I do not usually make new year resolutions. I feel that most often than not, when I used to do them, any derailing, as little as it might have been, was enough to make me give up and forget my commitment.
So one year I decided that there was no point to making any more resolutions if I was just going to break them.
A few weeks ago, however, I decided I would do an experiment for this new year. I called it a plan, or a project. I was inspired by my great friend Courtney, whom for her baby shower asked that no new presents be bought for her little girl. She wanted everything to be used, either acquired as a hand me down, or from a thrift shop.
Her wish got me thinking about how in this day and age, and particularly in this country, we go about our lives buying, buying and buying. Most of the things we buy we don't need, some of them we end up never using, and so many times we are not even present when we unconsciously open our wallets, hand out the cash and end up with a random new thing.
I thought it would be a great exercise to see if I could change this pattern in my daily life.
For the duration of the year 2011, I will try to acquire as little new things as possible.
With the plan will come plenty of questions and conundrums, so I thought it would be best to set some ground rules to begin with.
I will allow myself to purchase new underwear, shoes, food, cleaning supplies and body care products.
In an effort to reduce my consumption, for these items that I am not willing or able to get used, I will research brands that give part of their proceeds back to the environment or to a given charity.
I already buy toilet paper and paper towels made out of recycled post consumer paper. Maybe I can go an extra step and try and use more cloth towels to clean.
I will learn as I go to retrain the mind from an impulse or thoughtless pattern, to a conscious decision on how I consume.
Challenges will arise as the days pass.
For example, I lost our camera on a flight back from our Christmas vacation. My husband and I both take lots of pictures. Now we don't have a camera.
I will start researching about buying a used one. Or maybe I will try to be without one for a few months and see how that goes.
The project not only entails being less consumer driven, but also being more creative. I will figure out how I can use the things that we already have in different ways.
I will make more things as gifts instead of buying things. Maybe I will start some sort of exchange program with friends or coworkers.
Whatever happens, I will actively try to use and acquire less. I will make and effort to be less wasteful.
I often hear myself saying that we have everything that we need. Yet we are always getting more things, that we don't need.
This will be an exercise in restraint, in figuring out how clear we can see the fine line between need and want, and hopefully, as the months pass and I practice this new lifestyle more and more, I will find ways of applying it to those areas in which new is necessary (such as food).
A few days ago at work, as I cleaned a case of beets, I admired how beautiful the greens were. We only use the roots there, so I washed the leafs, and took some home with me.
As I write these words, a delicious beet greens soup is on the stove, ready to provide me with some warmth and nourishment.
Out with the new and in with the old! Here we go...
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