Are You Ready?

It's 2010! A NEW Decade!!

I know I'm hoping it will be better and happier and healthier than the last one!

So what are your plans? I've got a few:

1. I will shop with a list, plan menus, use coupons, and assign the food budget to a cash envelope to try to get my expenses in that category under control. It's bothered me enormously that I rarely plan such things and am often at the store, debit card in hand. No more! I know it's one area that, once controlled will help me not just save money, but be smarter in my food choices, waste less food, and help my overall health, too.

2. Every year I try to reduce the debt a bit more and save a bit more and this year's no different. I've got pretty detailed plans that I won't share here, but it's important to me to really focus on this one this year, more than ever before. As a woman of a certain age, thinking about the retirement account is critical!

3. I do hope to continue working on eating more locally (tho' as I've said before, I won't do another year with the CSA because it's just not a smart choice for me). But we have a great Farmer's Market, several farm stands and shops, and local bakeries. I know where I'll be doing as much of my shopping as possible.

4. I've detailed my knitting plans over on Knitnana, but I'll state here that I'm thinking increasingly of spending some time with my scrap bags and turning out a quilt or two. The Pottery Barn catalog came today and, as usual, I'm perusing with an eye to what I can do that's similar, but far, far less costly! The whole darn catalog is filled with eye candy galore, but THIS photo really spoke to me:

Love the quilt, the colors, the light and bright of it all...I think I can pretty easily mimic this. It would be wonderful to do a simpler machine-made quilt similar to this one. And I can certainly do it without much of any expense!

In case you're wondering, yes, I'm still thinking in terms of my "make-do" philosophy, voluntary simplicity. Every year, I add a few new habits, and usually surprise myself from my original plans set out on the first day of the year.

Which is why you won't actually find resolutions on my blogs. Plans are more fluid, and I can allow them to morph and grow in the directions they seem to want to go in.

How about you?