The Year of the D's

So we are officially three days into 2012, and I have finally decided on my New Year's Resolutions.  They all begin with the letter "D" for some reason, so I'm going to roll with it.

1) Devotion

I want to place more importance on my daily prayer life.  Luckily, I am able to attend Mass four days a week at work, but I want to add to that more family rosaries and maybe a weekly Adoration and Benediction. 

2) De-Clutter

This is a huge priority for me this year, and we've already made great progress over the past long weekend.  I cleaned out the kid's coat closet and found seven size 8 boy's jackets.  Seven!  And they were all hand-me-downs.  Now we only have one spring jacket and one winter jacket in each size. 

When my house is clean and clutter-free, my whole life feels so much better.  I am at peace and I want for nothing.

3) Diet

Well, what would a New Year's Resolution be without a renewed commitment to diet and exercise.  I've got the exercise part under control, but I'm trying to be more strict in what I eat during the week, and save treats for the weekend.

4) Discipline

I'm talking about general discipline in all areas of my life.  I want to be disciplined enough to stop procrastinating what I need to do, and actually complete the tasks before falling on the couch every night.  I want to be disciplined in everything from my half-marathon training to my use of Natural Family Planning.  I want to serve my kids a home cooked meal every night and stop our weekly McDonald's trips.  I want to be disciplined in flossing my teeth and taking my vitamins.  I want to be thankful for all the gifts God has bestowed upon our family and stop seeing what I think I'm missing.  Basically I want to be healthy physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally - and it all takes discipline.

5) Debt

We have been trying to save a little each month for the past few years, and now I'm finally at a point where I want to stop saving temporarily, and start paying off debt more aggressively.  The way I have it planned (and we all know how funny God thinks our plans are) is that we will have my van, Phil's van, our IRS loan, and our college loans paid off in two years.  It is worth living simply to be freed from debt!  Of course we will still have our mortgage and car payments once we need replacement vehicles, but we're striving to get rid of our current debt as quickly as possible.

I hope by the end of the year I will feel that I accomplished at least some of these goals.  Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, and today is a gift from God - that's why it's called the present.  I want to live each day recognizing that gift and challenging myself to make the most of it. 

What are your New Year's Resolutions?