2010 is here, and I’ve decided to join in on the One Small Change movement started over here on the Hip Mountain Mama blog . For our family, there are so many changes I would like to make over the months, that it’s easy to go gung ho and vow to make all the changes or resolutions at once, but I think taking them one month at a time will help keep us much more focused. Baby steps I can follow.
Now that being said, January is going to be a doozy. I just stumbled upon the blog dottie angel a few weeks ago, and was inspired by “a challenge of the utmost kind” (part one and part two) she started back in October. She vowed to not buy anything new or commercial for her clothing or her home for one year. Everything purchased was/is to be only homemade/handmade or second hand. I love this idea. I had the thought a few months ago, to do a handmade Christmas, where everything given would be handmade from either me or local artisans (or “local” online). I failed. Jason received a stereo, certainly not handmade, Eleanore received crayons and a chalkboard, although nice arts and crafts items, not handmade, not to mention the gifts given to others. My sister is the only one I came through on. I gave her a beautiful handmade coffee mug I picked up at an Ann Arbor art fair, and a Tree of Life necklace from Doodles Jewels, plus some homemade jam and pickles, that I canned myself.
So, after the craziness of the holidays, I think this is exactly what our family needs to settle and focus ourselves. I, personally, will be buying nothing new for our clothing or our home for the month of January. If it goes well, I may continue as the months pass, but this baby step of a big challenge is what I need to focus on first. I will not be including Jason in this challenge, though, as he doesn’t do much of the “home decor” shopping, he does buy supplies and things at our local home improvement store, and will continue to do so, as there is a lot of true work that needs to be done on our house.





































