Every year I try and come up with at least one resolution... something big that I really want to stick to and something that will honestly affect my life in a positive way. I never go for the whole "i'm going to loose weight" or "i'm going to get out of debt" or something vague like that... I go for a real goal with a realistic endpoint. Last years goal was to keep an accurate budget for the entire year... and overall I did pretty good! I slipped up a bit (especially when I was on maternity leave!) but overall I kept track of almost every penny spent. I realized where I am spending too much and it made me take an honest look at my earnings and what is being wasted. It was very shocking to me during the first few months to realize just how much money I was wasting on things like buying coffee or eating lunch out! Its very easy to justify buying that coffee because "its only 2 dollars" but a few times a week over a month really ads up!
This year one of my resolutions is to eat more locally grown produce. Last year a friend of mine did a food share co-op with a farm near her and after seeing what she was getting I decided this year I was going to investigate doing one as well! I have found a few farms in the area and priced it out and for a 24 week food share it will only cost you 34 dollars a week... and for that you get an assortment of fruits and vegetables, eggs, and fresh bread every week. To say I am excited about this is an understatement! My mom always used to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in the garden and I can honestly say no store bought tomato ever compared to one fresh from my moms garden. I'm so excited about fresh produce this summer and fall!
I am also going to continue with tracking my money better and make myself a real budget and stick to it seriously. Last year I decided I would just observe, but this year I am going to actually be proactive! The reason I wanted to track money for a year is because over the year my expenses changed so I can get an accurate idea of how much money I need for what bills at what time of the year.
2011 is shaping up to be a big year for me. My husband and I are planning on putting our house on the market in April or May which is nerve wrecking to say the least! We both agree that now we have Eirik we need to move to a more family friendly area. I also need to move closer to potential job opportunities, as where I am located now is really not great for the market I am trying to get in to. The housing market in our area is not good... thankfully we didn't suffer too badly with the housing bust, however the area is not stellar and there are a lot of houses for sale in the area. We're really going to have to do some work on the house to make it shine to potential buyers.
All in all, I'm excited to see what 2011 throws at me!
Goodluck with all of that! I'll be planting my garden in the spring so once that stuff is ready you're welcome to come pick some. Tomatoes are on my list, I've been spoiled with my dad's tomatoes since I started eating tomatoes so I totally get where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteAnd goodluck with the housing stuff! I hope you move to Frederick b/c then we will be close, and that is great for jobs in either frederick or Rockville. Even going into the city wouldn't be terrible b/c it is a straight shot on 70! Goodluck! I'll be thinking good thoughts for you!