New Year's Resolutions in the Almost Average household

Good day to all you great people out there! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have your sleeves rolled up ready to tackle 2009 because today is New Year's Day and it's time to get cracking and get prepared for the year ahead, no matter what it will bring!

I love this time of year and New Year's Day is my favourite of all. For me, it's a special day that always brings new hope, carrying a certain freshness coated with positivity and good intentions that beats Christmas Day, anniversaries and even birthdays hands down. After all, the feeling of hopefulness is one of the greatest possessions with which a person can be blessed and with hope comes new opportunities.

I never used to believe in resolutions and my track record was always appalling. Giving up wine never lasted more than a few weeks and as for ditching chocolate, after just a few days my willpower would always crack at the sight of Cadbury's creme eggs on sale in preparation for Easter, thanks to those naughty merchandisers and marketeers who push them into the shops in January.

However as I reminisce over the adventures of 2008, I realise how far my family has travelled in just 12 months, with new challenges and friendships, all of which started with just one new year's resolution this time last year - to reduce our household waste. Well it was actually one of twenty good intentions, but there'll be more on that later in the month when I celebrate the blog's first birthday and enjoy the highlights of the year.

So as I write my first blog post of 2009, it's time for the Almost Average Household to reveal our resolutions for the new year, and it will be no surprise that we have even more rubbish reducing plans.

But we won't be just sat indoors sorting out our recycling.

Nor will we be simply hanging out at the recycling centre more regularly.

What we've got planned is much dirtier indeed.

Yep, this year we're going to get digging and bring life to the garden in a way it's never seen before. If 2008 was the year of the bins, you could say 2009 will be the year of the backyard.

We've already got a lovely little snacking garden with berries, rhubarb, herbs as well as tomatoes grown in pots, which has taken very little effort but this year we're going to rev it up a bit.

We want to plant more berries, more greens and more root vegetables and we want to be able to feed ourselves as well as the birds that have begun to hang around in recent years. It'll be a great way of reducing even more packaging as well as food miles and will give us the practice we need for when we eventually get a bigger garden or hopefully an allotment in a few years time.

But it's not going to be easy because even though our plans are still small-scale, there will be many challenges along the way:

1. I'm neither green fingered or organised - so to make this work I really am going to have to change my ways.
2. Our garden is fairly small, a typical postage stamp on a new development - so we're going to have to work hard to fit a planting scheme into our current set up.
3. We've also decided to get chickens - yes, you heard correctly - chickens in our teeny tiny plot! As well as changing my routines to care for them, we're also going to have to be especially inventive to ensure those clucking hens won't destroy our hard work.
   

So the deed is done! I've revealed our plans for the new year. Oh my word, what have I gone and done?

What have I done indeed! It's rather scary actually, putting my lack of horticultural skills under the spotlight for all to see. Oh well, as they say, the world never stands still.

So as we're all set for yet another amazing adventure in the Almost Average Household, one thing's for sure...I know we won't be able to do it without your support. So please continue to chip in with your words of wisdom to help us on our way. I can be a really lazy booger when it comes to the garden and will need all the help I can get. So if you see me hanging around the blog a bit too often....please encourage me to get back outside! After all Rome would never have been built if all the Romans spent all their time blogging about it!

But what else will this year bring for The Rubbish Diet blog? As well as my cries for help and updates on our progress I will also continue to feature those amazing people who are helping us to slim our bins and reduce our reliance on landfill. So keep popping by for some fresh ideas that you can try at home, take to work or introduce into your community.

I've got a funny feeling that 2009 will be another trashtastic year when it comes to reducing waste and I'd love to know what you've got planned. If you've got some bin-busting resolutions and have blogged about it, why not share your ideas and join in this month's Carnival of Trash, which will be published here on 7th January. You can submit your post here.

So all that's left for me to do is grab my spade and get digging.

But before that, I'd like to thank you all so much for your visits, support and contributions in 2008. I couldn't keep up this blog without you and would like to wish you a very happy new year for 2009 and beyond.

Now before I get all slushy, where did I put those chocolates?..........I'm not giving up those in a hurry. Remember, that particular new year's resolution never worked for me, so I'm not even going to try....ahhh there they are...my box of Quality Street complete with their little recycling instructions to separate the foil from the plastic....That will most definitely keep me busy......................Happy new year everyone....see you soon!

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