10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Marriage

By Kathryn Sneed on Thursday, January 1, 2015

10 New Years Resolutions For Your Marriage

Last night I thought, I should write a post on New Year’s resolutions for your marriage.  And then I remembered, that’s already been done…and done well.

This timeless post from HWC contributor, Kathryn Sneed, was originally posted this time last year.  And I still can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year.

My personal New Year’s resolution for my marriage: to love like there is no tomorrow…because we never know how much longer we will be fortunate enough to live this life together.

Until tomorrow…make it a Happy New Year!

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2015 is here and now is the time that people start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. 

A lot of people like to set personal goals, fitness goals, organizational goals and more. But what about goals for your marriage?

Your marriage is and should be one of the most important things in your life, shouldn’t it be first on your list of resolutions?

Every marriage needs and deserves a little more attention and 2015 is the perfect year to start giving your marriage that extra TLC! Not sure where to start? Here are 10 ways for you to work on your marriage this coming year!

10 Resolutions for Your Marriage:

1. Forgive and Forget. 
This year, strive to forgive your spouse as soon as they apologize or ask for forgiveness. It’s easy to hold a grudge or to bring up past grievances, but letting these things go and forgiving your spouse can lead to a happier self and a happier marriage!

2. Spend More Time Together.
So many people are so busy, too busy. Life gets in the way and the important things in life tend to fall to the wayside. In 2015, resolute to spend more time with your spouse! Whether it be more date nights or more time at home together, I’m sure your spouse will appreciate having more of you in their life!

3. Put Your Spouse First.
In a day and age when there are so many things that scream for our attention, it’s important that our spouses feels like they are important in our lives. This year, determine to put your spouse above all the noise trying to attract your attention. Determine to put them first.

4. Seek God Together.
It’s sometimes easy to judge our spouse for the things they do, but learning to seek God together can help your relationship become stronger and help us learn to focus more on the things we need to fix in our own lives. Resolute in 2015 to seek God together and watch your relationship grow stronger together and in God!

5. Cultivate Common Interests.
It’s easy to do things that interest you personally, but why not learn some new hobbies with your spouse? This year, find some common interests that both you and your spouse would enjoy, and do them often! What better way to have fun with your spouse and learn more about them?

6. Work Toward Conflict Resolution.
No marriage is perfect, but a peaceful marriage is one to strive for! Let 2015 be the year you work toward healthy conflict resolution. Learn better strategies for your marriage and learn how to discuss things peacefully with your spouse. Strive toward healthy communication!

7.  Keep the Passion Alive.
Maybe your marriage has gotten a little boring, you do the same things every day and nothing seems fun or out of the ordinary. Let 2015 be the year you change all that! Determine to keep the passion alive and help things get steamy instead of boring. You will both be thankful you did!

8. Flirt more!
Who doesn’t like to flirt a little with their spouse? It’s fun and brings back the spice you might remember from your dating years! This year, resolute to flirt more with your spouse. There are so many fun ways to flirt, and your spouse just might be surprised and happy that you started it!

9. Say, “I love you” every day.
A lot times it’s easy to assume that our spouse  knows we love them. But there are so many different ways to say and show that you love them. This year, don’t let a day go by without saying it. Resolute to say, “I love you” in a special way every day.

10. Communicate Appreciation.
So many people feel under appreciated because their spouse doesn’t take the time to communicate appreciation for them and what they do. Don’t let another year go by without telling your spouse how much you appreciate them. Resolute to communicate appreciation as much as possible!

What New Year’s resolutions for your marriage will you be adding to this list?

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Kathryn is a 20-something stay-at-home mother and military wife. She keeps busy by taking care of her special needs son and blogging about faith, marriage, motherhood, military life and more at Singingthroughtherain.net. In her spare time, she likes hanging out with friends and going on date nights with her husband!

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  • Alex Kinsey

    On a positive note: Great list. Thanks for sharing.
    On a critical note: I was very distracted by the usage of “resolute”. The word resolute is an adjective, e.g., “Be resolute,” or “She was resolute.” The directive “resolve” is a verb, e.g., “Resolve to communicate openly about adjectives and verbs.”
    Have a very happy and healthy new year! :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks, Alex! Great critique. I think the reason people use “resolute” is because New Year’s resolutions are so common. They’re almost like saying, “Pass me the Kleenex,” when really you’re only asking for tissue. Meaning, because it’s something everyone can easily relate to, it’s a word that is used. But to your point, a verb is most certainly better.

  • HappyWifeDeb

    Great ideas! Love them! Thank you!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      So happy you love them, Deb!

  • Spouse Dates

    These are great ideas, Kathryn, especially number 2! Making time for each other is critical.
    As good as it is to do though, I believe that dating your spouse should NOT be a New Year’s resolution.

    Counter intuitive, I know. I explain here: http://www.spousedates.com/dating-your-spouse-should-not-be-a-new-years-resolution/
    Again, great ideas! Wish you all the best this New Year!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Happy New Year to you, as well! Oh yes, and I want to make sure you saw my Twitter DM to you about joining our Twitter party on Monday @ 10am PST and our blog tour. If not, let me know so I can make sure to get the info to you. Would love for you to join us!

  • Katie

    This is great! Thanks for doing this. Part of my resolutions were to give 100% to my marriage. I can see that I’ve gotten lazy. Thanks for some concrete tips!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      That’s a great resolution, Katie!

  • La Costa Gaston

    Thank you so much for sharing this. Great list!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      So happy you enjoyed it La Costa!

  • http://www.tidbitsofexperience.com/ crystal

    I love this post. I think that this is a great list of suggestions for sure. I especially love the one about having your spouse first in your life. I also feel having God as the center of your marriage is a good thing for sure. Every couple can benefit from that one!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Absolutely! Thanks for joining us here, Crystal.

  • junemvc

    Hi Fawn!

    Lovely read once again :-) . I’ve put together a piece about how to keep your new year’s resolution, over on the Memeoirs’ blog!

    http://blog.memeoirs.com/2013/12/25-ways-to-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick/

    I hope you and your fans enjoy. Happy New Year! June

  • Autumn Nichols

    Ive just joined the Happy Wives Club and im very excited and appreciative of this list. Thank you very much! Great list!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thanks for joining, Autumn! So nice to have you here. <3

  • Alecia

    I wrote about my marriage New Years Resolutions here: http://marriagelifeministries.org/?p=1872 . I was a little thrown by how similar the posts were! (Great minds think alike?) We did have some different resolutions listed. I did appreciate #9. Will definitely be proactive about incorporating this one!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Great minds think alike!

  • Thamz

    Its an awesome list .. will surely try to implement and see the life in new way :)

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Beautiful.

  • Kristi

    This is a great post. My husband and I will be married 20 years this year. We decided to celebrate all year. So whatever we do will be in celebration of our 20 years. Dale said others will get tired of us. I told him they will think it is normal. They all stopped telling us to get a room years ago. This post reinforces our strategy. Also don’t forget to mention Nat’l Love Your Husband day on Jan 22. It will be the first surprise for him.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Yeah! Thanks, Kristi for the reminder. We hoped to be able to get it through as a national holiday but weren’t successful because getting a legislator on board for that sort of thing takes more time than we’d hoped. BUT…let’s come up with a fun surprise we can do for your husband (and others) with it. Any ideas? I’m working on some over here too.

      • http://www.osasandgodwin.com osas R.

        @fawn! please what are we going to do about that husband national holiday? i have been looking forward to it!

  • Joel Mbowa

    Thanks for the beautiful post.
    I love it.
    Thanks again

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Hope it got your year off to an awesome start!

  • ibperth

    Great list 9/10, but number 4 would be better as “Ditch God together”. There is nothing more to life than yourselves, your children and friends. One life is all you get, so make an effort to make it a good one.

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      For atheists that would certainly be the solution. For those who are not, which are the majority of the world, that would not be the solution. That being said, the last statement you made is absolute true and I believe atheists and believers in God should both take heed. Wishing you a beautiful week! <3

  • Jessica Mondal

    Thanks! I think No. 4 needs to be be my resolution – Seek God together… that is so important in our lives, and that’s what we miss out most in the busyness of our lives!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      A friend of mine decided her word for 2015 would be: #banbusy. Technically, a word can’t include a hashtag but I thought it was quite clever. I like it! :)

  • Kelly G

    Thank you Fawn! These are great tips to share with family. I have 4 co-workers planning weddings for 2016. I will pass your book and webpage on to them. I thank God for you!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      Thank you so much, Kelly! And that’s a lot of weddings :) .

  • Donna Farrer

    My husband and I said that we would read a marriage book each quarter. We started out with Radical Marriage by David Steele. After this book, we may not want to read anymore as the rest can’t stack up to this one! We only made that resolution, but this one works all the year long! And if it’s for your marriage then it’s worth the work!

    • http://www.happywivesclub.com/ Fawn @ Happy Wives Club

      That’s so cool! What did you love most about it. This is the first time I’ve heard of this book so I’m anxious to hear what you believe made it so great. Thanks, Donna!