A New Year - A Clean Slate

This is not a post about New Years Resolutions as I don't believe in them.  If you want to change something in your life then do it, a date shouldn't be the trigger.  I always see the new year as full of possibilities.  If you've had a bad year then close the door on it and look forward, not backwards.


2017 was a good year for us.  The business had it's best year ever which meant 2 raises and a Shareholder payback of some of the money owned to us from when we first started the business.  I actually started using my fitbit as it was meant to be and walked 10,000 steps every day which along with some better eating habits meant I lost 10 pounds and kept it off.  I still do the steps but some of the old eating habits have crept back in so that is something I have to work on.  I also have lots of squigy bits so this year will do the steps but also focus on increasing my upper body strength with some weights we have.  Buddy loved all the walks and hiking and is looking forward to even more in 2018.

I don't always share all the ups and downs of our life here on the blog as like to give our family some privacy, truth be known we have just as many as everyone else out there but I like to generally keep things positive here.  Just know that our life, like yours, is not all sunshine and lollipops lol.

Some new things in 2017 - we developed a very good friendship with some people I previously worked with.  We hang out several times a month now and it is so nice to actually have a social life again.  We traveled to Greece which was everything I hoped it would be and went to the small island of Naxos which is somewhere I had not been to.  We loved it so much I could easily see going back there one day.  We bought a pasta machine and successfully learned how to make fetuccine, something we will continue to do on a regular basis as it is so much better than store bought.  We went deep sea fishing for the first time and took my Mom.  She loved it as much as we did and this is going to be an annual event from here on out.    We spent some time hiking at Ucluelet with Buddy, had a lovely four days there. We ate real Indian food and real German food for the first time, both made by our friends, and both were incredible.  We learned Canasta and now have a cards night at least once per month.

I spent a lot of time with my Mom, she is slowing down and every moment we go out and do something fun together needs to be cherished even if it is simply going to the thrift store and for a coffee afterwards.  We had a small health scare when she fell in the bathtub a few months ago but fortunately nothing was broken and it was a bit of a wake up call that she is getting older.

We went quite a bit over our 2017 Grocery Budget - which was $6600($550/mos) Canadian for the year and includes all cleaning/household supplies/personal care items and OTCs.  We ended the year at $7109 due to various things:  entertaining more, more over the counter medications needed and higher overall grocery prices.  I have set the 2018 grocery budget at $575/mos as that is more realistic based on our lifestyle.  We hardly eat out and enjoy entertaining for friends and family so this will give a little more wiggle room for that.  I also need to get back to my frugal grocery ways so will take stock of the grocery inventory this week as well.  I know I have at least a 6 month supply of coffee, tea, laundry detergent, dish soap, rice, flour and pasta/pasta making supplies.  I generally buy in bulk when things are on sale so will continue to seek out sales using the Flipp app (thanks again Jane!) and continue to monitor Checkout 51 for grocery items that qualify for an rebate.

Hubby had to fly out to Toronto today so I was up at 315am to take him to the airport for his early morning flight and there were no New Years Eve celebrations for us.   He stubbed and broke his little toe 3 days ago so is hobbling around a bit.  He has had a few days without having to wear shoes but will be in a fair amount of agony this week.  I hope it isn't too bad for him.  There is not too much you can do for broken toes other than taping them to the next one over and icing your foot/keeping it raised.  It is really really cold in Toronto right now - he had to dig out all his cold weather gear for this trip.

As for me, I took down all of our Christmas decorations yesterday and today will begin the five day deep house cleaning.  I always like to start off the New Year with a nice clean house and with him away I can take my time and do it properly.  The bedroom and office rug need to be steam cleaned but that will wait until his next business trip.  The outside Christmas lights will also wait for a week or two as I can't take them down by myself and we got a few inches of new snow so will wait for that to melt.  I will clean out the fridge, do a closet purge, and catch up on mending.  I only have one or two work related things that absolutely need to be done as last week we were up to our eyeballs in the business so I am ok with slacking off a bit this week.

I look forward to 2018, our trip to Italy and France with two of the boys at the end of April, new adventures with friends, getting even healthier and spending time with hubby and our family.  I hope 2018 holds many possiblities for you too!  Happy New Year!