Better Late Than Never!

My stars!  It's been a long time since we've posted anything - far too long!  We are finally sharing our resolutions for this year - and granted, others will be added, some will probably be deleted, and some are ever constant. 

Our resolutions (thus far):
- loose weight (ha, ha, ha - only 3 weeks into the new year, and we can't even get motivated to start, much less stick to it!)
- save money - much harder than it sounds at times!
- try at home remedies, primarily for cleaning/housekeeping
- being more resourceful, in all aspects
- read more
- sleep more
- start J's business
- get him in trade school

I know - that's a lot!  But we figure that saving money and loosing weight - those are every year, ever constant wants/needs/resolutions.  As for loosing weight, that's going to take some practice and time.  J is diabetic, so we have to be careful of what we eat - and we're both lazy, so it's a double whammy!  We've got to be motivated to eat the food equivalent of cardboard and actually make an effort to sweat (by choice)!  Hmmm...we'll see where this path leads us.

As for saving money, we already use coupons and try to catch things on sale.  But, we figure that we could also save money by trying at home cleaning remedies.  Here are a couple of recipes for all-purpose cleaners that I found:

1 gallon water
1 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda
mix all the ingredients and then put it in a squirt bottle

or

2 cups water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 teaspoons dish soap
mix all the ingredients and then put it in a squirt bottle

We also found a recipe to be used as an everyday shower cleaner (kind of like tilex, etc.):
8 oz. concentrated cleaner (like Lysol)
16 oz. isopropyl alcohol
water
Put the cleaner and alcohol in a 1 gallon bucket, put in enough water to make it a gallon - put in a spray bottle

We'll see how these do-it-yourself cleaners work and let you know!  We also try to keep our AC/heat at set temps, don't show any brand loyalty (get whatever's on sale)...but for some reason - we just can't seem to sock away much moo-lah.  So, we're going to try to be more creative - sell our stuff on craigslist (after all, one man's junk is another man's treasure - right?), try not to buy anything unless necessary.  The diet, I'm sure will help cut costs - not so much eating out, sodas, chips, cookies, etc.  So that takes care of the first 4, more or less.

As for more reading - I love to read just about anything and everything, J likes read only a few specific things - and we're going to try to change that.  I rarely read the things he's interested in, and he definitely does not read the things that I'm interested in.  So, we've agreed to pick out a book for each other, read it and see what we think about it.  This might only last for 1 book, but it might last longer!

More sleep!  I am the self proclaimed queen of napping...however, when I say more sleep - I don't mean naps, I mean that we should get in a schedule.  Our regular schedule should be, go to bed at 8:30pm, get up at 4:30am.  However, we sometimes go to bed at 10 or 10:30, then can't get up until 5am, or we'll crash at 7pm and get up at 4pm.  Then there are the weekends!  Oh - we get all giddy thinking we can stay up late, so we do.  We'll go to bed at 11 or so, then get up at 6 or 7....and do the same on Saturday.  But, when Sunday rolls around, and it's 8:30 or so - we can't go to sleep for anything!  So, in order to make sure that we get 8 hours a night, so there'll be less hurt feelings and crabby mornings - we are going to try to maintain a schedule.

As for J's business - it goes hand in hand with the last one - getting J into trade school.  See, J's ultimate dream is to open his own gun/coin shop here in town.  However, he wants to be a certified gun smith - so he can not only sell you a gun, but he can also repair/modify it as well.  So - we are wanting him to get that ball rolling.  Also, he's been into coins for several years now, and it's a constantly evolving, very historically rich and fact oriented world.  I've never been one for collecting coins, but now that I'm watching him - I'm learning more and starting to realize what a wide, wonderful, in depth, world it is!  J currently is selling coins on e-bay, and we want to work towards opening a store on e-bay, and perhaps linking it to this blog or another website.  Then when that gets up and off of the ground - we'll work our way towards opening a real brick and mortar store! 

I'll be sure to keep you updated of progress on all of these things.  What are your resolutions?  Anything new, old, daunting or exciting?  I'd love to hear all about them!