Hello 2012

I'm about a month late on this one, but its given me time to adjust.  I have one major over-arching goal this year (call it a resolution if you will): I can't buy anything new*.  Now, see that asterisk? Let me 'splain:

* I can buy most "consumable" goods: food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, gasoline, medicine, a massage, etc.
My usual food rules still apply (whole, local, sustainable, blah, blah).  While I don't think I'll need to buy much in terms of person and cleaning supplies (I have a stock pile and I make a lot of my own), I've allowed myself the wiggle room to get my dishes clean come November.

* I can buy, barter, or accept donations of new-to-me-used things.
I have enough of everything I need.  But if that changes, I can buy used from garage sales or thrift/consignment/reuse stores (although with all the concerning things I'm learning about the Salvation Army, this option is getting harder to find).  I can also take used items of the hands of friends and family (like every couch I've ever owned).  Or I can barter, swap, trade, etc.

* I have an emergency clause.
We need new headlines in the car? There's a small fire and we lose all our pillows and underwear?  The fridge/stove/dishwasher/laptop break?  Okay - but we're taking the path-of-least-consumerism.  We would do any repairs we're able to do on the vehicles. We would replace our old burned pillows and underwear with the most sustainable ones we could find.  We would repair any damage we could do the appliances, look for used, etc., before buying new.  (The TV does not count and would not be replaced...gasp).

Why no new stuff?  Why this year?
Why not?  Our house is cluttered and hard to keep clean.  Our budget has been expanding each year and we want to keep it in check in order to pay off our student loans and save up for a house as soon as possible.  We want to move soon and we certainly don't want to move all of this crap to a new location!  I want to be happy with what I have.  I want to feel free from the pressure to improve my life with stuff.  I want to spend more time with friends and family.  I want to reduce my impact on the environment.  I want to live a simpler lifestyle so that after I graduate I can take the job I love instead of the job that pays best.


I addition to this year long goal I have monthly focuses as well.  In January my goal was to find a new internship and get settled in there.  Check - I'll tell you all about it later.  In February my goal is to stop gaining weight!  I've gained roughly 10 pounds a year for the last 6 years and I'm well beyond sick of it. While my eventual goal will be to decrease my weight, I'm starting small by adjusting my eating and my walking with the short to goal to halt that dial.

February - The Great Declutter

January
January was the month for food changes.  Sammit and I spent three weeks on an eliminate/challenge diet to see if I had a dietary intolerance.  It seems that I do - but there may be more than one culprit.  I've scheduled an appointment with a new physician who is known around these parts for dealing holistically with food problems - but she's also a licensed DO (my ND cannot be licensed in this state, Michigan Law) which means my insurance will cover visits with her.

We aren't ending our food changes now that January is over.  Last night while working on February's goals, Sammit and I cleaned our pantry of foods we won't be keeping in the house anymore (white/wheat pastas, cereals, canned tuna fish with soy in it (?), that year old Duncan Hines cake mix).  Anything that hasn't been used and is within the expiration date is being donated at the bin in our food co-op.  The rest is going into the compost bin.  I will continue to push changes, learn new recipes, and accept that an all-or-nothing perfectionist attitude won't get me anywhere.


February
February is the month for the Great Declutter.  Clearing out our cupboards was a good start.  We also finally moved the bookcases from the hallways to their appropriate locations (the basement and our bedroom).  We also cleaned out all the our bedroom closets and rearranged the dining room.  Right now I have 2 large boxes to give to the Salvation Army with more on the way.

Reducing clutter has always been a difficult process for me, a genetic pack-rat, so I'm taking it in layers.  This first two weeks is devoted to clearing out household items that we obviously don't need anymore (or shouldn't've had in the first place) and getting rooms organized and finally unpacked from the move.  The second two weeks will revolve around a second pass on rooms and should be the actual meat-and-bones of the Great Declutter.

Some guidelines that are keeping me focused:

1) Two things out for every one in.
Meaning, for everything I bring into the house (a shirt, some markers, a picture album from my mom's house) I must put two things into the donation box/trash can/recycle bin.  While I'd like to think the two things going out will be comparable to the one coming in, in reality it will most likely start as, "Oh I bought this pair of jeans, here, I'll recycle this magazine (1) and throw out this gum wrapper (2)."  But progress is progress.

2) It must be functional or beautiful.
Meaning everything in the house must serve a function or bring beauty to the house.  Bonus points for items that do both, like our brown and tan embroidered curtains, or porcelain white cat statue in our  bathroom that holds our toilet brush, or our house plants that add a gorgeous green to rooms and clean our air.

3) It deserves a better home.
 This is used for items that have literally traveled with me from city to city from my childhood home, primarily crafting supplies.  If I haven't found a use for that fabric since I bought it in 1997, I need to donate it so that someone who has the time for it can make it into something beautiful (or functional), instead of lingering in a large plastic tub in the crawl space.

2011 Goals, #1

In 2010 I made a long term goal that in 5 years I didn't want to have to set foot in a grocery store.  That spring I joined a meat CSA and planted my first solo-outside garden.  I include "solo" and "outside" because my first garden experiences were with my mother when I was 4 years old, helping her plant and weed while she was pregnant with my little sister - and because I attempted some container gardening in my apartment during my college years; those attempts failed.  You can see my first "big-girl" garden in earlier posts on the blog.

Going grocery-store free in 5  years is, in my naive opinion, very doable - but it won't happen over night and it won't happen on its own.  While I think I made decent progress in 2010, also familiarizing myself with 3 of the nearby farmer's markets, I also could've done a lot more.  It is that thought that spurs this post - and a list of 2011 goals to keep my on the path of thrivalism.

In 2011 I would like to...

1) Expand our garden.

My first garden was 100 square feet and consisted of 5 "plots" each divided by a foot wide path of red brick for easy access.  In it, we successfully grew several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, herbs, carrots and a cantaloupe or two.  We unsuccessfully grew broccoli, cauliflower and green beans.  And straight up failed at watermelons, zucchini, and brussel's sprouts.  (The failed watermelons and sprouts are a no-brainer, but the zucchini is still a mystery).  I can honestly say that I have never been as happy or proud as when I was in that garden.  (I was terrified for most of my wedding day, so the garden still wins out, despite my undying love for my partner).

In the last few months of fall, I watched our back yard, filled with beautiful but aggravatingly shady-providing trees, to try and map out another prime location for planting.  It seems that the only ideal location is a bed that existed when we moved in - and in the summer it blooms with purple irises and pink & white peonies.  I don't particularly want to tear into it, though I'm going to see if I can't rearrange it a little next year.  After all, my first garden shared a bed with a beautiful rose bush - so who's to say we can't have aesthetics and function? I'm convinced, again naively, that the perimeter of our garage would be promising for some partial-sun loving plants.

The next few months I will be reading up on gardening and plotting out my beds.  While I have a lot to learn, I sometimes think my lack of education allowed for some great innovation on our first garden.  Had I listened to my seed packets and much of the reading I had done, I wouldn've have been nearly as successful (or just damn lucky.  I'm convinced our success this year came from two factors: 1) Neglect.  I lived an hour away from my garden last spring and it had to learn to live on it's own.  It wasn't over-watered and it developed strong roots of its own.  2) Wasps.  We had a family of wasps living in our fence near the garden.  The more I read about organic gardening, the more I learn that wasps are wonderful for keeping pests at bay.)

In this year's garden I want to...

a) Double our tomato production, especially the sungolds we planted (little orange bursts of awesome).
b) Double our carrot & cucumber production
c) Succeed at the plants that were sub-par last year (Zucchini, Watermelon, Green Beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuce)
d) Plant pumpkins in the back (for our 2nd annual pumpkin carving party)
e) Attempt to plant garlic and potatoes
f) Double the herb garden (and preserve by either drying or freezing)
g) Attempt collard greens

Long term (read: When Sammit and I move to our own house) I would like to add corn, asparagus and other greens to our veggies as well as strawberries, raspberry & blueberry bushes, and apple & cherry trees. I'd also like to attempt lemon or limes trees (to be kept in the house during winters).  I dream of pears, grapes, & pinto beans.