Matt and I have never really made New Year’s Resolutions. Recently while reading another blog I realized why we don’t do resolutions. We are both goal oriented people.
Concrete goals don’t evaporate in the face of adversity, hardship or laziness. Resolutions are broken — and usually abandoned — with one misstep; goals are such a long journey that bad footwork days are to be expected. There have been goals that have taken several years to accomplish but that have been achieved over time.
I thought I would share a few of my smaller goals with everyone.
1. Be less wasteful. Specifically with water and produce. When we first moved into our house we averaged 150 gallons a day of water use and this last year it skyrocketed to around 220 gallons a day. (Yes I seriously track our water use, along with other utilities.) Now we did add grass to the backyard and my garden, but I am sure I can lower our water use. I am redoing the garden to be more ground level instead of raised bed which will save some water and I am working on taking shorter showers (my parents would be glad to know I do not take super long showers any more). My goal is a five minute shower every time. The closest I have gotten is six minutes (yep I have timed my showers). Now onto the issue with produce. I write out my meal plan and then go to the store and buy everything I need for a week. Some produce does not last that long and sometimes I just overbuy. I am working at getting better at realizing which produce does not last as long, so I can make the required meals first. Also, even though I do not like going to the store, I have realized I might need to go more than once, so my produce can be fresh. As for overbuying I need to have realistic expectations of how much fruit Matt and I will eat (I tend to be overoptimistic on that).
2. Eat 2-3 vegetarian meals a week. Being a vegetarian is more environmentally friendly, but I am not ready to go all the way yet. I have several vegetarian meals I have tried that have turned out well, if I come across a few more I like, this goal should be no problem.
3. Take the dogs for a minimum of four walks a week. Some of you are thinking only four walks! Let’s just say my dogs don’t get along with other dogs and I can only go out when there is practically no chance of running into other dogs. I also walk them separately because they behave better when they are not together, so it takes me about an hour. Honestly they are not super bad dogs, just on walks, hopefully with more walks they will get better.
4. Eat fast food less than once per month. Let’s face it fast food is not good for us or the environment (think of all that packaging, calories, and plastic silverware). I hope my waist and the earth thank me for this one. I honestly don’t think this one will be that hard for me, but we will see.
Those are a few of my specific goals for this year. I should also have some financial and business related ones, but those are still a work in progress. Plus I think I have bored you enough for one evening. Do you have any goals for 2008 you would like to share?