O/S Goals/Life changes for 2007

Icemaiden

As 2006 draws to a close, We have been looking back on a year of many changes for my family & I. With the help of many people from this site(especially O/S) we have achieved so much in our search for a more enriched lifestyle.

So, for 2007 we have laid down our plans to continue what we have already started and to improve on many:

Grow double the amount of produce we did in 2006,
Reduce our monthly shopping bill from £200 to £150,(family of 4) which should be achieveable due to the above,
Monitior the amount of food wasteage and aim to throw nothing away,
Make our own wine,
Reduce our weekly refuse collections bags to one per week(currently have 2)
by recycling more,
Aim to reduce the Asda shop thus supporting local/independent retailers.

Has anyone else made any similar plans or goals for the forecoming year? If so I'd love to hear what they are:D

Ice
x

Essex-girl_2

Have made some OS changes this year but lots more planned for next -

Menu Plan each & every week - include 1 new recipe next week.
Sell unwanted stuff on ebay or put it on freecycle.
Use BM more.
Involve kids in kitchen lots more.
Every fortnight/month have a cook for freezer day so can avoid takeaways.
Spend more time with children in 'free' ways, trips to the beach etc

Feeling very motivated at the moment - hope it lasts.

thriftlady_2

I have very similar goals to you Icemaiden

1) I try to buy as much of our food from local producers.
2) As a result of the above I make use of seasonal fruit and veg - although I make exceptions fro fruit we can't grow in this country like bananas and citrus.
3) I don't throw any food away if I can possibly help it. This means I make stock with any bones that come my way, save any drippings from meat and use leftovers creatively
4) We don't eat much meat (but see above).
5) This is my main goal for 2007 -I will lose weight on my frugal and earth-friendly diet. I will not be tempted by healthy eating plans that involve buying expensive cuts of meat or fish and out of season, much travelled fruit and veg. I can lose weight by eating English apples, carrots and oats (among other things of course) I do not need mango, Kenyan green beans and tiger prawns

stilernin

My income will be a lot lower this year due to moving and looking for a 'downsized' job. Have to do the new house up too so don't want to have to bring any work home, not even in my head.

There are so many things I have learnt from this site but I think the most important change will be to make sure I keep track of exactly what I am spending. It certainly concentrates the mind when you see monthly or annual figures doesn't it?

TKP_3

Over the last few months I have learnt so much from this site - and plan to keep it up and start new trends :
I buy fruit/veg from farm store (try to buy seasonally), and I buy meat from local butcher
Reduce supermarket shop as much as possible
Reduce all grocery shop (supermarket+butcher+fruit&veg+milk) - gone from £260pm to £200pm for 2 of us so far, now want to go to £180pm
Have a 2 week menu planned all through the year
Use BM instead of buying bread
Use up all cleaning chemicals and then use stardrops
Turn thermostat down another degree (brrrr)
Go through storecupboard every month and use up things about to expire
Lose 1 stone (weight) by summer (I have started today :T )

culpepper

1. I want to use my bicycle more. I only use the car once a week for Asda (about 6 miles uphill) but would benefit from more excercise now kids are at college as I dont do the 3 outings a week we used to when they were home all day.

2. Make double dinners some nights so that I can freeze one for the following week. To give myself an easy night once a week. We dont do take aways much so this is purely for my own benefit as would normaly cook anyway.

3. Get the next bit of the veg patch sorted.I reclaimed about 30 Sq feet over the last year. There is about another 25 X 10 bit that I want to put potatoes in this year.

4. Keep up with pigsback , I only started this in November as it will help enormously for presents throughout the year if I save all the vouchers up.

5. Collect up things for DS to take to Uni in Sept. So will look out for useful bits and bobs in charity shops etc. and make up a student box when the time comes.

Kazonline

For me it'll be to continue to improve my O/S ways during the year.
The ones I need to work on are exactly those Essex girl has listed so I'll just add one.....
No matter how often or hard I fall off the OS wagon I'll keep getting back up and straight back on.
Kaz x

Ps - forgot one important one.....
To actually get around to making hampers for next years crimbo pressies

Crazychik

Continue with what Im doing with more of an effort, especially in the cleaning dept.

Continue with saving with my £2 & £1 coin jar.

Learn to use the BM borrowed from my cousin, and an attempt to buy myself one.

Travel and visit friends I dont see often.

Have quality time with OH. When kids are'nt here

Lose a little more weight and go for more walks.

Concentrate on paying off what little debt I do have and to keep on top of everything (bill wise)

Wishing everybody here every success with their goals and best wishes for 2007.

comping_cat

This year i would like to try and grow some of my own vegetables, continue making my own meals, and stop buying things i dont need in Mr Ts!!!! Also would like to lose a stone, wouldve been half a stone, but over the past 2 weeks, ive put a bit too much on (should stop sitting down eating chocs really!!!)
Will prob be back with more goals when i see what others are planning, but those are the few i have at the moment, and hopefully will be able to acheive them!!!!!

apple_mint

This last eighteen months we have really changed the way in which we live - doing a lot of the things described in this thread. We aim to keep this up and in addition:

1. Keep a closer eye on our expenditure using a spreadsheet - and use this to see where we can make additional savings
2. Have a 'change' jar to save up for the spending money for our holidays - I'm sure we could cover this, this way.
3. Get some more exercise. We have already got the bikes out this holiday and found out just how unfit we are!
4. Continue to try to wait until we find what we are looking for at a car boot sale rather than paying 'new' prices (it worked well last year :-) )

Pandora123_2

1. Have a better-planned veg garden, including using a cold frame next fall for growing winter salad greens. Hopefully we will get an allotment soon, so that we can grow enough during the summer to freeze.
2. Take better advantage of drastically-reduced fruit/veg from the supermarket, by freezing or otherwise preserving the stuff, instead of just buying enough for the next couple of days.
3. Make own veggie meat-type slices, burgers, sausages etc to reduce cost of buying ready-made veggie products. Also, make more meals with beans and lentils instead of relying on the ready-made option.
4. Bake homemade bread more often.
5. Continue using slow cooker for making soup.
6. Cut consumption of crisps back to once every three or four weeks.
7. Make own nut butters.
8. Buy the missing parts for water-bath canner, so we can preserve reduced-sugar jams, fruit, tomatoes, pickles etc.
9. Find a pickle crock for making own fermented cucumber pickles.
10. Forage for more wild edibles.
11. Make our own wine.
12. Hopefully the above will enable us to reduce our food bill from £70 per week (2 adults + 3 cats) to £50 per week or less.
13. Exercise more, including a two or three hour walk on the weekend.
14. Cut all unnecessary expenses. Have already started doing this over the last couple of weeks. So far have cut newspaper subscription (can read news online), saving almost £10 per month; call waiting feature (don't use it), saving £1.75 p.m.; cut internet connection to slightly slower speed (don't notice any difference!), saving £10 p.m.
15. Sell unwanted stuff on eBay.