What's ahead for 2010...

...for this blog, that is.

What will stay the same and what will change?

I'll keep posting photos of our CSA delivery, photos of our food waste, photos of readers in their stylish secondhand clothes on Thrifty Threads, Meatless Monday recipes, and an occasional Wine Finds. I'll also continue to ask questions relating to non-consumerism as food for thought, like "How much do you need to live on?" "How do you measure wealth?" and "How do you judge success?" I'll keep on bringing you free stuff alerts, as well as share tips I learn from other bloggers and from readers. And hopefully we'll just keep learning from each other about how to live a simple lifestyle with abundance.

What will also stay pretty much the same is the look of this blog. While I'm aware it's a bit quaint, and that other bloggers are switching platforms and looking more professional, etc., I really can't justify spending that kind of time and money on something that I'm not being paid for. My intention isn't to earn money, and I'd rather spend my time on posting rather than unveiling a new design. However, my husband has offered to design an original banner for me, and I'll probably start switching out my photo every so often, and I'll need a new tagline. But at least for the time being, it will look about the same, and I hope that works for my readers. I secretly still like the layout, since so many blogs are starting to look the same to me.

Here are a few other things I'll be exploring this year:

More baby steps challenges, although I don't know what they'll be yet. I'm thinking of growing our own lettuce this spring, eating from the pantry for a month, and learning how to cook Indian food. I'll be copying some of Cate's recipes at Budget Confessions, since she started making Indian food at home a few months ago.

I'd also like to do physical 30-day challenges, like taking a walk or doing yoga every day for a month. I think there are a lot of benefits to focusing on one thing at a time.

I'll definitely be doing a lot more decluttering. I got started on that last year, but I didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked. After joining Non Consumer Girl in her Clutter to Cash challenge of raising $5000, I managed to sell my girlhood saddle for $200 and some vintage clothes for $21. So I came up a bit short. My enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of my logic, although maybe that's not altogether a bad thing.

I also want to explore the local thrift stores a little more. I don't really need any clothes or much of anything else, but it would be nice to know where to go when I will inevitably need to replace my black go-go boots or my favorite jeans.

I plan on reading some simple living books like Voluntary Simplicity, writings about "food politics" like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and In Defense of Food, and the Bible of lifestyle liberation, Your Money or Your Life. I've heard so much about all of these books this past year, so I really want to get to them, and if I do, I'll tell you what I think. I usually read mostly fiction so that will be a change for me.

I'm also going to start doing interviews, with other bloggers and people in the "simple living/non-consumer/Compact" community.

And I'll see what comes up as the year unfolds. At the beginning of 2009, I thought I'd be writing about temptation and "falling off the wagon" a whole lot more than I did. And I didn't know I was going to be writing about CSA delivery (didn't even know what it was!), composting, or how to be stylish while shopping at Goodwill.

So I'm looking forward to all the new things I'll be learning and all the new people I'll meet. And I hope you'll join me... Let me know your favorite features, themes, or posts and what you want more of in the Comments section.