Whoever said blogging was easy???

My my it has been a long time hasn't it?

Well for my first (and hopefully not last) post for 2011 thought I'd share a few goals I'd love to achieve this year.

First, I had a pretty good year in 2010 with weight loss but between family visits and the holiday celebrations, I have been gaining and losing the same couple of kgs. for the past few months. Have now re-established my customary routine and am looking forward to shedding my remaining weight and reach my goal of 55kgs. this year.

Secondly, I have resurrected my inner minimalism. My husband and I live and work in a small flat and what with personal effects, books, art materials and college paperwork we have been feeling simply suffocated lately. Even though we aren't big shoppers, we've just accumulated too much stuff over the years and so much of it we just don't need. So on Monday we began a GREAT PURGE. Our general goal is to sell, donate, give away, recycle or bin everything we don't need (haven't used in the past 6 months) or love and to digitalise whatever we can and get rid of the hard copies. Whatever survives the GREAT PURGE has to have a comfortable home. Nothing can be on the floor except the furniture and every surface has to be clear save the choice piece of art or decoration. We're about 1/4 way through this massive undertaking and have already made about £200 from selling just a few things on line. More than anything though I feel this incredible sense of freedom, lightness and clearheadedness.

Thirdly in keeping with my desire to reduce waste and consumption, my new goal for acquiring stuff is that I will only buy what I absolutely need and if I see something I don't need but I absolutely love, I have to wait for 30 days before I can buy it. If I still want it after 30 days then I can have it, IF I find a comfortable home for it in our apartment and IF I pay cash.

Which brings me to my fourth and final goal, this year I want to see if I can live without using credit cards. I have cut up my joint credit cards with my husband and have frozen my personal credit card. This means I'll have to use my debit card or PayPal for online purchases if and when I make them. Can't wait to see how all this works out.