I choose to do goals rather than resolutions and it may be a personal/temperamental preference. Resolutions are intimidating for me. I used to be all or nothing, but once my resolution failed, I gave up.
Goals give me more flexibility and don’t seem as rigid. It’s just a perspective change, but it helps keep me motivated all year long and not just the first week of January.
Having too many goals or resolutions can be overwhelming, but I like having a goal for each major facet of my life. These are the categories that I use for my goals: Spiritual, Duty of State, Physical/Health, Financial, and Personal.
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I have one goal per category with a few exceptions depending on my needs. I’m going to go through each category to give you some ideas.
1. Spiritual Goals for 2025
a). Go on Spiritual Retreat.
I haven’t been on a retreat in almost 10 years. As a Traditional Roman Catholic that follows the Traditional Latin Mass, our retreats are usually 3-7 days and in total silence (minus vocal prayers, individual conferences with priests, and confession). Most of our retreats aren’t open to nursing mothers and therefore I haven’t been able to go since I’ve been married.
I am so blessed and excited that my parish is having a silent 5 day Virtues retreat that I know is going to be so amazing for me. I will be 20 weeks pregnant during this retreat, but only 30 minutes away from my doctor/hospital if a complication or medical emergency should arise.
b). Attend the Five First Saturday Devotion
There are special graces and benefits that come with this beautiful devotion. The devotion includes attending Mass on 5 consecutive first Saturdays of the month, going to confession within the 8 day octave, receive Holy Communion with the intention of reparation for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray the Rosary, and reflecting on the mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes.
If you need more information on the First Saturday Devotion check out this website by America Needs Fatima to learn more.
If you need help reflecting on the Rosary, I have two book recommendation for you. How To Be Happy- How To Be Holy by Paul O’Sullivan. This book is a Catholic gem of information. It is so beautifully and simply written. It has a chapter on each mystery of the Rosary which would be so helpful.
The second book I recommend is a little pricier, but it is an amazing book for your Rosary arsenal. This book is called Rosary Warfare. It is amazing. It goes through multiple ways of reflecting on the Rosary and it has beautiful pictures for each mystery as well.
2. Duty of State Goals for 2025
Duty of State refers to the obligations you have according to your state in life. This will differ person to person. For example, my state of life is that of a wife and a SAHM (stay at home mom). My personal obligations to that state include keeping my children fed, clothed, clean, and overall loved. This also includes keeping my home clean and tidy, to the best of my abilities. And finally I have a marital obligation to my husband (both physical and emotional).
a). Keep to a Consistent Grooming Schedule for my kids.
I have 5 kids, soon to be 6, and so while all of my kids are well-groomed, I would like to make sure we do showers 3 days a week, nails cut weekly, and monthly haircuts. I don’t need to go into details here on the internet, but this is a goal of mine.
b). Keep to a Consistent House Cleaning Schedule.
I have never been the best homemaker. I am not great at keeping a consistent schedule, especially now that I’m pregnant. I am so incredibly blessed to be married to a man that supports me and has been picking up my slack, but as a SAHM I really want to hold up my side of our family equation.
My goal is to spend 20min. decluttering, 20min. organizing, 20min. cleaning, and 20min. on laundry/dishes Monday-Saturday. I, personally, have 120min. a day to work on my housework. I’m hoping that as I become more consistent, these tasks will become easier and less cumbersome.
3. Physical/Health Goals for 2025
My ultimate goal is a happy/healthy pregnancy and delivery of my baby in the Spring. I’m currently 19weeks pregnant and I’ve already had Gestational Diabetes for 14weeks. This is my 4th GD pregnancy.
a). Exercise for 20 minutes per day
Exercising will help regulate my sugars and help me be fit and ready for delivery. It will also help my recovery after I have my baby as well. The recommendation is 150minutes of exercise a week for pregnant women (obviously not counting high risk pregnancies that your doctor says otherwise).
b). Drink 64oz. of water a day
I struggle with dehydration not pregnant, but mostly when I am pregnant. My hydration level directly effects my sugar levels and my nausea as well. Some days I will literally only drink 12oz a day, so 64oz is attainable and not terrifying. 98oz is the real goal, but I’m on baby steps. I love just filling my 32oz ThermoFlask twice or 3 times and then I’m good for the day.
4. Financial Goals for 2025
So my family is coming off of a very expensive year due to building a new deck on our house, some very expensive dental/medical bills, car bills, and our kids’ Catholic School Tuition. We don’t regret our decisions, but we ended the year in the red which is not ideal.
a). End the year without debt and in the Green!
Our goal is to pay off 6K in credit card debt, 10K in medical bills due to childbirth this Spring and last years dental work, and 10K in our kids’ Catholic School Tuition. We have 3 kids in our local Catholic School and we are so blessed to only need to pay 10K for all of them. Some of the other Catholic Schools near us are 15K per child, which we could never afford.
b). Reel in the monthly spending budget
My goal is to keep my monthly grocery budget to $600 a month for my family of 7. We do budget for eating out which I want to keep under $300 a month. I also want to keep my miscellaneous spending under $200 a month. This should keep our monthly budget well within the green and we might even be able to put some money in savings by the end of the year, too!
I made this document on Canva and printed it out for each month of the year so that I can keep a running expenses list to help facilitate my goals.
5. Personal Goals for 2025
a). Decrease screen time by 30min every month until delivery.
I have a real screen dependency problem. I currently spend any where between 5-9 hours a day on my phone!!! It is ridiculous. This is why I am looking forward to my silent Spiritual Retreat because it will be 5 days without my phone. I did this 30min decrease for Lent and it was so helpful. I do want to be realistic, so by May I will be down to 3.5 hours and going lower than that will be very difficult and maybe even impractical. I’ll have a newborn and with that I hope to breastfeed, which is about 5 hours a day of staring at the wall.
b). Read 3 books a month.
I love to read, but usually never finish the book. My goal is to read and finish 3 books a month. Here is the link to my 2025 Booklist. There are so many amazing books I plan to read this year. Books by G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hilaire Belloc, and Jane Austen to name a few.
c). 20 minutes of Spiritual Reading a day
Spiritually reading is so important to me, but I really need to prioritize it again. 20minutes is not a lot and a very attainable goal for me.
d). Go on a Family Vacation that includes a road trip
My family loves road trips. My kids are amazing on the road. We really want to go somewhere new. We’re thinking maybe Maine or New Hampshire, but haven’t decided and it will really depend on how traumatic my delivery is and the health of our baby, but hopefully it will happen at the end of the summer.
These are my goals for 2025 and hope perhaps they have inspired you to make your own goals. Leave a comment of the goals you’re making for 2025.