Things to Do in the New Year

• Take an Inventory
  The start of a New Year is a great time to take inventory of your family's personal information. Review your Emergency Information records to insure they are current. Review your insurance status, both medical and life, and take a peek of your will as well. One of the greatest favors you can do your family is to plan ahead for unforeseen emergencies such as long term disability. By having papers filed in an accessible location and kept in an orderly fashion, should you or another family member have to act quickly, you will have what you need to weather the crisis. One of the major principles behind The GO MOM! Planner is organizing the information and schedules for your family so effectively that anyone could pick up your planner and jump in. So schedule time during this first month of the year to review your personal papers. You'll feel better for it moving into February and tax season where you can also take advantage of the many laws designed to protect you and your family, now and in the future.

• Planning for Summer and Fall
  True, we're just getting settled into the New Year and have barely finished packing away the Holiday Decor. However, if you have either a need or simply desire for your children to participate in Summer Camps and Fall Pre-school Programs, start researching now. Many of these programs hold enrollment in January and are completely booked and running waiting lists by February. This catches parents off guard every year who are either new to the area, are researching the activity for the first time, or are taking your first child through these steps, such as pre-school. So research your local parenting papers for resource lists of these organizations and hit the road now for tours and interviews. You'll be well on your way to a smooth summer and awesome fall!

• New Planner
  If you don't already have one, get one! To organize your life, you need to know what its all about. Use a portable, mom-oriented that provides tracking in one location for each family members schedule and important reference information. From completing school registration forms to new doctor visits, menu planning to car pool rosters, using a planner alleviates confusion and encourages success. Take it with you anywhere and everywhere you go. Most importantly, prior to making any commitments, check group schedules first to qualify the need or the time for a new activity. Measure each inquiry alongside your defined priorities and answer with confidence that you not only have individual but family interest at heart.

• Simplify in the New Year
  A new day has come! To simplify your life, take inventory of your schedule and scale back on activities. First, make a dream board. Using pictures and words from old magazines, make a collage of all your dreams and wishes for your life as mother, daughter, wife and friend in 2003. This will help you visualize whats in your heart. Encourage family members who are old enough to do the same to identify priorities and suggest choices that allow them to enjoy their time and grow. Transfer these dreams and wishes into reality by looking at the year ahead to create a family schedule. When possible, limit family members to one or two activities and always honor family principles first, such as attending a place of worship weekly or enjoying dinner together nightly. By spreading out each family members activity levels over the course of the year and managing the busier times with additional support systems, the entire family can have a year of dreams and wishes come true.

• Make Things Happen in the New Year
  Business Coach Joyce Reynolds recommends: Start by taking a look at any seemingly important goal that you've had since last year that isn't getting met. Write down: why it isn't happening; what steps you need to take, what changes you need to make in order for this goal to be realized; what you must do or stop doing in order to move ahead; what investment you must make or learning you need to do towards your accomplishment; what strategies are or are not working.
  - More advice from Joyce

• Rethink Old Resolutions
  The New Year is a good time to think about TIME. Instead of making the same old resolutions, take a new approach. Look at things you'd like to change. Instead of focusing on the behavior, focus on how long you have been doing it and how many years you've been making a resolution to change it. It may be far more motivating to realize that you've been saying you're going to get more organized at work for the last three years than to make another resolution to get organized.
  - From BlueSuitMom.com, the site for working mothers

• Family Resolutions
  We often make New Year's Resolutions for ourselves but this is a great time of the year to challenge your children to make family resolutions. Make them simple and attainable. No use in setting the entire family up for failure. How about resolving to add an extra family dinner where everyone sits down together each week? Or resolve to write a family mission statement that contains all the elements of life that are important to your family. It's an exciting time of the year to find new goals for each member of your family.
  - From BlueSuitMom.com - the site for working mothers