2009: the year of preparation and self-education

It's nearly february already (whew, where did that month go?) and I've started to think about what I want out of this year in this journey towards sustainable living. I think there are some big-ticket changes like solar power, water tanks, growing a proper veggie garden etc that probably need to wait until next year when we buy our own place. So I feel that 2009 is my year on training wheels - I am going to learn some of the skills and implement some of the strategies that will eventually add up to a more sustainable lifestyle, and build up to a bigger and better year of sustainability in 2010.

Here are my ten main goals for 2009 -

1. learn to clean the whole house without chemicals
2. Learn to cook some nice, easy vegetarian fare as well as foods like cheese and bread - I might finally use some of my huge collection of cookbooks - and cook them in bulk so I can put half of everything in the freezer to save money, time, packaging, and bad last-minute food choices
3. Educate myself about how to build/retrofit units/houses to be environmentally friendly so that when we buy I am informed and prepared
4. Learn to sew (focus on being able to repair and alter clothes) and knit
5. Buy my food from the collingwood farmer's market whenever possible; failing that, psarakos/preston market; use the stupidmarket as little as possible
6. Focus on reducing my personal water use
7. Get into a stricter habit of turning lights off when I leave rooms
8. Declutter regularly, use freecycle (hooray, gave my first thing away using freecycle today!)
9. Read through all of my many books about the environment, self-sufficient/sustainable living, ethics etc and write about my reactions to them on this blog
10. work towards a 2009 xmas where all presents are handmade/homemade!