My Take on New Years Resolutions

I ran across a great article on AOL’s “Shelter Pop” yesterday entitled New Year's Resolutions Start at Home, By Jodi Helmer. The article offers some great ideas for things to do around the house to improve your surroundings giving you both an extreme “COULD” version and a sensible “SHOULD” version. Being the simple man that I am and that I feel most of my readers to be, I have adjusted some of these ideas to better reflect my lifestyle (i.e. single, old, semi redneck man) while deleting some like building myself a Yoga studio or painting my bedroom blue. Ms Helmer’s original ideas are great and deserve a good reading and I credit her fully with the concept. Her article in its original entirety can be found at:


http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/01/13/new-year-s-resolutions-start-at-home/

In the spirit of the New Year my take on the idea of resolutions usually include the obligatory losing weight, which for me ends up with me finding it instead, resolving to spend more time with the kids for which they returned the favor by growing up and moving far away to avoid my resolutions and having never smoked , translates into pestering my smoking friends into quiting.
Easier and more relevant resolutions can be to improve your surroundings. Many people ignore their homes when it comes to making New Year's resolutions that should reflect who you are, so it's the logical place to begin when you're setting goals for the New Year. Using the above mentioned article I came up with a few of the following resolutions to get you started:

Resolution: Frame the artwork and family photos that have been gathering dust in the back of the closet.
You could: Take all of your prints and pictures to a custom frame shop where you can sift through thousands of frames and countless types of photo mats. Sure, the results will be spectacular, but you'll likely spend an amount equivalent to your monthly mortgage to have it done by the pros.
You should: Spend an afternoon wandering through a craft store (with your prints) assessing your options for DIY framing. The shelves are stocked with frames in all sizes and precut mats in a rainbow of colors -- all at a fraction of the price of custom framing. Achieving a custom look is just a matter of mixing and matching the frames and mats. I bought some great fancy little frames this past weekend at a garage sale with the idea of doing this very thing. By the time I got them home that resolution and the frames were given to Shirley Whiteside across the street for her family pictures to hang down her recent newly painted hallway. She appreciated my idea enough that she resolved to sell the frames in the next community garage sale.
Resolution: Seal the drafts coming through the windows to help cut your energy bills.
You could: Replace all of the windows in your home. I covered this idea in a recent “green” household project. The project, which requires a team of professional installers, is expensive. In fact, it can cost up to $1,000 to replace a single window. The return on this investment of new windows is limited: Homeowners will recoup just 77% of their original investment during resale.
You should: As I suggested in my other blog on this, pick up insulating film with a low-E coating at a home improvement store. The film has an invisible layer of metallic oxide that traps heat indoors and helps reduce heat loss through older windows by up to 40%. Unlike the bulky plastic film your parents used to cover the windows during the winter of 1978, this film fits seamlessly over your windows. Home improvement stores sell low-E film for $3 to $12 per square foot.
Resolution: Make your home more secure.
You could: Pay professionals to install an expensive home security system. You see them advertised constantly on TV. You pay a flat rate for the system installation and monthly monitoring fees to keep it operating.
You should: Install motion sensor lights around the perimeter of the house, including front and back doors. Take away the cover of darkness by adding lights, a deterrent to criminals. Discourage would-be criminals by putting a sign in the yard from the home security company or a "Beware of Dog" sign in the front window. No one needs to know your guard dog is an eight-pound Chihuahua named Peanut In my case it’s a 17 pound Welsh Gorgi named Nate who is a great watch dog. He would lay on the sofa and watch the burglars take everything.
Resolution: Clean out the garage.
You could: Declare the task too daunting and let the rusted lawnmower, broken patio furniture and dusty treadmill continue to take up valuable real estate in the garage for another year. You could also put the task off until spring, reasoning that it's better to wait until you can throw open the garage doors and turn your cleaning crusade into a profitable garage sale. I wonder if Shirley would like that treadmill?
You should: Start now. Go through the entire garage, sorting items into four piles: keep, sell, donate and trash. Put all of the items in the "keep" pile into labeled boxes and bins and return them to the garage, and drop off items in the "donate" pile immediately. If the items are too large for you to move -- like that neglected freezer in the back corner of the garage -- call a local charity to inquire about neighborhood pickups. List the items in the "sell" pile on a website like Craigslist, or take them to a consignment store. You'll make a few bucks and have a clean garage, long before garage sale season starts this spring. I like the idea of giving it all to Shirley, she takes pity on me, often, and feeds me.
Resolution: Organize your closets.
You could: Have a closet designer provide an in-home consultation and recommend an organizer that is customized for your closet. The process requires hiring professional installers and writing a sizeable check.
You should: Take a DIY approach to closet organizing. Armed with your closet measurements, head straight to the experts at retailers like IKEA and The Container Store who offer free space planning assistance to customers. You'll get a customized plan and the freedom to pick the products that work best for your space and your budget. Most pre-packing organization systems are easy set up, eliminating the need to spend hefty fees for professional installation. In a single weekend, you can have a picture-perfect closet Or you can use my approach and just not be reminded of the problem by keeping the closet doors closed and resist the temptation to look for ANYTHING.
Resolution: Stop letting dishes pile up in the sink. Man this one was made for me. I am of record has having left the dishes in the sink until I ran out of dishes and silverware on which to eat.
You could: Spend 30 minutes every evening washing and drying the dishes, making sure every plate and utensil has been put away before your spaghetti dinner has even digested.
You should: Load up the dishwasher instead. Believe it or not, using the dishwasher is more energy efficient than washing the dishes by hand. You'll free up time to kick back with the latest issue of your favorite magazine and do your part to help the environment. No dishwasher? Fill the sink with soapy water and let the dishes soak overnight. Tomorrow, you can do the dinner dishes from the past two nights. I like my solution better. My solution? Not enough dishes and silverware, buy more at a garage sale and throw the dirty ones away.