Each New Year millions of Americans make resolutions to change things about their lives. They may want to lose weight, use their time more wisely, conquer clutter in their homes, or take time to learn a new skill. With a new year, a new you is possible if you set goals and work toward achieving them.

Some people haven’t been very good at setting goals or at attaining them. These ideas for setting goals may be what you need to make a new and improved you become a reality.

What is it about yourself that you would like to change in the coming year? Decide what your final goal will be, but don’t fixate on that final goal. Instead, think about small steps that you can take that will lead you, ultimately, to that final goal.

Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past but haven’t succeeded. The beauty of a new year is that it’s a chance for new beginnings. Start out thinking positive about what you want to change; don’t think back to the failures. Try one more time to affect the change you want to see in yourself.

Even if there are several things you want to work on or change in your life, it’s a good idea to focus on only one aspect at a time. Too many resolutions will cause you not only to fail, but to fail at all of them. You’ve felt bad enough about failing with one resolution in the past, so don’t set yourself up for a fall in relation to all of them.

Make your own resolution because it’s something you want to do, not because someone is pressing you to change. If you truly want to change something about yourself, you may ask your friends and family to encourage and cheer you on, but don’t make a resolution based on what they want. The decision to change has to come from within.

Write down your goal, what it is you want to accomplish, and set a time frame to master it in. Give yourself time if you have a good deal of weight to lose. You didn’t gain the weight overnight; you can’t expect to lose it as quickly. Set small, measurable, and attainable goals.

Remember that New Year’s resolutions are goals that we set for ourselves that will hopefully give us the courage to step out and change ourselves in some way. If you have a day that you blow your resolution, it’s not the end of the world. Pick up the next day right back where you were when you fell, then do your best to reach your individual goals and you’ll be that much closer to the final goal you set.

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