New Year's Resolutions

1. Buy no new clothes, only secondhand.
This one is going to kill me. I hate shopping secondhand. But I have a small closet, I'm pretty well stocked with clothes I like for all seasons, and I only have a box under my bed to store extras. So. I would like to curb random purchases and force myself to be intentional and not contribute to fast fashion culture. Chin up, Martha. I think the consignment scene is good here and I'm sure Goodwill will have lots of treasures. (This only applies to me, not my kids and hubby.)
2. Use one roll of paper towels per month.
This is going to be hard, but doable. It's just about being intentional about paper use/trees chopped, and this seems like a place that I can actually be successful. I'm going to mark the inside of each roll with a J for January, an F for February .... we'll see how it goes!
3. Buy no new plastic water bottles.
I got used to buying plastic water bottles all the time in Europe. I've always reused them many times over so I never felt like this had to change. But the bottom line is that it's not necessary and I don't want to contribute to new plastic bottle making. Also, remember when bottled water was not even a thing? And then it happened and we all kinda thought it was stupid? And we bought it anyway and now it's just normal. So, I'd like to de-normalize it. I finally bought this reusable bottle I love. So far, so good.
4. Learn to cook Middle Eastern and/or Mediterranean food.
I want to figure out hummus and tahini and zatar and all the different colors and flavors and vegetables and grains that seem to be happening in those parts of the world I know nothing about.
5. Pick up trash in my neighborhood once a month (and bring the fam).
We've done this a couple times. It's totally doable if I tell everyone it'll only take 20 minutes. Last time we did it, we were picking up trash on about five blocks and it only took 25 minutes. My kids don't complain once they're out there. It's just getting everyone out of the house that's painful.
6. Read more, Instagram less.
This is ongoing forever and ever amen.
7. Watch more Great British Baking Show.
This show is so low stakes and relaxing. I never want to watch it initially, but I'm always glad when I do. Perfect pre-sleep TV watching.
8. Play the piano more.
We've lugged our piano all over the world but never really been able to truly enjoy playing it because we've always lived in apartments with neighbors too close by. Now we can actually play it! I'd like to get some kind of enjoyable sheet music and play for pleasure. I never want to do it, but maybe with the right music, I'd want to....?
9. Figure out natural makeup and packaging.
There are a lot of natural makeups in the world, but not very many have biodegraeable packaging. Elate is one that I've found so far... I dunno. I've already got my makeup routines that work for me. It's going to be hard to make a change like that. But I'd like to move in that direction.
10. Drink four green smoothies a week.
I did a green smoothie challenge with my sister from November 25 - December 25 where we tried to drink a green smoothie every day (I think I missed two days) and it was glorious! It's the only way I get green veggies into my body in the wintertime. I loved it and I want to keep going.