Resolutions So Far

I thought that since it is the end of the first month of the new decade I should take a look at our 2010 resolutions and see how we have fared thus far.  In no particular order, we decided to:

Give up juice and papertowels
Grade B

I have not purchased any juice this month and I don't miss it.  Vivi asks for it occasionally but it is my husband who has been going through some serious juice withdrawl.  He has boxes of Gatorade-type rehydration powder that he uses for refueling after particularly hard workouts except now he just drinks the stuff with dinner.  Those boxes are his responsibility so when they're gone, they're gone.  I'm not buying more.  Maybe then he can take the first step toward recovery and acknowledge he has a problem with juice.

Like the Gatorade powder, we had some papertowels on hand from last year.  I've barely touched them and have pretty much trained myself to use clean rags or dish towels instead.  I don't anticipate that we'll be buying more.

Bake bread instead of buying it
Grade A+

My bread machine and I have become great friends.  I have purchased no bread or bread-type products this month and I we don't miss them.  Plus, there's the added bonus of how good baking bread makes our house smell.

Limit our baby wipe usage to major poop disasters
Grade D

This is an area where I definitely need improvement.  It is automatic to just grab a wipe when I am changing the Turtles' diapers and none of us are the better for it.  I've been trying to leave out burp cloths to dry them after they pee but I need to be more aware overall of what I am doing.

Get out of the house every day for a walk
Grade B+

We've done pretty well on this.  The girls love their fancy new stroller and I've enjoyed burning a few calories here and there.  I've fudged this on the really cold days but I expect that I'll give myself an A once the weather is consistently good.

Make our own cards and presents, as much as possible
Grade D-

So, ummm, there was this super sale at Baby Gap and my old neighbor had a baby and well... I did make one little thing for her new daughter but I didn't exactly honor the spirit of this resolution.  You should see the card I made though.  It was freaking awesome. 

Utilize more of our museum memberships, public libraries, and parks
Grade A

We have been pretty good at finding free stuff to do or making our own entertainment. My husband took the girls to the children's museum.  We've gotten movies and books out of the library and Vivi and I have been artists and crafters.  My husband and I went out on Friday to see Up in the Air  but since our dates are few and far between, the $20 we spent was a good investment.  All in all, this hasn't felt like a huge change because we don't have that much of a swinging social life as it is.

Purge our home of PVC (cling wrap, ziplock bags, plastic straws, etc.)
Grade B+

The plastic straws are gone and I am no longer using cling wrap (although training my husband to do so  is proving to be a challenge.)  We still have plastic bags on hand but I'm doing my best to store all food in glass containers.  I've thrown out all soft plastic toys and purged my closet of any vinyl purses.  (So long beloved Kate Spade knock-off.  You served my ignorance well.)  We have a couple of pull-down shades that will be taking an express trip to the garbage bin as soon as we locate our interior wooden shutters.  We got rid of our plastic shower liners and mattress pad covers a while ago but I still have concern over the Turtles' crib mattresses.  We can't afford to replace them with the organic cotton kind so I'm just double covering them and hoping for the best.  We have some larger projects like replacing the vinyl tiles on our bathroom floors but that will have to wait until we have some extra money.    To learn more about the toxicity of PVC, check out http://www.greenamericatoday.org/.

Spend less time on the computer (ha! ha!)
Grade D-

Well, at least I knew about the futility of this when I initially wrote the resolution but hey, if I didn't use the computer so much how would I know about all the problems with PVC? Yeah, that's the reason... 

Take shorter showers
Grade C

I am not exactly taking shorter showers (it's just so darn quiet in there) but I am taking fewer showers.  Better for the earth but worse for those who have to spend time with me.  Hey, we all have to do our part.  Mine just happens to smell of baby vomit and sour milk.

Summary

All in all, I've been fairly happy with our progress.  Our grocery bill was nearly $300 less this month which is reason enough to keep going.  What about you?  Are you making any changes this year?  How are they going?

Comments

  1. KeriFebruary 2, 2010 at 1:17 PM

    Yep, we are making changes this year (see my blog post about them)! So far, so good. I don't expect overnight success. Baby steps, baby! ;)

    Here are some tips for you if you are interested:

    * I use cloth wipes. You know those silly baby washclothes you got as shower gifts? I don't know about you but I never use them. However, they are AWESOME as cloth wipes. What I do is, whip up a wipes solution (water, veggie oil, some soap, lavender essential oil, eculyptus oil) in a squeeze bottle-the kind that your midwife gives you for post-partum use.

    Actually, first, I make the batch in an old glass juice bottle (1/2 gal?) and pour what I can in the squeeze bottle. When you are ready to wipe some bums, just squeeze a bit of solution on the cloth wipes and that's it. Use another wipe for poopy moments.

    If you don't have washcloths on hand, you can use any old fabric, cut them up with pinking shears. They will fray a bit and if that bugs you, you can use edge stitching but I don't bother. =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mama Mama Quite ContraryFebruary 2, 2010 at 1:23 PM

    That's good to know. I'm actually not opposed to using cloth wipes but I am swimming in laundry and really am trying to minimize that, as much as possible. Too bad one begets the other.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KeriFebruary 2, 2010 at 1:43 PM

    I'm swimming in laundry too! Not because of the cloth wipes but the bunches of clothes. Cloth wipes only take a handful of space. =)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mama Mama Quite ContraryFebruary 2, 2010 at 2:26 PM

    I'll give this a try. What's a few more pieces of laundry. Where do you buy your essential oils? Whole Foods charges an arm and a leg.

    I've got plenty of those peri bottles lying around. (They work great for steaming up the oven while baking bread, by the way!)

    ReplyDelete

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