New Years Revolutions

So here we are in 2012!!
Wow where did the last year go?
We have had a great year and achieved some of our eco challenges.

• The solar panels have been installed for nearly a whole year and I am happy to say that 2011 was a no electricity bill year...woohoo!!
• We put in a few rainwater tanks but much more are needed.
• The garden grew taller and the soil seems just a little more water retentive.
• We achieved nearly 9 months of buying nothing new

So onto 2012!! What are the challenges for this year.

• To coincide with the nothing new challenge that we started last year we will continue to buy nothing new unless it is replacing something large that is broken/worn out. Even then we will look at second hand options first.
  
• We are joining the Little Eco family in not buying food/supplies from supermarkets, shopping malls and super chains.
  
• We are uping our green lunches with new Kids Konserve lunch packs to create waste free lunches now that all 4 children will be attending school ( scary I know) We have been fairly good in the last few years but this will eliminate the plastic element.
  

• We are majorly cutting back the kids extra activities to just piano ( walking distance) and one sport. This will give our family more time together and cut our travelling miles down immensely.
• We will start looking seriously at a new house with larger space for our children to enjoy the outdoors more often and take a step closer to a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Increase the use of our solar oven. We just received an upgrade from the builder of our solar oven ( posting soon on that development) that will increase our oven temperature by another 15 degrees. Will be using that to it's full advantage.

We will do a fair amount of air travel this year so I am very keen to offset that impact with our daily living choices. So here's to a fabulous and greener 2012!!