New Years Resolutions?

What happened to the last year, it went by so fast!

Last year we had 3 family goals...

1- do the compact for 2 non-consecutive months: SUCCESS... sort of! We did the compact for 2 months but they happened to be consecutive months instead of separate. It went great and taught me a ton about my spending habits. It still affects me today. Just the other day I went to Target (y biggest pitfall) and wandered through the dollar isle and got nothing, I carried around two items that were on sale that I thought I needed and then decided against them, and managed to get out of the store with only the items on my list and a birthday gift for an upcoming party.

2- decrease processed foods: This went great the first half of the year. Then after surgery I was down and out for so long and we had tons of meals made for us that once I was feeling better the health factor went out the window. We are hoping to get back on track this year. I've already cleaned out the crap food out of our cupboards and went grocery shopping. 75% of my cart was fresh fruits and vegetables. The check out lady even commented on how much produce I was buying... um ya, its healthy!

3- increase family time: This was something that was much easier than expected. Having surgery forced us all to be together more and it was great! Even now this winter we are spending more time home as a family or doing activities as a family for parts of each day. This has become a way of life. We eat dinner together, play games, go for walks, do projects, etc.

Other things that happened this year, JT is talking a ton and has met all of his speech goals (YAY), he is very active and doing great. He is still on his seizure meds and hasn't had any more seizures minus the initial 10 prior to starting the meds. That is a GREAT sign!

AJ is doing well. She is writing her letters and numbers but still needs to work on the sounds they all make. She's taken a bunch of random classes this year (camp school, dance, gymnastics, swimming, preschool classes, etc) and has a passion for learning!

So next year? Just a couple small goals again. Things that are attainable with a little work!

JT's goals: learn to count to 20, learn his ABC's, hold a crayon/pen correctly, take a sporty class!

AJ's goals: learn the sounds of her letters, try a new hairstyle, go on an adventure!

Family goals:

• Eat healthy (a continuation from last year, decrease processed foods, find more healthy recipes etc.)
• Develop a database of meals (this sounds like way too much work but we meal plan which saves us a ton of money but its kind of a lot of work each time, if I would just type up each menu plan with ingrediants a few times then I could just print out a list and be done, so goal is 7 meal lists {number 1 almost done})
• Take a family vacation (plans already in the works)
• Go to church more regularly (hopefully every other week)
• Utilize our new zoo and childrens museum memberships!

Other goals:

• Get my new boobs! (and move on with life!)
• Take all my drugs as prescribed... including calcium and vitamin D (ugh this may be the hardest of all of them!)
• Declutter- clean out, get rid of

Nothing too exciting this year. Knowing that I have another surgery coming up and other things already planned for 2012, I don't want to do to much!

Completion!

Well our two month compact has come to a close! I had hoped to post on the last day but have been sick most of the weekend so am just getting to it now! So looking at our final list, we did AMAZING! we only spent about 30$ on new items in the 2 months. This is a far cry from the easy 100$ trip to target! And I could have made that smaller by returning the unused tattoos, chalking the t-shirt up to a charity donation, not buying kites, or waiting to buy the others but they are what they are. We've learned a lot about where our money is going, what we really need and what we can go without, what we need new and what we can buy used. I've found that fixing my shoes at a shoe repair shop, taking the time to assess if we really need something, and paying attention to the pull of the store displays can really affect what you need. Every time I made the trip to Walmart or Target (both of which are within blocks of our house), I had to consciously think about not going down the clearance or dollar isle, not to veer from the list, not to jump at the chance to buy something on sale. I did make it to Target yesterday to pick up a few things and did buy a few Mothers day cards (which we could have made and will make things to go inside) but otherwise avoided the rest of the chaos. I wandered by the dollar section but the pull wasn't as strong as it once was. I've found now looking at our bank statements that most of our money isn't going toward crap but toward food... so next mission will be decreasing eating out but that's another story.

So our final Stats:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $45.61

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91), Easter egg dye kit (2), Car charger/phone protector/phone case (6.29), Kites (5)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals, frisbees

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, white sneakers for work, movie Tangled, sandals for both kids

So our next journey??? Who knows! We did finish our other April goal of building our raised garden beds although its been to cold to plant in them yet! We'd like to work on our eating out habits, catching up on scrapbooks and videos, and getting the house more organized and de-cluttered. But for now we will focus on enjoying each other and the nice weather!

Compact: Day 56!

DO YOU SEE THAT! My husband became compacty! He got two discs USED! He's played along for our compact journey and as far as I know he hasn't broken the compact (minus ordering minidiscs for his frisbee league but that was using frisbee money and for the league so I let that slide). So even though I gave him a disc golf exemption for this month, he's done the compact anyway!

I got something compacty today too but am not ready to share it until I get it done!

Five Days Left!

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $45.61

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91), Easter egg dye kit (2), Car charger/phone protector/phone case (6.29), Kites (5)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals, frisbees

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, white sneakers for work, movie Tangled, sandals for both kids

Easter Festivities!

The past weekend has been filled with fun Easter Festivities! The weekend started out with an Easter egg hunt at a local church. It was AMAZING! They had over 6500 eggs! HOLY COW! The hill was scattered with eggs, it was beautiful! It was a really really well done egg hunt with different areas for each age group, waves of telling the kids how many to find and everyone was super respectful! Even my little AJ! We talked before hand about sharing eggs, letting the little kids get some too, only picking up the number of eggs we were supposed to etc. And she was such a sweet heart! She was more worried about where Alden was and if he was ok than about the eggs which is really uncharacteristic of her. Typically she is very competitive so it was nice to see her being so good. Helped little kids find eggs (not her brother though)! JT did well too and enjoyed finding the eggs! Addy took a picture with the Easter bunny... she LOVES anyone dressed up! She did notice that it was a different bunny than at the mall and wearing different clothes, too observant! JT was super excited and waved and kept saying "hi bunny" but then if the bunny came any closer he was not having any of it!

Alden and Addy before the big hunt!

And their off!
Stopped by another place to try to grab a pic of both kids with a bunny...
This may be the worst Bunny I've seen but Addy liked it... JT... well he did ok!
Of course we also dyed eggs! JT got the plastic eggs and water! He also did get to play with a real egg in the water too!
AJ was very proud of her glitter eggs! (Note to self... if using glitter eggs, wash the glitter off prior to making deviled eggs)
The girls and their eggs!
This morning the kids were excited to see what the bunny had brought them... So I may have cheated a little bit with the compact... If you already have a bunch of stuff bought from a while ago, does it still count now? I am thinking not since I technically didnt buy anything new! I have a small stockpile of stocking stuffer typed items so used those! The bunny also filled their baskets with snacks! I did spend 5$ of compact money to buy some kites for their baskets!
Then once Meena and Papa came they went out and found the eggs that the bunny had left for them.... remember the sweet egg hunting girl that I told you about earlier... well today it was all about getting as many eggs as possible and NOT helping her little brother... Luckily the bunny hid them on both sides of the yard so JT was able to get some... However her basket was overflowing with eggs and his only had about 7 in it! After talking to Addy about not sharing the eggs, she snuck around on the deck and emptied all of the egg candy into her bucket and put all the empty eggs in JT's basket...Clever.
The proud egg finder!
With the fam here, of course there was a project, or two, or three to get done... Project number one.... Building two raised vegetable garden beds. My dad got some repurposed lumber from his work, he painted them and brought them, and we put them all together! I did have to buy a couple cedar boards and the dirt but since the goal of the vegi garden is to grow some of our own vegis which is compacty, I am not counting the boards or dirt in our new purchase fund!

Ji'Robert was super excited about all of the man stuff that was happening! He watched, carried around a big shovel, held up boards, and supervised the guys! I see future man projects including him in the coming years!
Even Addy helped by digging in the dirt. Although... Jared sent her inside to change clothes since she had a nice dress on and she came back out in just her undies! So back inside she went to put ugly ok to get dirty clothes on!
The finished product!
Today Addy had her first real game of hopscotch thanks to Meena who was a fabulous teacher!


Besides doing the garden, Papa fixed the gap in the railing that Addy broke a couple months ago. Fixing that will be SO helpful as TyTy had figured out how to climb through it! We also re hung up the T in our EAT sign which was knocked off the wall and we installed Addy's beautiful headboard! Meena had gotten this fireplace mantel quite some time ago and put beadboard in the center to make it into a headboard for her sweet little granddaughter! It turned out super cute!
Even Mr Ji'Robert thought it was great!
We had a wonderful day with Meena and Papa. Even Ty was using their names and talking a lot today! He is just growing up into a little man!

And so we end day 55 of our compact with the following stats (6 days left):

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $45.61

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91), Easter egg dye kit (2), Car charger/phone protector/phone case (6.29), Kites (5)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, white sneakers for work, movie Tangled, sandals for both kids

Preschool Screening and a compact update!

Miss AJ had her preschool screening done this past weekend. I was a little nervous that she may be really shy (shy, I know! she's really shy for a bit around new people which is odd since she is really so outgoing and chatty) and wouldn't want to do the activities but she did great! I was surprised at how well run it was and how quick we went through everything without any wait! They did a hearing test, vision test, some gross motor and fine motor activities, tested her vocabulary, and did a few random other things.

And the results, well for one thing, she is over an inch taller than she was at her 3 year appointment in December and is now about 37 1/2 inches tall and around 34 pounds. Her hearing and vision are great. Watching the vision and hearing test was fun, they are so much more fun than the adult versions, its all a game! She did well on everything and only got a couple things wrong (which I have to admit was hard to watch her get one wrong when it was something that she knew!). At one point they had her draw a line on paper etc and at the end the lady said she was going to write Addy's name on it to put in her file. Addy to that replied, "um, I can write my own name", so the lady gave her the sheet back and she wrote Addy on the top of it! It was super cute but apparently you don't get bonus points for that! So after everything, Addy is doing great! The lady said she tested better than most of the 4 1/2 year olds. So needless to say she confirmed what we already knew... AJ is too smart for her own good! She also showed me what they test the 4 and 5 year olds on so that was interesting to see too. It also gave me some ideas of what we will need to work on with JT over the next year to start to get him caught up.

Speaking of JT.... he is talking more and more everyday! We stopped tracking every word and I am sure he is over 50 words right now and is just starting to put a few two word thoughts together too. He's thinking more about actions as well now and what words go with what. Like he brought me his empty cup, said, "all done" and then said, "sink" and then proceeded to walk his cup over to the sink and throw it in! So he is doing great!

And on another note... another purchase was made! I bought a 2$ egg dying kit. I had too. We took a trip to target and all the Easter stuff was everywhere and we always do eggs. Now technically I probably could somehow say that it was food related since we will eat the eggs but it was realistically an unnecessary purchase so I'll count my 2$ toward the new purchase fund! I had thought about just painting eggs or using non-toxic markers but there is something magical about dyeing eggs and so we will partake in the tradition and dye eggs this year as well!

The other Compacty thing we are working on is building our two raised vegetable gardens! We have purchased a few supplies but since the overall product will be compacty, I'm not counting the couple boards too our new purchase fund. Plus we are getting most of the wood used from my dads work! When it is all done, pics will be posted!

Compact STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $56.90

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91), Easter egg dye kit (2)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, Cell phone charger, white sneakers, movie Tangled, sandals for both kids

Compact and Goals!

Well the Compact is status quo! I took a pair of shoes in to get repaired today which by the way is very compacty! I had gotten a pair of Clarks last year when I started my new job and I loved them. They were super comfortable. Unfortunately about 3 months in, they started coming unstitched. And so there they have sat. So finally remembered and decided to bring them in!

Other than that, a few more things on our wish list, car cellphone charger broke, I need new white sneakers for work, etc. but nothing too urgent that can't wait a bit.

When we went to Target to get pics taken I did have a Huge CRAVING to shop there! I do miss it there. Not that I need to spend a crap ton when I go but I miss roaming the isles and finding good deals. So needless to say, I avoided going into the rest of the store!

My goal for April/May is to get two raised vegetable gardens built. I've always wanted my own little plot of land where I could grow veggies. Our last house had too much shade so I only could do a couple pots on the deck but our new house has a whole side yard that is sunny. So two raised beds it will be! If anyone wants to volunteer to help let me know!

Updates on our other goals for the year...

Family time: going pretty good although disc golf season is starting so we'll have to see how that affects things. For those of you who aren't aware, Jared is a bit obsessed with disc golf and by a bit, I mean a lot!

Eating healthy: going great....when I cook! But we have been eating out a little too much so we need to work on that piece as well.

And so we continue with 22 days of the Compact and a few other random goals!

Compact STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $58.90

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ, Cell phone charger, white sneakers

Compact: Day 26...spent more money!

Well just 5 days left of our first compact month and we are doing great! Last night AJ and I went to a benefit for our little friend who is back on the Berlin Heart. Besides donating money (donations are compact approved), I also bought AJ a T-shirt from the benefit which I'll post a pic of after we get it! They ran out so they are ordering more. Obviously the t-shirt is new and is not compact approved and under any other circumstances wouldn't have bought it but it was for a good cause. So 8$ out of the compact fund to support little Saul.

Today Meena came down to visit and of course we usually do some type of project when she is here so today we decided during naptime to hang up some of the art and stuff that we haven't hung up yet. We pretty much hadn't hung anything up on the first floor since we moved because I hadn't painted. Well now since I painted at least the family room, we figured we should hang everything up and then when I paint the rest I'll know where everything will go!

Meena brought this AMAZINGLY fun sign! Its fantastic and huge and wonderful! And compact approved! They are old sign letters from something!
We also a while ago had gotten some old 1930's film reels (also compact approved) so got those hung up as well. The picture doesnt do them justice, they look great in real life!

We also hung up some of my paintings and other art that I had in our last house. Our house is becoming more homey each day!

We did make a Menards run to get stuff to hang JT's super cool shelf but didn't get a chance to hang that so we'll do that next time Meena and Papa come down! So at Menards I also spent $4.91 on two L brackets and a pack of washers.

STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $58.90

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19), Team Saul T-shirt (8), L-brackets & washers (4.91)

Compact successes: Fisher Price Animals

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Dress shoes for AJ

Compact: Day 18...mission accomplished!

I did it! I finally won an item on ebay! I grabbed this set of 9 little animals for 7.95 FREE SHIPPING! Apparently these little buggers are hard to get! Most sets similar to this are going for 15-20 plus shipping. So after scouring craigslist, local second hand stores, and my work classifieds, ebay came through. And the best news is that since they are second hand, they don't count toward my new purchase fund. Part of the compact is about being greener and reusing things.

What I find odd is that I do buy a lot second hand... toys, kids clothes, I love a good garage sale. And I never seem to have any issues finding things... until I am looking for something specific! Plus its not garage sale season yet so that makes it a little harder.

Prior to the compact, I would have just sucked it up, ran to Walmart or Toys R Us and grabbed a set of little animals. I would have called my friend Jenny to see if she knew of any good deals (she's the queen of clearance) and I would have checked craigslist once quickly and then gone and bought them new. So now, even though it took me a week and a half to find, they will be here in just a couple days!

On another note....I shared with Jared my plan to extend the compact through April... He agreed but we still may need that Frisbee clause! Apparently there are Frisbee emergencies of which you cannot wait an extra month to buy them... really? So we'll see how long I can stall him!

Compact: Day 16!

Yes I realize this is my fourth post today but I haven't posted in a while and my posts didn't go together real well so 4 posts it is!

Well as far as the Compact goes we are pretty much status quo... Still haven't spent any more money... yay! I've found that avoiding the stores that I have "problems" with, really decreases my impulse shopping... good to know! I even ran to Walmart the other day to grab some stuff and stuck to the list. Granted it takes a lot for me not even to wander through the kids clothes and clearance sections but I did it! (I know, baby steps right!)

I am still on a mission for Fisher Price Farm Animals... have a couple leads. The second hand stores in town have none, although thier stock turns over quite a bit so I should keep checking. I'm not sure how people have the patience or the time to find things online or in second hand stores. It's just so easy to run to the store and grab it. This is teaching me to be patient! Farm animals are not an emergency need it now item so I'll wait a little longer before having my mom mail me the ones we have at her house!

I haven't even added anything to my "think I want it" list.

So doing this just for one month is a little hard since pretty much anything can be delayed for a month. If there was something I want or need, I could just postpone it for the month but I oddly enough haven't really had anything....Seriously weird!

So my new plan??? Extend the compact through April! I'm not so sure that Jared will be on board with the plan as frisbee season is starting and I'm sure he'll need some new ones. So there may have to be a frisbees don't count clause or he'll blow our stash pretty easily! We'll have to see. Plus this will give me a little more time to figure things out. And it will include a holiday as well!

Compact: Day 9

9 days down, 22 to go! So far so good. I'm avoiding the places where I typically end up impulse spending. Although I did do a quick Target run to use some diaper coupons. A friend tipped me off to a huggies coupon for 2.50 off and a Target huggies coupon for 2$ off so you saved 4.50 on one box of diapers. So I printed two sets and headed to Target to find out that if you bought two boxes of huggies, you got a 5$ Target gift card. So basically got 15$ off of 2 already on sale boxes of diapers!

Target was a challenge. I went with a list and tried to stay focused on the list. I avoided the dollar isle and the kids clothes area. I avoided the decorative accessory area and stuck to the list. Unfortunately I was so focused on avoiding buying things that I left with only half of the stuff on my list.

One thing I was hoping by doing the compact was that we would save some money this month. I think in general we are but I've had my car tabs due (350...seriously ridiculous), my CNS certification due (another 350...again ridiculous!)... but seeing as I need to be able to drive my car and keep my job, out goes a crap ton. Although they are compact approved items, it still sucks! So I'll be ignoring those two items when looking to see if we saved any money.

Now I have my first compacty challenge! JT had speech today and they worked with a barn and little animals and he did GREAT! He loved the barn and animals so she asked if I had one. We do have a barn that we got as a hand me down but I have no animals. So besides the fact that its hard to find just the animals in the store, they are horribly expensive as well and would eat up a chunk of our new purchase fund. So I am doing it the compact way and going to be scouring craigslist, ebay, etc. to find some fisherprice animals similar to below. So if you have any hanging out at your house that you are willing to sell or if you see some on craigslist let me know!

STATS:

Compact initial new purchase fund: 75$

Current status: $71.81

Purchased items: rub on tattoos (3.19)

Wish list: I Love My Hair T-Shirt, Fisher Price Farm Animals

The first purchase!

$3.19, yes, the picture is right! Rub on tattoos... Now this obviously isn't something I would normally waste money on, especially compact money. Its very clearly not compact approved, not only is it not something we need, its got a lot of waste that goes with it. So what made me buy this? I was on the planning committee and volunteered for an adoption cultural event with the agency that we brought Addy home through and we didn't know if our tattoo face painters would have enough tattoos as the ticket sales soared. So I ran to Party City (also somewhere I don't shop) and grabbed a few more. Now I could turn the receipt in to the agency and get my money refunded since it was for the event but turning in 3.19 seemed a bit silly and we ended up having enough tattoos so I could return them but with gas nearing 4$ a gallon and party city being all the way across town I'm thinking we'll just keep them. I figure we will use them at a birthday party or in gift bags or something.

And so our 75$ is now down to $71.81 and here is our list of purchases thus far...

• rub on tattoos (3.19)

Impulse Buy Avoided.... for now

So a friend shows up at dance and says she is ordering a shirt and if I'd like to order one we could split the shipping. She showed me the shirt and I was IN! YES! I'd love one!

oh, wait... hmmm... its a bit more pricey than I would normally spend on a shirt for a 3 year old and I don't REALLY need it, although it is super hard to find good African American character t-shirt and Addy loves the video that Sesame Street did on I love my hair. And so, she agreed to wait until April to place her order.

So is that real compacty to just delay the purchase? Maybe not. But instead of being an impulse buy, I will have thought about it and then will decide if I still NEED it. I'm starting a list of things I would have bought and think I will still want at the end of my journey. At the end, I will reassess and see what I still want to buy and which ones were impulses avoided. Now, if this was something I could find at a garage sale, craigslist, etc. I would totally go that route to find it but since it is pretty specific, its unlikely that I'd find it there. However, if someone has one they don't need anymore and want to sell it, let me know!!!

This one, I'm guessing I may still get it in the end, but its not something we need now, its not going anywhere so for now, its being added to the list:

I Love My Hair T-Shirt

Compact: Day 1!

Today is the start of our month long journey of the Compact! We have delegated 75$ for our new purchase fund for the month and so far have spent 0! Not bad for day 1 huh! Jared isn't quite 100% on board yet but he seems to be playing along. I almost had to bust into the funds as I am making a board of AA hair styles for the adoption event this weekend and I thought I had a piece of foam board left but couldn't find it.... But after searching around, found it jammed between some cupboards in the basement! Problem solved! Granted it would have only set us back a couple bucks but I wasn't ready to break into the fund yet!

Our tentative list of ok's are similar to Jessi's...

• Services
• Food
• Things you can't or shouldn't buy new (undies, oil, gas, toilet paper, furnace filters)

Things not ok to buy new but ok to find as hand me downs, second hand stores, ebay, craigslist, garage sales etc. (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) Things on this list if bought new would come from the new purchases fund.

• Clothes
• Household items (furniture, kitchen stuff, etc)
• Toys
• etc.

Things to avoid all together are things that produce extra waste... napkins, paper towels, single serve individually wrapped food items (minus the stuff already in the house), etc.

And yes if I was a die hard compacter, I would abandon disposable diapers but alas, I am not. Disposable diapers are my friend and although horrid for the environment, I'm pretty sure using disposables at this point would be more stress than its worth. Now if we would have endeavorerdon this journey when JT was a baby, then maybe but now at 20 months, well, wouldn't be worth the investment to switch at this point.

We may have to make up some rules along the way which will help when we do our second month of the compact later this fall!

And so our journey to be a bit greener and more aware of our spending (particularly impulse spending typically at Target/Walmart) begins.

Goals update!

I'm sure most of you aren't interested in our progress on our lovely goals for the year but tracking it through the blog helps keep me on track and see our progress (or lack of) and makes me feel a little bit more accountable to actually continue them!

So where are we at....

1-Do the compact for 2 separate months: We have chosen MARCH as month number 1! I'm excited and a bit nervous as well! Our friend Jessi is just wrapping up her families 6 month endeavor with the Compact so I am looking toward her for tips! We've settled on 75$ for the month for new items. My hope is that doing it twice this year, each for a month will give us some insight into what things we are spending money on that we don't need to.

For those of you who don't know about the compact, it started in California as a pact between ten friends to not buy new for one year. To decrease your impact on the earth, be a bit greener, recycle, buy used etc. What our friend did was give her family 600$ for the 6 months to buy new things (clothes, gifts, etc) and so far has around 150 left with only 11 days to go so she is doing amazing! The new fund excludes things that you can't or shouldn't buy used (food, gas, bills, house payment etc.). You still can pay for services (oil change, alterations, fix its, etc). You can still go out to eat, go do activities etc. So our plan is to do the 75$ for each of the months and be very intentional on what we spend it on. We'll have to make some of the rules up as we go and see what happens... obviously there are a few things we wouldn't wait on (like if the furnace died, we'd have to get a new one if it wasn't fixable, etc). My plan is that anytime I see something that I would normally have wanted and think I may still want it at the end of the month is to write it down along with the cost. At the end of the month, we'll take a look at the list and see what things we still need/want and what ones would have been more impulse buys. If there are things we actually need now, then I will see what I can find in second hand stores, craigslist, ebay, etc. or will dip into the new purchase fund if I can't find it anywhere else. Hopefully by doing this it will help us save a little money, be a little greener, and learn to be less of an impulse shopper.... We have 11 days left prior to starting so I am not stocking up or thinking ahead to what we may need for the month. The thing that I know I will struggle with most is that I LOVE a good deal (hence the impulse buying)! I love clearance sales and seem to be drawn to them. I also have friends (you know who you are) who are insanely good at clearance sales and doubling deals so I'll have to ignore them for the month! OK, I won't ignore you, I just won't be able to join in the fun! Now most of the time, I am getting things that we will need at some point, clothes for the next season, etc. But sometimes its random stuff that we don't really need.

Obviously there is a lot of stuff from a financial standpoint that we could do (not eat out etc.) but for now we are going with not buying new and seeing where it takes us. We aren't having financial issues or anything but saving is a good thing! Jared is sort of on board... The main material thing he buys is frisbees so he's been warned that he needs to order them now because if he orders them during the compact, when they come in the mail I'll hide them until the compact is over! So 11 more days until our month begins!

2- Decrease processed foods: Going ok! Went on vacation and didn't follow this there. I figure vacation, eating out, or friends bringing food over doesn't count. So when we are at home and I am cooking, we are doing really well. We are doing well for healthy, natural, or organic snacks as well! Apparently the kids love dried fruit, organic crackers, and healthy bread/toast! So overall this is going well! We still haven't used up all the processed food that was in the house to start with so that's sneaking in once in a while as well but we are mixing it with healthy stuff so that helps a little bit! So we'll keep plugging along!

3- Increase family time: Minus our recent trip, we have been making more of a conscious effort not to schedule a ton of things on nights when everyone could be home. We've been sharing more kid activities to allow more time at home as well. Jared does swimming with JT, I'm doing dance and swimming with AJ. Basketball season is almost done so that will help, although disc golf season is starting so that may be a bit challenging but I think we have a schedule worked out that will give us more time together!

Random little things:

Basement: unpacked, put away, reorganized, stuff to dump, pile for garage sale, just have a few things left to stick in the trash and a pile of styrofoam to bring to the recycling center.

Living room: toys gone through, reorganized, pile for garage sale, pile brought to Meenas

Picture wall: DONE and GREAT!

Next up... Painting the living room! So we are making progress on the forever long "wish I could do" list!

Attainable Goals

If you are like many people you may be thinking about new years resolutions. I have never been a big fan of new years resolutions. They tend to be big things that are somewhat unrealistic for most people... like working out 5 times a week when you have never worked out, losing 50 pounds, etc.

So this year I wanted to set a couple attainable goals for next year. Things that will help our family in the long run. Things that are doable. Things that I believe with a little work we can accomplish. Goals that are within reach and that we aren't setting us up to fail.

Our goals are not earth shattering or ones that will be life changing. But things that hopefully we can learn from and make smaller changes to our daily lives that will affect us more in the long run.

So big number 1: Do the compact for 2 months... 2 separate months, I'm thinking March and September but not sure yet. A friend of ours is doing the compact for 6 months and while I am not brave enough to commit to doing it that long. My hope is that doing it twice this year, each for a month will give us some insight into what things we are spending money on that we don't need to. For those of you who don't know about the compact, it started in California as a pact between ten friends to not buy new for one year. To decrease your impact on the earth, be a bit greener, recycle, buy used etc. What Jessi did was give her family 600$ for the 6 months to buy new things (clothes, gifts, etc). This excludes things that you can't or shouldn't buy used (food, gas, bills, house payment etc.). You still can pay for services (oil change etc). So our plan is to do 75$ for each of the months and be very intentional on what we spend it on. We'll have to make some of the rules up as we go and see what happens... obviously there are a few things we wouldnt wait on (like if the furnace died, we'd have to get a new one, etc). My plan is that anytime I see something that I would normally have wanted and think I may still want it at the end of the month is to write it down along with the cost. At the end of the month, we'll take a look at the list and see what things we still need/want and what ones would have been more impulse buys. My plan is not to stock up on things we may need or anything before the month we choose. In January, my hope is to attempt to keep receipts for everything and track what we are spending our money on so that I have a baseline to compare too. Hopefully by doing this it will help us save a little money, be a little greener, and learn to be less of an impulse shopper....

Goal number 2.... decrease processed foods! Not that I dont love the ease of chicken nuggets, the speediness of hotdogs, and the comfort of Kraft Mac & Cheese but they obviously aren't the healthiest things in the world. So my plan.... to decrease processed foods, to shop the outer ring of the supermarket more. It may cost a bit more but my hope is to make sure we are eating at least 3 meals a week with little to no processed foods. We'll eat up the crap that we have and then start eating better. Not to say that we wont eat processed ever, just less often... And fastfood will become a special treat instead of a common feast!

Goal number 3..... increase family time! This may be the hardest as we tend to all be busy especially now that basketball season has started, but we will make a conscious effort not to schedule things on nights when everyone could be home if its during a week where one of us is gone a lot.

I have a few random little things I'd like to get done as well over the year such as organizing the basement (already in progress), painting the kitchen/living/dining rooms, getting a storage shed for outside, and building raised gardens for vegis in the summer.

So as we move toward 2011, wish us well on our goals! Hopefully what we have set forth will be attainable and we will learn a little something on the way. Throughout the year, I will randomly post about our progress (or lack of progress). And will look for ideas from all of you to keep us going!