What are Your Resolutions?

I asked Joel what his resolutions were for this year. His response was to address a couple of items that have been on the "to-do" list for over a year now. This is the first year that mine do not include weight loss or fitness. Instead, this year I want to focus on simplifying our home life.

What this will mean for us is a commitment to a few lifestyle and behavioral changes, such as:

1.) Overall reduction of our consumption. This will be our greatest challenge, as I LOVE to shop, and buy, and collect and . . . well, you get the point. I am have committed to only purchasing those things we "need" or, in rare cases, those "wants" we can justify as being a.) practical and b.) more economical to purchase now rather than later. I am also all about multipurpose items. For example, right now I am loving the Origins Matche Tea lotion Mom F. sent me for Christmas. Not only is it the BEST lotion ever, I love the smell so it doubles as perfume. My other new favorite is Dr. Bronner's soap, which can be used for about a trillion different things around the house. The beautiful part is there is only one bottle. Now, I just need to use up the other 1,800 bottles of different types of household cleaners under the sink in the kitchen! Gack. Which leads to point #2. . .

2.) Streamlining of stuff. My goal is to clean each room in our house and identifying the following items: those to keep, those to sell, those to donate, those to put in long term storage and those to toss. My intent will be to use anything that we have partials of, rather than just tossing it. I figure this will cut down on the purchasing of cleaning supplies for sometime since we have partial bottles of lots and lots of stuff around this house. I expect that I might be making some odd treats for Joel to take to work as I try to find ways to use up ingredients that have been sitting in our kitchen for much longer than I care to admit.

3.) Start Selling Online or Via Consignment Shops. I have a ton of work clothes that I want to try to sell through a local consignment shop. I figure by the time I am back to working a 9-5 that requires me to dress as such, I will want new clothes anyway. I also plan to list some items on Ebay or Craig's List. However, I don't think I could stomach another garage sale, so that's out for this year.

4.) Drink the Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid: Ok, so we actually did this a couple of years ago, but this year we plan to attend the FPU classes that a couple we know lead at a church in our area. While I doubt we'll learn anything new, I am looking at the classes as I would Weight Watchers. You might be doing all the steps on your own, but being in a group of like minded individuals helps to maintain focus and keep your goals in sight. Also, they offer free childcare and honestly, any type of date night (even one that involves nothing but financial talk) is welcome at the Fleddie house. Anyway, I figure that this will help us to "streamline" financially, which will in turn lead to reduction of consumption on many other levels.

So, how about you? What are your resolutions for 2010?