Are you ready to ring in a new year? If you’re heading into 2025 without a New Year’s resolution, don’t worry. You still have time to make one. I’ve got simple, mom-friendly New Year’s resolutions to pick from that you can fit into your busy life.
From Hater to Lover
I used to hate New Year’s resolutions. To young, naïve, childless me, the New Year was an arbitrary time to make grand pronouncements for growth and change. I saw all the gym commercials on TV and scoffed at all the poor schmucks who would sign up in January and cancel by March. These resolutions looked like lies people would tell themselves to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
After I had kids, though, I realized that life is actually hard (if you have kids or not), so why not take every opportunity you have to make it just a little better? Now I love to make a New Year’s resolution every January. It gives me one thing to focus on for the next year. And when it seems like you have 87 plates spinning in the air at any one time, having that guidepost of one thing to focus on when everything is a blur is extremely helpful. It gives me that all-important sense of accomplishment, even if everything else is falling down around me. A New Year’s resolution has become crucial to my sanity.
Success is Easy
Since I’ve been making New Year’s resolutions, I’ve had great success with them. It’s not because I have super-human discipline or something, though. It’s because I’ve made resolutions that fit in with my life. At this point, that means they are mom-friendly resolutions that aren’t huge swings for the fences. Last year, I walked through the things to prioritize to make a resolution that lasts, but sometimes you just need to pick from a list because you don’t have time for self-reflection. I get it.
Behold, your list. Here are 8 bite-sized, easily accomplished, mom-friendly New Year’s resolutions to pick from. Select the one that you can most easily see having the greatest impact in your life with the smallest amount of effort and don’t look back!
Mom-Friendly New Year’s Resolutions
Read
If you’ve had a child or two in the last decade, you might feel like you haven’t read as much as you used to in quite some time. I read the Harry Potter series of books out loud to my oldest while I was pregnant with him in 2019 and then basically didn’t pick up a book again until 2023. It happens.
If you find yourself in a similar situation and you really miss having books be a regular part of your life, this might be the mom-friendly New Year’s resolution for you! But Sara, you ask, how can I possibly find the time to read when I still have kids taking up a huge part of my time? Let me introduce you my secret to reading success – audiobooks!
Audiobooks are a great way to “read” in a way that lets you multi-task. By turning to audiobooks, I can read while I do laundry, wash dishes, drive to pick up the kids from school. If I’m doing something that doesn’t take serious concentration, I’m listening to an audiobook while I do it. I listened to 70 audiobooks in 2023 and 61 audiobooks in 2024. The “reading” I’ve been doing with my ears has also translated into more reading with my eyes. I read 12 physical books in 2023 and 27 in 2024. Give audiobooks a try and it will give you momentum to really smash a resolution to read more this year!
Move
Another common thing that tends to happen when you have small kids is that your daily exercise routine goes right out the window. Mine sure did. Between caring for my kids, taking care of the house, and working, I had very little time left for exercise. That’s why I made a resolution to move more in 2024. I knew I couldn’t commit to a super-strict exercise regime, and that was OK. More movement was good, whatever it was. I brainstormed ways I could add movement into my daily life in low-effort, mom-friendly ways and I smashed it.
Per week, I averaged “extra” movement 6 days and it really helped me to feel better. I am not as stiff here at the end of 2024 as I was at the beginning of the year, I have more energy, and I’m not as tired at the end of the day. It’s been a wonderful change to my life! If you’re looking for a huge bang for not a lot of buck, might I suggest choosing to move more as your mom-friendly New Year’s resolution this year?
Hydrate
You’re not drinking enough water. Neither am I. Because we aren’t drinking enough water, we are pretty much constantly dehydrated. This low-level dehydration results in dry skin, constipation, and creakiness. If you’re like me and you want to get rid of these lovely side-effects of dehydration, then choose hydration as your mom-friendly New Year’s resolution this year.
Why is hydration a mom-friendly New Year’s resolution? Because with just a few small changes, it’s very easy to accomplish. Dare I even say fun? What are these changes you need to make?
Bottle
First you need a water bottle that you’re obsessed with and that you’ll actually want to drink from. For me, that means it is insulated (I only like ice cold water), it has a straw, and it fits in my car’s cupholder. I’ve been using a Stanley knock-off that I bought at Sam’s club for years, but I think I’m finally ready to try something new. I want something that’s a bit more leak-proof so that I can throw it into a bag when I need to. I have my eyes on the Owala Free Sip, but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
Flavor
The other thing you need is a flavor you like. Drinking as much water as we should can get pretty gosh darn boring. I mean, it’s hard to want to consume so much of something that has no flavor. Good thing there are so many flavored options out there now. You can go the flavored water route, either still or sparkling. For still flavored water, I like the Hint brand and I love that they sell a variety pack so you can try a few flavors out to see which you like best. If you’d rather sparkle a little, my family likes the Good & Gather sparkling water from Target. Every member of my family would have a different favorite flavor, so try out a few to find your perfect fit. Mine is the ginger peach, by the way.
ou can also go with electrolyte drink mixes, although you need to be mindful that you’re adding sugar with most of these. I have had good success with the Liquid I.V. and DripDrop brands. My favorite Liquid I.V. flavor is tropical punch, and I really like the watermelon DripDrop.
Gratitude
It’s amazing how just taking a few minutes every day or even every week can vastly change your outlook on life. Seriously, writing down a handful of things you’re grateful for every day or every week (I do weekly) takes about a minute and really helps you focus on what’s important in life. Don’t think you need to go all existential with this either. What makes this a mom-friendly New Year’s resolution is that whatever pops in your heads counts. It can be a sale on cat food and maraschino cherries one day and a roof over your head and healthy children the next. All we are looking for is to get into the habit of naming what about your life is good. It’s so easy to focus on the challenges in life, but we have so much more to be grateful for!
Meal plan
I would be lost on a daily basis if I didn’t meal plan. It’s so darn comforting to know what I’m making my family for dinner (even if it’s leftovers) every night. Meal planning is such a great mom-friendly New Year’s resolution because it helps you and your whole family. I mean, you have to feed your family, might as well make it as painless as possible!
After years of lots of trial and error, I have my meal plan system down to a science. If you don’t currently meal plan, but want to start, might I suggest starting with my system and tweaking to fit your family and their needs? You will thank yourself on the daily if you do!
Sleep hygiene
If we are honest with ourselves, we could all use more and better sleep. With our fast-paced lives, it’s often sleep that gets cut to accommodate everything else we try to cram in. This is not good for any of us. We all need to prioritize sleep, both in quantity and quality, so this is a fabulous mom-friendly New Year’s resolution option.
To help improve your sleep hygiene in 2025, there are a few small things you can do:
- Have a consistent bedtime and wake up time;
- Keep your phone out of bed; and
- Set up your ultimate sleep environment (dark, cool, and comfortable).
Protein
If you are a person who is living in the world, you’ve probably heard that you should be eating more protein. I feel like I hear that message six times a day. It’s starting to give me a complex because I know I’m not eating as much protein as I should. This is especially true at breakfast. I’m a cereal girl because it’s easy and fast, but cereal doesn’t exactly pack a protein punch. Something has to change.
If you are looking at your daily intake and see room for improvement when it comes to protein, this could be a great option for a mom-friendly New Year’s resolution. Make it a point to find ways to add high-protein foods into your diet, either as meals or snacks. Some great high-protein foods are eggs, nuts, meat/poultry/seafood, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and beans. These are all really versatile ingredients that you can fold into your daily routine fairly easily without getting sick of them. It’s not that hard to get more protein in, friends!
Support local business
Most of the time our New Year’s resolutions focus inward, on self-improvement. It doesn’t always have to be this way, though! You can absolutely pick a resolution that will have external effects and improve someone or something beside yourself. One great way to make a mom-friendly New Year’s resolution that is more externally focused is to support local businesses as much as possible.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you that you have to boycott Amazon. I’m just saying maybe you want to limit what you buy on Amazon. Start first at locally owned stores and see if they have what you need. Pick the local hardware store (they’re more helpful there anyway), go to dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, and make the consignment store your first stop when you need a new pair of jeans. Every little bit counts toward contributing to a vibrant local community!
Other posts
Looking to make 2025 your best year yet? These posts might give you a bit of inspiration:
So, have you picked a mom-friendly New Year’s resolution now? I’d love to know what you picked, whether it’s on this list or not. Feel free to share down in the comments below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.
[Note: None of this content is sponsored. The links above may be general affiliate links, which earn me a small commission so I can keep making great content for you!]