Every January, I have a list of New Year's resolutions that inevitably get swept aside by more pressing household obligations. You know, like income taxes.

When I was planning our year-end vacation schedule and holiday activities with my husband it occurred to me to leave a few days free to get our household in order for the new year. After all, what is the point of New Year's resolutions if you don't have the time to enact them?

I have been working with a local mom to reorganize our home closets and storage areas, but I need to go further on my own. I have piles of paperwork on tabletops all around my apartment, and a file cabinet full of folders stuffed with haphazard documents. There are vacuum bags of outgrown toddler clothes piled in bedroom corners that need to be sorted to determine which garments will be kept, handed down to relatives or donated (the Salvation Army location near the NJ Turnpike is open for dropoff until 8 p.m. seven days a week via the Erie Street entrance). I also have a list of long-overdue household repairs like a slow-draining sink, burned-out light bulbs and a wall coat rack for the foyer.

Because I run a marketing consulting business out of my home, it's especially important that our household is properly equipped to deal with the clutter of day-to-day living. I have a good start on carving out separate office shelves for each client so I can pick up my notes and materials without a hitch when I have a chunk of time available for work, and then put it down without mixing it up with household or other client materials.

Every year we try to make sure that our kids get the full NYC holiday experience with trips to Rockefeller Center, the NY Botanical Gardens holiday train show, Bryant Park and the Grand Central Station train show (very heavy on the train theme this year!) I also plan on taking the kids to Liberty Science Center (renewing our family membership at the same time.) However, I think it will also be a good life lesson for them to see their parents getting the household shipshape for the new year, and to help as much as they can.

By mixing fun with household catchup, I am confident that we will start 2011 in better shape than ever before to tackle new challenges and manage the usual life-work juggle.

To read more about what makes Kathy Zucker tick, check out her blog at http://hobokenmomcondo.com/momblog and follow her at http://twitter.com/kathyzucker