Home Projects for a Fresh Start

The new year is approaching, and we have home renovation projects in mind, with a creative mix-up to your New Year’s resolutions. People see this as an opportunity to consider their future and what they want to improve in their lives. Many also review their previous resolutions with disappointment – 54% of people don’t succeed in completing their resolutions, which leads to them hesitating to set new ones. It can be difficult to reach goals, especially if they’re significant changes. 

Below are the top eight most common resolutions people set every year, paired with home projects to make them easier to achieve. These goals can be completed year-round, not just on New Year’s Eve.

Resource: Statista, Inc.

How to set yourself up for success

There are several ways to increase your odds of success when you create a resolution:

• Prepare yourself mentally. It’s okay if you didn’t achieve your previous goals. You’re learning new tactics to help you and approaching your new resolutions with a fresh and exciting start.
• Write your goal down. Goals need to be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Studies show that writing down your goals and thinking of them with these parameters makes your resolutions tangible.
• Break down your goals into small steps. If you want to lose weight, consider how often you exercise and what you eat. Rather than dive into a gym and start a challenging diet, try getting three new hours of exercise into your week. Cut one carb from your diet instead of all of them. Once you achieve that, continue to set further steps in your goal.
• Be accountable. Tell your friends and family that these goals are important to you and ask them to assist or encourage you throughout the year.
• Don’t punish yourself. You won’t always achieve your goal. You don’t want to focus on how you failed. Instead, you want to focus on how you’re going to succeed. This slight change in thinking makes a significant difference.

Home projects to keep yourself on track with your goals

Your home is instrumental to your success in your goals. If you set up your home with your new goals in mind, you’re going to be motivated to see them through to completion.

Pretend your goal is to write a novel. If you’re uncomfortable in your desk chair, you’ll lose focus. Replacing a desk chair is an improvement that will help you succeed. This is the thought process you want to utilize when considering any goal. Think about how your home is set up to either assist or hinder you.

This section focuses on the most common goals people set and how the home can be best maneuvered to further those goals. From small adjustments to big changes, the home is a space that you can make work for you.

Goal #1: Exercise more

Exercising more is at the top of almost everyone’s resolution lists. Many people start the new year off strong by purchasing a new gym membership, but their exercise goal is intermittent at best by the time Spring arrives. The difficult part of the exercise lifestyle is finding a way to be consistent. Especially when life gets in the way. So, we think that if you adapt your home properly, you’ll have a more inviting exercise space and that you will find it easier to use regardless of how unmotivated you feel.

This is especially true if you have a small area where you can turn up your favorite beats and get that blood flowing with some energy-building music. Having a stereo in my gym really made all the difference with this lifestyle change.

Set up a home gym

A home gym goes a long way in boosting your odds of exercise. Build your gym to suit your exercise habits and goals. If your goal is strength training, ensure you have some weights stored nearby. If your goal is movement and flexibility, prioritize enough space for a yoga mat and room to stretch. It can even be in your backyard by hanging a boxing bag on a tree that can hold the weight, or you can purchase a stand. There are plenty of economical options that you can find in online stores. 

Each exercise goal looks different, and so does each home. A home gym doesn’t need to be a dedicated room; it could be a specific corner of the living room with a weight rack and a treadmill or an entire garage or patio. When you build a home gym, start with the basics. Buy more equipment as you grow. Ensure you keep your equipment organized, such as containers for small items, weights on a rack, and a designated home for your yoga mat.

Consider these additional tips

• Create healthy habits – Try to find ways to add more exercise to your day. You may have days when you can’t complete a full workout, but do some stretches, squats, and jumping jacks near your workstation.
• Take the stairs rather than the elevator.
• Try cycling rather than driving to the store.

Goal #2: Eat healthier

Many people set a goal to eat healthier. Healthier eating is an excellent goal, but it’s easily derailed by a lack of time or planning. When people are short on time, they resort to junk food or fast food over healthy alternatives. If the healthier options were just as quick and efficient to grab on a time crunch, people would choose them. This home project provides just the solution.

Set up a veggie garden

A vegetable garden doesn’t have to be huge to produce some excellent results. Start with a small plot of land – or, if you’re tight on space, a raised bed with enough room for a couple of plants. Establish it in a sunny spot and choose fruits or vegetables you love to eat that are easy to grow and thrive in your climate. Lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and carrots are great choices to start with.

Gardens help you eat healthier, but they have other benefits that make them a fantastic addition to a home. Growing your own veggies reduces your carbon footprint and saves you money on groceries. If you expand your garden, you can grow enough to share with your neighbors or produce several different vegetables.

These tips may help you as well

• Lose the unhealthy food in the home – It’s much easier to eat healthily if you limit the unhealthy options around the house. This might seem like such a small thing, but it is true. If you don’t have chips and you have an apple, you will get used to eating an apple for a snack, As I am doing now!
• Be prepared – A lot of unhealthy options are chosen for their convenience. Buy healthy snacks and always have a quick meal ready so that you can stay on track. A fitting example is oatmeal for breakfast. It can be ready in minutes, and it’s easy even to put in a mug if you make it less thick. 
• Plan ahead – Cook your entire week’s worth of meals ahead of time. You’ll always be ready with a healthy dinner, even on difficult days. If you have a great butcher, they can always cut up portions for you that are what you need and can be cut up to cook easier and faster. All you have to do is place the portions in a small biodegradable bag, and presto, you have all your portions prepped in the fridge for the week. 

Goal #3: Lose weight

It’s a challenge to lose weight. A lot of people start with extreme options, such as fad diets or weight loss programs, but these options have a high abandonment rate. One of the keys to losing weight is a change in both eating and exercise habits. This is a general lifestyle change made over small increments. We recommend creating a warm, welcoming kitchen that inspires you to cook. 

Kitchen renovation

Before you tear your kitchen apart, stop and consider what you want to accomplish. What do you like about your current kitchen, and what do you want more of? If you’re lacking in space, you may want a kitchen that maximizes the area available to you. If you tend to cook with the family, choose a kitchen that accommodates the flow of multiple chefs in different stations.

Simple kitchen renovations, such as painting the cupboards and drawers, can be a great DIY project to take on. If you want to do anything bigger, the job becomes complicated quite fast. Hire a professional contractor for the big kitchen renovations. They have the knowledge, tools, and experience to make the job seamless. The point is to make your kitchen more inviting to visit and not some cold, dreary place with no energy flow. A great option would be to get rid of that microwave and replace it with an air fryer. 

Try these weight loss tips

• Eat more meals – The most common weight loss advice is to eat small meals more often.
• Include protein in every meal – People are often surprised to find out how much protein is needed every day.
• Exercise often – Workouts (including weight training) are excellent but don’t discount simple exercises like walking and yoga.
• Take cooking classes – This is a straightforward way to start a habit and form a lifestyle for healthier cooking. 

Goal #4: Spend more time with friends and family

Choosing to focus on increasing quality time with your family has a wide range of benefits. When you surround yourself with loved ones, you create strong emotional support. This can help lower the chances of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Children tend to perform better academically, and they pick up good parenting skills from their family time. Children who enjoy a lot of family time carry a sense of belonging and purpose, which helps them succeed.

Set up a family room

Setting up a functional and fun family space is a wonderful way to invite the family to play. The best family spaces are flexible in how they can be used. They can be altered to be an open area with room to play or closed off for those times you need to focus. A great family space has plenty of storage and furniture that can be doubled up as tables for games.

A family space should be inviting for both kids and adults. The color of this room is truly key. Add color to the space; simple wall painting designs add a lot of life to an otherwise boring area. If you set up various stations for crafts, media consumption, homework, and any other needs, your family will live comfortably in tandem.

Try these tips for more family time

• Practice outdoor skills – If your child is into sports, go outside and practice once or twice a week.
• Take classes together – There’s a wide range of classes you can take with your children, such as karate or painting.
• Enjoy a meal – Going out for a meal is a great change of pace and can teach children to socialize.

Goal #5: Save money

Saving money is a common resolution that can be achieved through budgeting and building proper spending habits. Once you know where you spend your money, you can create a budget to limit certain areas or invest more into savings. Focus on eliminating debts, starting with the smallest and working your way toward bigger ones. To save money, you want to make smarter financial choices. Small investments in home maintenance make a positive impact on your wallet in the long run.

Stay on top of your home maintenance

Many people spend way more money on their energy consumption than needed. With some reasonable investments in home renovations, you can improve your home’s insulation in small increments. Insulation keeps your home temperature regulated, which means your HVAC system won’t have to work as hard. Also, consider using ceiling fans and weather stripping for helpful results.

Some of the most expensive repairs to a home are often preventable. Leaks in faucets, toilets, and appliances add up to costly waste. These leaks can be simple to fix without the need for a professional. Regular HVAC maintenance can prevent a breakdown and has the added benefit of better air quality for the home.

Here are a few money-saving tips 

• Save water with shorter showers – If you time your average shower and shorten it by even a few minutes a day, your water savings will add up.
• Use light timers and programmable thermostats – If you automate some basic functions in your home, you’ll consume less power in the long run.
• Unplug electronics when not in use – When an electronic is not turned on, it may still draw a small bit of power.

Goal #6: Digitally detox

A digital detox is a fast-rising resolution being embraced by many. It can be relatively simple to detox for a day or two, but for this resolution to have a great impact, you need to build a lifestyle away from your screens. Activities away from the digital world improve your self-esteem, increase your attention span and productivity, help you feel calm, and can even improve your sleep habits.

Create a tech-free space at home

One of the best ways to achieve goals in the home is to have spaces dedicated to them. If you want to limit your screen time, create a space within your home where devices aren’t allowed. This would include televisions, iPads, computers, and cell phones. Make your designated detox space super cozy by bringing in plants, pillows, blankets, and furniture to lounge on.

Once the space is comfortable, provide yourself with some screen-free hobbies. Read a book, take on puzzles, play board games, or even learn new skills. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play an instrument or build a model ship, this is a great space to focus on that.

These tips can also help

• Set small daily goals – Try to give yourself a goal to accomplish each day that involves putting screens away. Aim for small time increments to start and improve on those times each day.
• Set tech limitations on daily events – Try enjoying your meal or talking with family and friends tech-free. By finding times you choose to set tech aside, you’ll help yourself reach your goal.

Goal #7: Reduce stress at work

Many people resolve to be less stressed when it comes to their work life. You can’t control how stressful work will be, but you can control how to interact and react to your work. If you work from home, optimize the space to be more productive. Once you eliminate or at least limit distractions, you’ll find work easier to handle.

Improving your home office setup

To improve your work-from-home experience, set yourself up in a designated workspace. This may be a home office, but space is limited for many people. If you can’t transform an entire room into your office, turn a part of a room into your workspace. Install a space-saving desk or hide a foldable desk behind the couch. Use that desk for work and put it away when the work is done, so you can separate when you think about work and when you don’t. 

Make your space a comforting work environment with warm-hued light bulbs. To help you feel more relaxed, paint your walls a soft blue or lilac. Houseplants have a calming effect and make great décor for any home.

These tips will help you work happily from home

• Take regular short breaks – Every hour or two, get up and walk around. Take ten minutes to stretch.
• Invest in good supplies – A great office chair and desk setup will reduce the strain on your body in the long run.
• Separate your workspace – Use your workspace only to work. The rest of your home should be designated as an area where you focus on other matters.

Goal #8: Quit smoking

You can set up your home to help you quit smoking. Quitting smoking is a stressful experience, but if you go prepared, you’ll be better equipped to handle it. Mitigate the worst of the withdrawal symptoms with a few modifications to your living space. This advice can’t guarantee you’ll quit your smoking habit, but it’ll hopefully make a positive impact on the restlessness and anxiety that follows quitting.

Create a zen environment at home

Many people who quit smoking find changing their environment helpful. You can do this at home with simple renovations, such as painting the walls a neutral earthy tone. Grays and beiges have a calming power. Natural light and warm-hued bulbs give off a bright and cozy atmosphere. Essential oils give off natural scents that help people feel a sense of wellness.

You may find it beneficial to set up a relaxation space within the home. Spaces that induce calm feelings may make all the difference when facing bad cravings. Consider implementing a zen garden or a meditation room for peace of mind.

Try these extra tips to quit smoking

• Try new hobbies – Quitting smoking is a big change. Many people associate smoking with their habits and routines. Try starting something new that’s unassociated with your old smoking habits.
• Change up routines – If you always enjoyed a smoke with your coffee, try changing the coffee to a different brand or a different beverage entirely.
• Get physical – Exercise and movement are terrific ways to cope with cravings. Try a stretch or take a short walk.

How to get back on track

It can be easy to fall off track when trying to reach your goals. Rather than think of your goal as something you either succeed or fail at, consider it instead as something you strive for. If you lose the mindset of failure, then you won’t beat yourself up for taking a week off the gym.

If you’re struggling with your goal, take a step back and re-examine it. If the goal is too big, break it down even further. If something is hindering you, set small goals to fix or accommodate those issues. When you do get back on track, celebrate even the smaller victories. Celebrate even the smallest steps.

Think of your goals thematically or as a journey. The mindset of “success or failure” can be harmful to achieving a goal. If you’re off track, don’t be hard on yourself. Make a new plan and continue your journey.

Set up your home to help you achieve your goals. In order to effectively conquer your resolutions, break them down into small steps. You’ll find you can accomplish a lot when you worry less about the result and turn your focus to the next step in front of you. Celebrate your progress along the way, remain positive, and you can make a fundamental change in your life.