Thursday, April 1, 2010

april happiness project

April already, can you believe it? Summer will be here before we know it. A new month means it's time for another group of resolutions for my happiness project. But first, an update from my March resolutions. It went well overall, really well. Certain resolutions were super-easy to keep (no magazines), others I found surprisingly hard (checking my planner twice a day). The main resolution that I expected to be very hard was to give up refined sugar. It turned out to be easier than I thought and I was true to my intentions for the most part. If I made baked goods I used honey or maple syrup (but I didn't make too many--just a few times). During this last week I was a bit more lax but overall kept to the resolution and I certainly wasn't eating cake, ice cream, candy or anything like that (I did have a small biscotti at Crushcakes but it was much less sugary than having a cupcake piled with frosting--I was on spring break after all, so allowed it). I do have to confess that I fell off the wagon with my internet time during the second half of the month, but am stepping back up to the plate for April.
Here are my resolutions for this month:
::I'm keeping the same group from March with a few tweaks. I'm increasing my internet time to 45 minutes and Faith has agreed to be the enforcer (thanks, Faith!) Also, I'm adding in a treat on Sunday (homemade baked goods) but otherwise continuing with no sugar. The new resolutions are:
:: give up Diet Coke cold turkey
:: spending freeze (I'll write more about this in another post, I'm sure--this is the start of what I expect will be a two-year spending freeze).
:: use no disposable cups (for example, when we go to Subway bring my own cup for iced tea) or disposable water bottles (carry my Klean Kanteen with me).
:: request no junkmail (I need to figure out how to accomplish this)
:: stand up straight whenever I think about it.
I'm anticipating going into a non-materialistic/frugal state of mind, but how cute is this new file folder?? (from Liberty of London for Target.) In it I have my resolutions charts, my list of fun summer activities, and a printout of this article. I'm quite excited and happy about my new resolutions, now we'll see how hard they are to keep!

19 comments:

Diane said...

Glad to hear your happiness project is going well! Your resolutions are great.

I made a resolution at the start of March to spend at least 15 minutes a day tackling the backlog of digital photos. For sticking to it I am rewarding myself - I just ordered The Happiness Project book!

Rain said...

Good for you! I definitely want to hear more about your spending freeze. I need to request no junk mail as well. Thanks for sharing about your happiness project.

erin said...

wow, good for you! Thanks for the link to the Zen Habits site.

Joy said...

Sounds like a great list, and it's good that Faith will help. :) What do your kids, specifically your teenagers, say about these changes (and others you've made in the last few years) you're trying to make? I find that my attempts at change are sometimes met with resistance from my older kids (who spent part of their time with other not-very-natural parents) who also have influence from school friends, etc. Good luck, Mary Beth!

ginatrbo said...

Here are two places to sign up for no junk mail....

http://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/
https://www.dmachoice.org

Stephanie said...

I opted out of junk mail last year and was amazed at how well it worked.

http://orders.privacycouncil.org/cgi-bin/shop.cgi?

(above is one way, you'll find lots of info if you google)

I quit pop in January or February? It was hard and I missed it but it felt good, too. I have added it back in, one a week (but a big one), and feel good about it. Thanks for sharing your goals. I am taking a break from my monthly goals this month as our 3rd child is due any time. I guess my only goal will be to try and sleep. :)

Jennifer said...

Sounds like you are doing great. Can't wait to read more about your spending freeze. Good luck with this month, you can do it.
theprairiegirl.com

melissa s. said...

good for you!! I was at target drooling over the liberty of london stuff yesterday. I managed not to buy anything (except the one thing I went in there for) but MAN was it hard!!! I'm on a spending freeze, too -- glad I have some internet friends to share the pain with ;-)

Holly C. said...

I'm intrigued by the two year spending freeze. And I would love to hear more.

Mary Beth said...

Thanks for your kind support everyone.

Joy--in some ways the teens don't like these changes, but in some ways they do. Faith will complain about no sugar/junk food/snacks in individual packages, but then in a different context she'll burst out with "I'm glad we eat healthy." I'm anticipating that when the boys start school they will want the junk that the other kids have (food junk and toy junk too). We'll just have to work through it at the time, I suppose.

wabisabinaturals said...

I got rid of all of the unwanted catalogs using catalogchoice.org. It's free and works!

congamama2 said...

This is a neat way to stop junk mail and plant trees at the same time! Check out this site:

http://precycle.tonic.com/

congamama2 said...

This is a neat way to stop junk mail and plant trees at the same time! Check out this site:

http://precycle.tonic.com/

hanna said...

sounds great, good on you! You're inspiring me to make some little changes for good also :)

Nicola said...

Good for you! Your happiness project/steps toward balance are really motivating and encouraging to read about!
Nicola

PumpkinFreckles said...

I started my own 'happiness project' when I read about yours. I had read the article in Real Simple about 'the happiness project' and promptly forgot about it! So thanks so much for the refresher and inspiration. A couple of years ago I read
this
and was intrigued and made me think twice about the things I wanted and what I thought I needed. It's about her experience and others reactions to her choice, plus a lot of info on people who've whittled down their carbon footprint to nil. Of course I checked my out at the library. :P Happy April, Spring, Easter, etc.

Mary Beth said...

Thank you so much, Pumpkin Freckles--I just requested that from the library. It sounds really interesting!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like some great resolutions. Healthful and mindful. When you figure out how to stop junk mail please let me know. I called all the catalog companies that sent me something during the month of March and asked them to stop sending to my home. I hope that will help a lot.

Annie

ps. I love the Easter baskets. They looked wonderful.

Denise C. said...

I was so inspired by the Happiness Project posts, that I decided it was high time for me to read the book & create my own happiness project!

You are a huge inspiration! Thanks! :)