Every year we publicly proclaim a few of our resolutions in the hope that it’ll light a fire under our arse (arses?) and help us “get there.” So without further ado (except for this gratuitous Clara picture) here they are…
Resolution #1. To be more bold with our decorating & renovating choices. We want to embrace color and contrast and just have fun without worrying that we’ll mess up. Mistakes are always when we learn the most about a project or our style, so we’re going to welcome them with open arms. And we hope to do our best to resist always going with the “safest” decisions in favor of taking a few chances and diving in with both feet. Wait that doesn’t make sense. Jumping in with both feet? How about cannonballing? Sounds good to us. It probably means there will also be the occasional belly flop, but we’re ok with that too.
Resolution #2. To find balance. We’re going to try our darndest not to fall into the trap of putting all of our time, money, and energy into the house to the point that we have no life, no savings, and Clara is trapped in our casa for her entire childhood. We’d love to remember to plan family trips (we haven’t been on a big vacation since our honeymoon three and a half years ago other than some low key road trips and family beach weeks) and just take time to enjoy visits to the park and the zoo and the occasional meal out. Since the internet is 24/7, sometimes it’s hard to resist working nights, weekends, and even on vacation so we hope to get a handle on that. Now that we have a wee one, some healthy family-friendly balance seems like a good idea.
Resolution #3. To save more money. We’re already pretty frugal (ok, we’re total tightwads) as you can see here, but we’d like to learn more ways to squirrel away cash for a rainy day (or retirement, or the college fund…). For example, we have no idea how to coupon. But now we’d like to learn the act of couponing (but by no means will we take it as far as the people on that TLC special). Yesterday we gave it a whirl and ended up saving $19 at the grocery store. Not bad for two people who had no idea what they were doing. So we’re ready to learn more. From virtually loading our Kroger card with online coupons to buying the Sunday paper for the insert and even printing out online coupons when they’re something we actually buy, we’ll give it a try. And we’ll share how it goes if we happen to get the hang of it.
Resolution #4. To take the people-pleasing thing down a notch. As we mentioned during our blogiversary, “after three years we’ve learned that it’s impossible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time.” Gone are the days when we could write about whatever was happening at our house without someone (usually in the nicest way possible) telling us what to change. Like that we should post less or more, do bigger or smaller projects, share more or less family stuff, do more or fewer mood boards, etc. Basically, if we listened to everyone who told us how to alter YHL for the better, we’d pretty much have to scrap everything. And we might be crazy, but we like how we blog! It has gotten us to where we are today. Over two million hits a month is crazy (ok, mind-blowingly insane) to us.
We actually really enjoy sharing real-time diary-style entries about what’s going on as it occurs (the good, the bad, the ugly, and the average day-in-the-life stuff) along with whatever inspires us – just like we did back in 2007 when this whole adventure started. One week we might be flying along and the next week we may be as slow as molasses – but hey, that’s real life (with real budget constraints, snafus, & timeline challenges). There’s always HGTV for those 30 minute makeovers, so we’re all about the stuff in the middle. In the end, we know that as our blog continues to grow and evolve, some people will like it less while others may enjoy it more. Which is completely ok.
Resolution #5. To teach Clara a few key home improvement and decorating terms. Like “phillips head screwdriver.” And “cohesive.” Can you image how cute a toddler who says things like “keep it cohesive” would be?
Or is that just my sick fantasy? My dad taught me the word “dehydrated” when I was a tiny tot and I’d walk around saying “I’m dehydrated” instead of requesting water or juice like the other kids in daycare. So dramatic. And I can just picture Clara pointing around the room and saying “drywall,” “hardwoods,” and “baseboard” instead of “wall” and “floor.” Could be funny…
Pssst- Check out our weekly photo project featuring the beanette here.
Pssssst- Peep one more (kid related) resolution over on BabyCenter. Any good faux curse suggestions?
Silke says
Dear John and Sherry,
I have never commented on here before, but I have been reading your blog for a few months now and just wanted to react to your resolution number 4. I could not agree more! Just do your own thing and please yourself (and your adorable Clara) and all will be well in John&Sherry-land!
Keep up the good work. I am already looking forward to any- and everything you will post here on your wonderful blog.
With all the best for 2011,
Silke
Anna says
I’m totally digging the frosted door. I did the same thing in two areas of my home. The first was my kitchen door. Even though it has a built-in mini blind, I’m a bit of a paranoid freak about people looking in the window. When I was much younger, I had given my (now 29 year old) daughter one of my purses to play with and it was hanging on the end of the couch. Someone threw a rock through the window and grabbed the purse. Since I have a much loved (translate – older) home, without a mudroom, I tend to hang my purse on the back of a kitchen chair. The second place was a basement window at the end of our driveway, right at the bottom of the steps of our side porch. This is the kitchen entrance that we, and everyone who knows us, uses. Consequently, putting my treadmill on the other side of that window was the only logical choice in our basement. Call me a prude, but I don’t walking people walking up and watching me “sweating to the oldies”.
Courtney says
Hi there-
I saw that TLC special on coupons and I was fascinated. OMG. That woman’s wall of toilet paper! And who can eat that many candy bars? I have tried to coupon a bit with coupon websites and such but I always seem to forget them at home when I go to the grocery store. I hope you have better luck with it than I have.
Also, have you seen “The Cheapest Family in America”? They often go on the today show and actually have a book. I believe there is an entire section in the book dedicated to couponing!
Good luck fellow tightwads!
RC says
Good post on extreme couponing:
http://offbeatmama.com/2010/10/extreme-couponing
patrice says
Hi John & Sherry, so motivating to start a new year! And those are some great (and realistic:) ) resolutions…I wanted to send you a copy of my e-book I wrote about how to be a successful coupon chick (or guy!). I hope you get some great tips from it and if you enjoy it just spread the word!
I am going to email you the download link for it as soon as I finish this comment…anyway, thanks for your motivation and inspiration. Love the new place and here’s to a great new year!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the kind offer Patrice! We have a no-swag policy so we can’t accept the freebie, but we promise to check out your site and purchase your ebook if we think it’s up our alley!
xo,
s
Eates-A-lot says
Hey Sherry!
I would totally recommend signing up for Coupon.Com or couponmom.com. They have a lot of great coupons.. (Can prevent you from buying the Sunday paper.. a lot of the deals are through these sites.. you can also get Redplum coupons too.) Also check to see if your store doubles coupons up to 1.00. Sounds silly, but it adds up… Just keep an eye on prices, you’ll know when the deal is good and when it’s not.. One other important tip I found was that, just because you have a coupon doesn’t mean you need it buy it then.. Most time prices are raised prior to sending out the coupon.. so if you wait a few weeks, the price drops and save more..
One more thing, my co-worker is a fanatic at CVS she buys everything through CVS (almost) and you can save ridiculous amounts of money if you use the rewards card.
Good luck!
Gerri says
As far as couponing goes, TheGroceryGame.com worked wonders for my family. It takes a little work, but they tell you exactly what coupon to use and when for maximum savings. We’ve saved hundreds of dollars already! There is a subscription fee ($10 every 8 weeks, I think) but you will definitely save much much more than the subscription cost. Since you guys seem like very organized, list oriented people I think it would work really well for you.
Oona says
I can totally picture you as a munchkin walking around telling people you were dehydrated. Adorable.
You just keep doing what you want to do, whenever you want to do it, and I would pretty much guarantee we’ll all stick around. I can’t imagine telling someone they should do something differently in their own home.
Felicita says
I’m a big couponer and have a stockpile of detergents, shampoos, coniditioners, razors, etc. I donate a lot or do little gift baskets for relatives for Valentines, Christmas which helps a ton when saving money.
I love totallytarget.com. If you have a Target nearby this site is SUPER helpful. Kerry is great and posts other deals as well.
If you have a Publix nearby remember they take 1 Manufacturers coupon and 1 Publix coupon.
Southersavers is an amazing site as well. Hip2save.com is also great for deals.
Good luck. Trust me it gets addictive!
Holly says
Couponing is such an instant gratification. I think both of you would enjoy it! It does take some time, but you can save a ton. Someone probably already suggested it, but check out Southern Savers. She has a link at the top on how to coupon and it is great!
Katie S. says
I’m loving all of it! Keep up the great work =) And, thank you for sharing all that you do. Cheers to a happy 2011!
Lindsay A says
Joining the ranks of people excited for you to help us with our desire to coupon! Can’t wait for another great year of YHL.
melani says
Funny you guys are gonna dip a toe in the coupon game. We decided to do the same last week. I am testing out Couponsense.com right now. It’s $4 for the 1st month, I have heard a lot of great things. So I just thougth I would mention that, since nobody has brought this one up yet.
Amanda says
Awesome resolutions! i just wanted to share a few tips and websites to help you reach your saving even more money. check out clarkhoward.com clark shares all sorts of ways to save money from haggling better price to cupons to even planning ahead on how to save money on your burial( sounds a bit morbid i know but its a fact of life that we have to plan for if we are wise) and another great source of info and help to stash money away is daveramsey.com. hope these help you. thanks for being such an inspiration and source of creativity.
Kate says
Late posting here…but just had to say that my 6 year old nephew knows the name of all my brother’s tools, and loves going to fetch something when my bro is working on a project. The first time I saw it happen (for a phillips head screwdriver, in fact), it was so adorable! And he is so proud to be able to help his dad with home improvement stuff. Happy new year to you both!
Rebecca says
Hello YHLers,
Great resolutions for the new year. About balance as bloggers … I’ve been enjoying this blog … about blogging … for a while http://www.problogger.net/, perhaps you want to check it out and see whether any of Darren’s advice fits for you.
Happy 2011.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah John loves that blog! I think he wants a bromance with Darren. Haha.
xo,
s
Carole G says
Hey guys, keep up the great work, and keep posting Clara pics & videos! Love them.
Quick thought about your resolution to save more money. You may want to look into the voluntary simplicity side of things, rather than the cutting coupons route. Forgive me if you already do a lot of this already – but I’ve found this route more satisfying than coupon clipping, which often leads people to buy stuff they wouldn’t otherwise have purchased.
You could do things like join a food co-op or bulk buying club, buy non-perishables and supplies in bulk, start a garden, do trades & barters (there are websites for that), frequent yard sales & thrift stores, & remake things the way you want them.
You might check out the Tightwad Gazette books by Amy Dacyczyn, a frugal zealot who makes frugality all about saving money for what you really want. She keeps it fun, as I know you guys will, too, with your joie de vivre. She helps you see how to make price comparisons when considering different purchasing options – stuff you might not have thought of. Helps you weigh when lots of study and comparison is worth the extra time & effort, and when it’s not.
Another classic is Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin, from the voluntary simplicity movement of the 1990’s.
Anyway, love the new built-ins & Clara laughing at the mailing tube. And love you, too. ~C
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Carole! Great suggestions. Love you too!
xo,
s
Brittany says
A quick note to say I love your site (a friend just introduced me to it over the weekend, and most of my free time since has been spent reading your blog :) ), and to let you know about a great site for couponing/sales: moneysavingmom.com. A fellow young mom introduced me to it, and it’s been wonderful! I hope you have a wonderful and blessed year!