‘Time to make a fresh start’ New Year’s suggestions

It’s that time of year again — time to con­sider what new habits you will resolve to prac­tice in the New Year. It’s time to make a fresh start. I like to call my res­o­lu­tions New Year Sug­ges­tions. Maybe it makes me feel less guilty when I don’t accom­plish them like I thought I would. On the other hand, maybe it helps me incor­po­rate the new ideas into my life because I really don’t like being told what to do, even if it is by my own self!

I put together some “sug­ges­tions” for you to con­sider this year — prac­tices which, if you could make them habits, will help not only you but the world around you. That’s pretty moti­vat­ing, right?

I’m sure you can guess the first sug­ges­tion as it’s one I write about often: Buy Local. I really do believe this habit is one that will not only save you time and money, but will assist our local inde­pen­dent retail­ers and keep your dol­lars work­ing hard in our own community.

The sec­ond one is sim­i­lar: Eat locally. This one can be tricky in the win­ter for sure, but start by try­ing to raise your aware­ness of what is in sea­son and try­ing to eat those foods when they are fresh and good for you. Not only will you have a more nutri­tious diet, you will be help­ing our own local farm­ers and, again, keep­ing your dol­lars here and not else­where. Start small and work up. Maybe com­mit to buy­ing your eggs locally; then add honey; then cer­tain pro­duce items, etc.

Another sug­ges­tion is to select one area of your life and really com­mit to “green­ing” it this year. Per­haps it’s the air qual­ity in your home and you might con­sider sav­ing up for a really effi­cient air puri­fier. You could “clean up” your water and save up for a water fil­tra­tion sys­tem to get all those impu­ri­ties out or start small by get­ting a puri­fy­ing water pitcher (research them first). Maybe it’s your per­sonal care prod­ucts and this is the year you finally make the switch to organic and more nat­ural sham­poos, con­di­tion­ers, lotions and make up. Check out Green Amer­ica online for help in any of these areas.

Finally, a sug­ges­tion that sounds easy but takes a new way of think­ing: Lower your con­sump­tion. This one means shop­ping for less “stuff,” not own­ing so much — sim­pli­fy­ing your lifestyle so that con­sumerism doesn’t drive your way of life. Once you catch on to this way of think­ing and liv­ing, I wouldn’t doubt if your stress level plum­meted in addi­tion to your spend­ing. That’s some­thing to smile about!

Good luck and bless­ings abun­dant in 2012!

Tues­day Trip­pier lives in Delaware and is a writer and a mother of four with a spe­cial inter­est in learn­ing and writ­ing about green living.

Posted by Tuesday Trippier on Dec 29 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.