The January challenge of buying less is finally over, phew! It was really, REALLY hard. Much harder than I thought. I did end up purchasing a couple of items: 2012 calendar, snow boots and beanie. I also spent more on groceries, but I attribute that to all the Sunset/Real Simple Magazine recipes that I tried out. In most cases, I was pretty successful considering my list of items I want and some of them I even need.
Much like a diet gone wrong, I’ve been on a bit of a shopping bender for the last 24 hours. Porter’s made out pretty well, and so has my friend Suzy’s unborn baby girl. I currently have a lot more gratitude for the ability to simply go out and get pretty much whatever we need and much of what we want. I never claimed to be perfect, but I will gladly call myself a work in progress.
Through the month I learned to really think before I purchase anything and I’m going to try to make a regular challenge through the year to not buy anything. There is also less of a burden, somehow, but I’m not sure in what way. Maybe it was the lack of Amazon boxes that needed breaking down and recycling, or the knowledge that we actually saved a boatload of money. Yeah, that’s probably it. Here’s to continuing to make conscious purchases from here on out. For those of you who are into blogs, I found solace through January by reading The Zero Waste Home blog. Check it out.
Now for February’s challenge, sleep more. As you know I have a child who has dramatically altered my sleeping habits. As in, what’s a weekend? Sleeping in? How does 6-7am sound, everyday? I’ve also blogged about my serious lack of sleep, and therefore sleep training, here. My goal then, is to get to bed by 11pm every single night of the month, weekends included. Luke and I are night owls, so 11pm seems like a decent hour for us. Porter is getting better at sleeping through the night, and if we get lights out by 11pm I have the potential of getting 8 hours of sleep. I know mommy friends, it’s almost too good to believe.
In the last 3 days I’ve already met that goal with better organization and routines through our day. I’ll let you know how it ends up in March. I’m also making a list of other 30 day challenges and am a few short to fill up the year, so if you have any good ideas leave them in the comments or drop me a line on Facebook.
I mentioned that I’m working towards getting a routine down during the week with Porter. He’s currently transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day, which frees up more time in the morning for fun. So far we’ve gotten into story time at the Boise Library! called Bloomin’ Babies, we are going this weekend to pick up our zoo passes, afternoon bike rides with our awesome iBert bike seat (pictures to come) and, thanks to the local mall, Porter and I are now mall walkers. He pushes his stroller around and then we go play at the sweet indoor play area that has padded climbing toys and floors and doesn’t allow shoes. I’m hoping all this fun stuff will make him nice and sleepy at night time so when 11pm rolls around I can get a full night sleep too.
He has mastered climbing up and down stairs, and figured out how to slide down the slide.
Who knew I’d be so thankful for a mall?
Ironic since my last (and continuing) challenge was to buy less.
