New Year's Resolutions
Last year I made resolutions in October and March. I did pretty well. I finished up all nine of my major unfinished sewing projects between October 2005 and January 2006, except for one which was completed and donated in December of this year. I made 3 more kid quilts and delivered them across the country. Then the March "resolutions" were actually just a list of areas in my life that had gone bonk and that I needed to fix. I got most of those cleared up as well. Notably, I did a good job giving The Dog at least a short walk every day.
Now we're buying a house. We've been packing this weekend, even though we haven't heard back on the appraisal yet. I'm just not going to be superstitious anymore. Our realtor is a consummate professional. The inspector and C-Man's architect dad thought it was in fabulous shape. Our financing has already cleared. The house was already bought by someone else who backed out, and he was going to pay more than we're paying. The house is not going to unexpectedly appraise for dramatically less than the value everyone thinks it has.
Part of my brain is convinced Everything Will Be Different when we move into a house. We will cook more, eat better, play with The Dog more, have friends over more often. We shall see.
However, I know it will change our Ecological Footprint. Living in a small apartment without a car, I was at about 1.9 planets to support my lifestyle. I didn't want to retake the quiz once I bought the car; we use it for errands so often. I really don't want to re-take it now that we're moving from 625 square feet to 1740+ square feet. C-Man's drive to work will be shorter, but we'll still need to focus and crank our resource usage down to compensate for the house.
So, my first New Year's Resolution is to reduce our newly enlarged footprint. The foremost decision is that we are committing to buy pre-owned furniture and decorative items. (Details of other ideas for implementation are at the end of this post, so I can keep track throughout the year. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.)
Second, I resolve to be a better friend. I need to remember when I make promises and follow through. I want to get back to remembering and celebrating friends' birthdays. And I should go visit them. The outpouring of support, generosity, and love at our wedding made me realize how much I've been taking them for granted.
Third, I resolve to give more than money. I gave blood last year for the first time, and I resolve to do it again at least twice this year. I also resolve to sign up for the National Marrow Donor Registry. Once we move, I need to update my information in the Texas Organ Donor Registry. And finally, I need to get active, and get found (click through and read this, it's amazing). I grew up far too lucky in this world to not give back more than I did this year.
Fourth, and more selfishly, I want to find a set of tools and/or processes that will help me waste less time moving information around. Pictures from my camera go into one folder, then another, then another, then I make multiple versions for different purposes, then I install Picasa and make a bunch of albums. Blog posts are even worse, both how I handle my own and reading other people's. Bah on all of it. There must be a better way.
My fifth resolution is to remember how I felt in the "Martha Stewart" panel at BlogHer. I'm not going to start a craft empire with my blog. But listening to these women who are doing what they love - whether they are making a living from it or not - reminded me to embrace the things I love to do. (Check out the live recording of the Martha Stewart panel if you're interested, the recording came out really well.)
I will not add a sixth resolution. Even though I have a whole year, it's already a long list. And if I added another, it would have to be "stop throwing your dirty clothes on the floor." What's fun about that?
I hope everyone's 2007 is off to a good start!
***
Current thinking on the first resolution: reduce our ecological footprint.
We're committing to focusing on resale, thrift, vintage, and consignment sources for our furniture, decorative items such as lamps and mirrors, and curtains. If I'm still sitting on the kitchen floor to eat breakfast in a year, I may break down and buy a non-preowned table. But if "preowned" fails us, our next stop will be recycled materials, fair trade, or direct from the person who made it. Only then will we go to new. I expect it to take a while, but hell, we have plenty of time. It's not like we need an extra few couches or and end table to prevent disease.
(The only trick will be transporting these objects home. The Honda Civic is a brave vehicle, but there are limits. Austin Car Share may be the answer - they have pickups! And their mileage charge is lower than UHaul's.)
Eliminate phantom electrical loads, which may require some energy-saving tools. And I need to turn off the computer when I'm not using it for hours and hours, though I will miss having it chime at me when I have new email. Then once we get a couple months worth of data in their system, an online City of Austin Energy Audit might be useful.
What else? We'll be closer to the Austin Farmer's Market, so no excuse not to shop there for produce. It will be a big change for me to think "I have these ingredients, what can I make?" rather than "I have this recipe, now let me find the ingredients." We'll also do more bulk shopping at Wheatsville now that we'll have cabinet space. While I'm not prepared to go back to being vegan, I am inspired by Elisa Camahort's Veggie Going Vegan blog on Vox. So I will work on having "vegan days" each week.
I've done a good job reducing plastic bag usage and junk mail. If the latter becomes an issue in the new house, I need to check out Greendimes.
Organic gardening with suitable species only, check. Rain barrel is a must. Composting, yes.
Any other ideas?
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Me Elsewhere
Don't forget you also have friends with trucks... ;)
I just love your resolutions. Makes me want to at least try ONE this year and stick to it!
BTW: I have some basil seeds for you for your new garden - organic and everything. I also have this cool seed catalog that is all organic and produces heirloom seeds for lots of different things. If we order together we can reduce the shipping cost!
I can't wait to see the new house!
I think you are definitely thinking in the right direction. Don't overlook Craigslist for used furniture and stuff--and we also can be enlisted to help move things. I'm hardly an expert, but it's my opinion that overlooking the resale market, in everything from furniture to housewares to clothes, is one of our biggest environmental failings as a culture. There is just no reason to buy something new when you can get the same thing or better used.
You didn't mention buying energy saving appliances, but I know that's already in your arsenal. You can also commit to making environmentally friendly choices as you come upon home repairs and renovations in the future--go tankless if you have to replace your water heater, etc. There's also a program you can sign up for with the city that stops your AC from running during peak flow times, which we have, and it works well. I can't think of what it's called, but I'm sure there's info on their website.