New Year's resolutions

[Guest guest]

Well, my New Year's resolutions are pretty much what you'd expect:

 

Search out more locally grown organic fruits, vegetables and meats

 

Avoid processed foods

 

Live as much below our income as we can

 

Exercise more

 

Be happy :-)

 

Anyone else thought up something interesting this year?CyndiStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

Well, my New Year's resolutions are pretty much what you'd expect:

 

Search out more locally grown organic fruits, vegetables and meats

 

Avoid processed foods

 

Live as much below our income as we can

 

Exercise more

 

Be happy :-)

 

Anyone else thought up something interesting this year?

 

Cyndi

************

Mine are about what yours are, except I also have....

 

get a hoop house to extend my garden growing season AND expand my gardening

efforts-which will give me more exercise lol

 

get the hallway/stairs flooring finished and then get the master bathroom

remodeled/fixed....which will go a long way to making me happy lol

 

B/c of my leg infection last year I didn't make my deadline of getting all

the eBay merchandise/clutter gone from my life by Jan. of 2008. I did make

a substantial dent however so I'm not beating myself up over this. The new

goal is to get it gone, or at least all of the house and garage stuff and a

large part of the stuff in storage by June 2008.

 

I started going through my receipts for filing taxes this April and found

that I made 22 donations. That's 22 van loads full of stuff to charity plus

at least 3 loads I got rid of at Christmas via a local group to low-income

families that won't be going on my tax return. I picture this in my mind's

eye and all I can think is, Crap! That's alot of stuff!LOL

 

I got a a christmas letter from the gal that runs the CSA we were in last

year. From her tone I get the feeling that they aren't going to be doing a

CSA this coming year....sigh. I've already emailed the only other CSA in

these parts about getting in on theirs but they already have a long waiting

list. I am about at the point of actually finding a piece of undeveloped

real estate to buy near here that is rural, just to put in a large garden on

it. Am I crazy?lol\

 

sluggy

[Guest guest]

-

Sluggy

RealSimple

Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:02 AM

Re: [RealSimple] New Year's resolutions

 

 

 

Well, my New Year's resolutions are pretty much what you'd expect:

 

Search out more locally grown organic fruits, vegetables and meats

 

Avoid processed foods

 

Live as much below our income as we can

 

Exercise more

 

Be happy :-)

 

Anyone else thought up something interesting this year?

 

Cyndi

************

Oh, and I forgot one other thing.....

To install a grey water system!

As soon as I can get the DH onboard with that.....

sluggy

[Guest guest]

Well, I wouldn't say the idea of buying land just for a garden is CRAZY, exactly, maybe just a little extreme, lol. You should think about asking your friend to rent you out a plot if she isn't going to run her CSA this year. She might actually be able to run a small business that way too, if she lets all her former customers know she is renting out plots now.

 

Hoop houses can be relatively inexpensive. From what I hear, the pvc is cheap, but it's the fittings that join them together that can be expensive. Kail is making plans for some raised vegetable boxes that I have been asking for. It's the rainy season now, so it's hard to get him motivated to be out in the cold rain, lol, so it's slow going. But I'm going to start some tomato seeds this month-I'm going to forge ahead and try not to nag when they start getting really big, lol.

 

Don't beat yourself up over ANYTHING, least of all clutter. You can't predict illness, and tomorrow is another day as my girl Scarlett might say. ;-)

 

I deliberately didn't make any specific resolutions about household projects and clutter, lol. There's a lot I need to get done, but I don't want to set myself up for failure by making requirements of myself. It's way too stressful for me, lol. But I've already started another closet sweep. I've got a pile of clothes and shoes here to go to Goodwill. I still have issues letting stuff go, even though I've been training myself to purge for years now, lol. I mean, do I REALLY need my high school prom dress? LOLOL.

 

Cyndi

 

In a message dated 1/9/2008 3:03:27 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, arcure writes:

 

 

Mine are about what yours are, except I also have....get a hoop house to extend my garden growing season AND expand my gardening efforts-which will give me more exercise lolget the hallway/stairs flooring finished and then get the master bathroom remodeled/fixed....which will go a long way to making me happy lolB/c of my leg infection last year I didn't make my deadline of getting all the eBay merchandise/clutter gone from my life by Jan. of 2008. I did make a substantial dent however so I'm not beating myself up over this. The new goal is to get it gone, or at least all of the house and garage stuff and a large part of the stuff in storage by June 2008.I started going through my receipts for filing taxes this April and found that I made 22 donations. That's 22 van loads full of stuff to charity plus at least 3 loads I got rid of at Christmas via a local group to low-income families that won't be going on my tax return. I picture this in my mind's eye and all I can think is, Crap! That's alot of stuff!LOLI got a a christmas letter from the gal that runs the CSA we were in last year. From her tone I get the feeling that they aren't going to be doing a CSA this coming year....sigh. I've already emailed the only other CSA in these parts about getting in on theirs but they already have a long waiting list. I am about at the point of actually finding a piece of undeveloped real estate to buy near here that is rural, just to put in a large garden on it. Am I crazy?lol\sluggy

Messages in this topic

 

Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/9/2008 4:26:02 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, arcure writes:

Oh, and I forgot one other thing.....To install a grey water system!As soon as I can get the DH onboard with that.....sluggy

 

It's interesting you bring this up. Another project I finally got Kail on board with is to create some kind of system to capture the water runoff that is always coming down the hill behind our house and into our yard. It really would not be hard to redirect it to a holding tank of some sort in the ground. Then we could use it to water plants, veggies and the lawn. So far Kail's dug some trenches and laid some pvc pipe to capture the water, which will have the added benefit of keeping the yard flood free.....it's not a grey water project, exactly, but it's capturing the spring water that's going to waste anyway, and the plants love it. I've been using the water for my houseplants already, since we get no rain here all summer, so no rain water to capture. It makes SUCH a difference to use rain or spring water on plants instead of tap water. Last year Kail ran a hose from the hill into our pond to use the spring water to keep the pond filled. Worked very well, so it wasn't TOO hard to convince him to take it to the "next level." :-)

 

CyndiStart the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.

[Guest guest]

It's interesting you bring this up. Another project I finally got Kail on

board with is to create some kind of system to capture the water runoff that

is always coming down the hill behind our house and into our yard. It really

would not be hard to redirect it to a holding tank of some sort in the

ground. Then we could use it to water plants, veggies and the lawn. So far

Kail's dug some trenches and laid some pvc pipe to capture the water, which

will have the added benefit of keeping the yard flood free.....it's not a

grey water project, exactly, but it's capturing the spring water that's

going to waste anyway, and the plants love it. I've been using the water for

my houseplants already, since we get no rain here all summer, so no rain

water to capture. It makes SUCH a difference to use rain or spring water on

plants instead of tap water. Last year Kail ran a hose from the hill into

our pond to use the spring water to keep the pond filled. Worked very well,

so it wasn't TOO hard to convince him to take it to the " next level. " :-)

 

Cyndi

**************

That's an awesome idea Cyndi! And it's got ME thinking now....uh oh,

dangerous thing...lolol

We had the whole backyard trenched and all a few years back, you probably

remember. All the water from the block of homes behind us was draining down

into our yard toward our basement. Now the water is diverted to the

drainage ditch beside our house next to the road and I can access where it

comes out of the yard into the ditch. I wonder if I can figure something

out to pipe what comes out the end of our pipe into the ditch into more

piping and into a holding tank. hmmmm Where would I put a tank and how

would I disguise it so the neighbors couldn't see it or tell what it is.

Underground won't work for us b/c of all the underground utility lines that

run through the yard here. It would have to be something that I could

monitor and disconnect the pipe from when the tank got full tho.

Off to search the web! The www is a wonderful thing sometimes....lol

Thanks for the idea!

 

sluggy

[Guest guest]

Well, I wouldn't say the idea of buying land just for a garden is CRAZY,

exactly, maybe just a little extreme, lol. You should think about asking

your friend to rent you out a plot if she isn't going to run her CSA this

year. She might actually be able to run a small business that way too, if

she lets all her former customers know she is renting out plots now.

 

Hoop houses can be relatively inexpensive. From what I hear, the pvc is

cheap, but it's the fittings that join them together that can be expensive.

Kail is making plans for some raised vegetable boxes that I have been asking

for. It's the rainy season now, so it's hard to get him motivated to be out

in the cold rain, lol, so it's slow going. But I'm going to start some

tomato seeds this month-I'm going to forge ahead and try not to nag when

they start getting really big, lol.

 

Don't beat yourself up over ANYTHING, least of all clutter. You can't

predict illness, and tomorrow is another day as my girl Scarlett might say.

;-)

 

I deliberately didn't make any specific resolutions about household projects

and clutter, lol. There's a lot I need to get done, but I don't want to set

myself up for failure by making requirements of myself. It's way too

stressful for me, lol. But I've already started another closet sweep. I've

got a pile of clothes and shoes here to go to Goodwill. I still have issues

letting stuff go, even though I've been training myself to purge for years

now, lol. I mean, do I REALLY need my high school prom dress? LOLOL.

 

Cyndi

*************

OK.....you have just made me feel sooo much better about my clutter! You

still have your high school prom dress?...really?? **snort**

 

I did mention renting out plots to her last fall when we had a conversation

about the possibility of not doing the CSA next year came up. She didn't

seem to think it was a good idea. I don't know if I'd actually do that, if

she did offer it though. The distance from my house made it hard for me to

get out there 1x a week to work and pick up veggies....I don't know about

having to drive out there every other day to keep a garden up...plus the gas

expense.

I don't know..... I was hoping to find something much closer.

 

I came up with a nutty idea last night. There is a little house on a 1/4

acre for sale in my town about 3 miles from here. I've got money in a CD

that's coming due in 2 months that I need to find a place to invest next.

It's not money we need for living or we need to have in something relatively

liquid.

 

I was thinking about buying this little house, putting some small

improvements and repairs into it and renting it out to my brother-in-law.

I've crunched some numbers on taxes, expenses, etc. and the potential rental

income after paying expenses, and I could recoup my investment $ after 4

yrs. and have it paid off totally in 10 yrs. just using the net income from

the rent. And then we'd still have the house/land to sell some day. I don't

think DH will go for it, as it ties his brother closer to us financially and

he wants more distance.lolol

 

And besides the investment, I'd have access to part of the yard for a

garden!!LOL

Now THAT would be going to an extreme just to have land for a garden.....

 

sluggy

[Guest guest]

Sluggy, I do remember your water problem. I'm sure you can rig up something to divert the water to your own "holding tank." We've been looking at a lot of options too. We can't put it underground because our yard is all ROCK. I'll let you know what Kail comes up with. For now it's just going to a trench system he dug.

 

I'd LOVE to be able to capture enough water for all our yard/garden needs. There are few things that irk me as much as seeing those lawn sprinklers go off every morning, lol. Talk about wasted money! Nothing is as polluting and wasteful as lawn! Kail won't let me get rid of it. :-(

 

Cyndi

 

In a message dated 1/9/2008 12:16:22 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, arcure writes:

That's an awesome idea Cyndi! And it's got ME thinking now....uh oh, dangerous thing...lololWe had the whole backyard trenched and all a few years back, you probably remember. All the water from the block of homes behind us was draining down into our yard toward our basement. Now the water is diverted to the drainage ditch beside our house next to the road and I can access where it comes out of the yard into the ditch. I wonder if I can figure something out to pipe what comes out the end of our pipe into the ditch into more piping and into a holding tank. hmmmm Where would I put a tank and how would I disguise it so the neighbors couldn't see it or tell what it is. Underground won't work for us b/c of all the underground utility lines that run through the yard here. It would have to be something that I could monitor and disconnect the pipe from when the tank got full tho.Off to search the web! The www is a wonderful thing sometimes....lolThanks for the idea!sluggy

 

Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.