Resolutions.

Hopefully you aren't sick of hearing about New Year's resolutions yet because I wanted to share mine with you today and also give a little update about how last year's resolution went. Last year's resolution involved "greening" our family and saving money.  They kind of went hand in hand.  I am happy to report that becoming a more green family has been a blast! There are some definite things that we can do to improve further but so far, we are learning a lot and enjoying the new lifestyle with a smaller footprint.  We of course cloth diapered Leeland all of last year and plan to cloth diaper Hayden this year as well.  I began using sea pearls last year for my monthly cycle, and this year hope to give the diva cup a try-- I have been limited in my greening of this area because, well, I've been pregnant the past 33 weeks. We gave up paper towels! And one more thing that I would like to invest in is some re-usable snack bags like these  and of course they make some that don't have prints and they even make nifty sandwich wraps. 

This year I again have 2 goals or resolutions-- I don't know why I can't just pick one, but I have two which is fine by me.  The 1st one is to take better care of myself which is to encompass several things.  First off, it's no secret that I struggled with post partum depression a few months after Leeland was born, which tragically ended in no milk supply and the end of breastfeeding for us.  I was trying to be super mom-- I was trying to clean the house, cook dinner, run the errands, take care of a newborn and take care of everyone else.  I had unrealistic expectations for myself and my body and all I did was wear myself down.  Going into this labor and the birth of Hayden, I refuse to allow that to happen again!  I need to take care of myself so that I am able to take care of our children.  It will no doubt take work lowering my expectations, and I have already enlisted the help of Daniel to hold me accountable to getting the rest and time I need.  I'm excited to give breastfeeding another shot and I don't want to go to that dark place again. 

I also intend to take better care of myself in a physical way as well, not that I'm necessarily trying to lose weight or jumping on that band wagon of millions who rushed out and joined a gym the 1st of the year, but just simply taking care of myself.  I find pleasure in running, I started running in 2008 and even ran my first half marathon back then.  I'd like to run another one eventually. I didn't run during either pregnancy because I was too afraid to so it will be a hard road getting back into it, but it will be some good Mommy time.  Daniel and I would also like to eat a little better as a family-- not that we eat terribly now, but just to include some fresher whole foods in our diet, and cut out some snacking (we have sweet teeth).  And lastly, it sounds silly, but I want to remember to wash my make-up off every night. Don't we all? 

So my second resolution is again to do better at saving money.  Not that we failed at saving money last year because with our greener lifestyle, we were definitely saving.  But this time it's a little different.  We knew that money would be tight during the schooling part of Daniel's new job-- 27 weeks of training is mandatory and it's pretty impossible to have a second income during that time.  With that being said, our savings is pretty shot, so we definitely need to build up our emergency fund again.  I'm doing what I can staying at home with couponing and managing the best I feel I know how-- so we hope to continue on that path and build our savings back up again.  Along with this just for curiosity sake I hope to keep track of how much money I save with coupons this year. I do most of our grocery shopping at Harris Teeter and they print on the receipt each time I shop how much money in coupons was tendered (including the doubles and triples) and also how much was saved with my VIC savings card.  They print at the bottom of the receipt how much you save that year in VIC savings but they don't do the same for coupons.  Last year I saved around $1200 with my VIC card! I think that's pretty awesome!  So this year after each shopping trip, I want to write in my coupon organizer what I saved in coupons that trip and I'll add it all up at the end of the year.

2012 is going to be exciting!  What are your resolutions?