New Year, New Outlook

Last year and the year before I decided to follow a make do and mend ethos, buying nothing new that wasn't necessary and it has really changed how i look at not just material goods but life in general.
We as a whole generation tend to take things for granted, we always have a warm bed and food in our bellies when there are thousands homeless and cold each day in Britain and all over the world and to tell you the truth I'm more than grateful for the comfortable life we have.
We can eat when hungry and sleep soundly in our beds, our children are happy and being educated in a way that suits them as well as us and i couldn't really ask for more.
So this year i wanted to step it up a little and try to refine the steps we have already taken. I plan to grow more than ever this year, i already have some lettuce planted in doors and some other bits that will have a great start indoors before the spring. I plan to sew more and not just for me this time but for the hubby as well as the kids, the nothing new for a year challenge really made me see that I'm a little like a magpie, i get distracted by pretty things and tend to just buy them whether we need them or not but now I've learnt a certain level of restraint and make sure i really need or want it before handing over my pennies and i will always make sure i cant purchase it cheaper second hand first as i feel recycling is more important than ever.
I don't even remember the last item of clothing that was brand new i bought!
The chickens are laying great so this year i plan to extend the space they have and maybe get a couple more birds and sell the excess eggs to friends and neighbours to cover their feed and up keep, nothing like providing for yourself eh ladies! ;)
I'm also hoping the new bunnies we have will breed so we can sell the babies, just for a short space of time anyway, to pay for a bigger hutch for them and keep them in the life of which they have become accustomed! you cant say my furry friends aren't spoilt lol!
then next on the list is getting a cold frame on the porch at the front, it has full sun all year and i want to maximise growing time for things like tomatoes and lettuce that we tend to eat all year that doesn't take a lot of space to grow then onto planning in the back to get the tops of the animals hutches edged and sealed and get things growing in them, cant grow anything low level this year due to the animals having free run of the garden, the bunnies demolished what was left of my plants within a fortnight of having free reign!
Then finally i think it will be to replace the grass, as the soil isn't deep enough for lush grass so it goes patchy :( with faux grass so the girls can use the space that's left to play out all year round, we get a little rain and the back is like a bog as it gets no sun over the winter months.
And of course i plan to do all this for as little as humanly possible so if you if have any of the things afore mentioned that you need reviewing or your replacing then please do get in touch, this is gonna be a year long project with continual up dates (shameless plug there i know!!)
So here's to a new year and new challenges, i hope you all are working on something rewarding for 2013.
L x