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[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]It’s almost 2019 and I am ready for a new start! 2018 was filled with many challenges and obstacles both for my business and my personal life. Now that the year is coming to a close it is time to start planning for 2019. It is time to start setting new goals and prepare for new challenges that 2019 will bring. For this reason, it seemed smart to start 2019 with the Self Reliance Challenge 2019. Other bloggers and I will be taking part in the challenge all through the month of January. Read on to see my Self Reliance Challenge 2019 goals for my homestead. You can read all the posts for the challenge on this page.
My Self Reliance Challenge 2019 Goals For My Homestead
Why I joined the Self Reliance Challenge
As I said earlier, 2018 was hard on my business as well as my personal life. I lost my father in January, the rains destroyed any chances of a successful garden, and my daughter had a tumor removed which put me in Pennsylvania for 2 months. These were only a few of the many curveballs thrown at me. It seemed a lack of sleep, not eating as healthy as I wanted and the high levels of stress took its toll on me for sure.
By the beginning of December, I was as close to a mental breakdown as I could stand. I wasn’t sleeping, I was tired all the time. I couldn’t get my head together, and I couldn’t think and concentrate. Then in my email, I received an invitation to join the Self Reliance Challenge for January of 2019. That was exactly what I need to be encouraged to start the new year on the right foot. So after accepting the invitation, I sat down and wrote out my Self Reliance Challenge 2019 goals for my homestead.
How I chose what was most important for the challenge
I knew I had to make changes in order to have a productive life. This meant changes in my personal health, my homestead plans, and my business. So I set out to make a plan. I sat down with paper and pen and thought about what those changes needed to happen. Here are a few of the items I came up with that were important to me:
- Eating healthier
- Growing more of my own food
- Starting a large herb garden
- Try to become a zero-waste homestead
- Becoming more frugal
- Becoming more “green” and organic
- Raising my animals in a healthier way
Now that I knew what I wanted and needed to accomplish I could start making concrete plans. So I wrote out my Self Reliance Challenge 2019 goals as follows.
Goal #1: Becoming a Zero-Waste Homestead
Zero-waste basically means reusing and recycling as much as possible and buying things that can be reused instead of thrown away. Again I sat down and made a list of all the things I can do to be well on the way to becoming zero-waste. I know I may not accomplish them all in January but at least I know what I’m working towards. This was the first step towards my Self Reliance Challenge 2019 goals for my homestead.
- Stop buying/using plastic
- Use kitchen composter for food scraps
- Grow my own chicken feed, start using fodder
- Make my own dog treats and possibly food
- Sew more “unpaper” towels
- Make sure manure from animals goes to the compost pile
Goal #2: Become More Frugal
Once I figured out how to become closer to being a zero-waste homestead, I planned out how to be more frugal. This was the next step in planning my Self Reliance Challenge goals. This meant I needed to figure ways to save on my spending and gain on my savings. I knew I needed to pinch pennies for all the plans I had for the new year. So once again, I set some goals. These are as follows.
- Start a savings account and deposit funds monthly
- Limit spending to the necessities
- Reuse everything as many times as possible
- Make my own cleaning products
- Grow more and buy less food
- Use coupons and take advantage of sales
Goal #3: Become Healthier
The last of my Self Reliance Challenge 2019 goals was to become healthier. I figured if I want to be successful and productive in 2019, I needed to be healthy and strong enough to handle the work. This meant making some important lifestyle changes. After all, if I am not healthy and taking care of myself, how could I run a homestead and a business right? So I made a list.
- Eat a healthy breakfast daily
- No junk food, only healthy snacks
- Eat more fruit and veggies
- Drink more water daily
- Take vitamins daily
- Meditate and do yoga daily
- Exercise daily
So that’s it. Three big goals that should make my life, my business, and my homestead better! Do you have big goals set for 2019? Come join me and other bloggers as we take part in the Self Reliance Challenge 2019 throughout the entire month of January!
Stop By & Visit The Self Reliance Challenge 2019 Bloggers…
Kathi – Oak Hill Homestead
Nancy – Nancy On The Homefront
Farmgal – Just Another Day on the Farm
Candy – Candy’s Farm House Pantry
Kristi – Stone Family Farmstead
Marla – Organic 4 Greenlivings
Heidi – Healing Harvest Homestead
Victoria – Modern Homestead Mama
Shawna – Homegrown Self Reliance
Stephanie – Happily Homegrown
Bethany – Family Growing Pains
Dianne – Hidden Springs Homestead
Julie – The Farm Wife
Lacey – Home & Harrow
Robin – A Life in the Wild
Sheri Ann – Experimental Homesteader
Eddie and Joy – Bean Post Farmstead
Lisa Lynn – The Self Sufficient HomeAcre
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Hi Annie,
I’m sorry that you have had such a rough year. 🙁
I hope your daughter is doing well and recovering fully! It is wonderful that you could go and help her out as she needed you.
Welcome to the challenge…I’m so glad that joining all of us was helpful in setting your goals for the new year! Your list of goals is a great one…you are an inspiration!
Thanks so much, Lisa! My daughter has recovered fully!
Your challenge last spring was awesome and it made me get moving! I am so looking forward to this challenge! Once again you swooped in at the right time and inspired me!
All of these are wonderful to do in our daily lives. Some we need to improve on and some we need to start adding into our lives.
Agreed! Thanks for stopping by!
HI Annie,
These are all great and very important goals – to be be frugal, healthier, and try for 0 waste. Our world sure does need all of these – we have become a nation of waster money and food etc. and we sure aren’t healthy. Your goals are great and very achievable. I know you will meet them
Thanks for the encouragement! I’m going to need it!
I love your goals! They definitely seem reasonable enough and doable! You got this!
Thanks, Kristi! I intend on working very hard and becoming much more self-reliant this year!
Great goals for the New Year and i love how you broke them down.
Hello, Nancy and thanks for the compliment! I have very specific goals set for my homestead this year and razor-sharp focus too!
I love these goals! I need to do many of them myself! I wish you the best of luck on accomplishing them all!
THanks so much! I wish you well on your journey as well!
Great post, and I’m so excited to read more about your goals and progress!
I am so excited to get to know you too!
Annie, these are great goals for the new year. You’ve broken them down well too, which is where I sometimes fall down. 🙂
You can do anything you set your mind too! I have learned that through all the stress of 2018!
You have really had a TOUGH 2018, Annie! I hope your 2019 is so much better. I love how you set up your goals and included being healthier. That’s the one goal I tend to forget about, and it is probably the very most important self-reliant goal of all!
Thanks, Heidi! I intend on using your products and website a whole lot throughout 2019! Thanks for the kind words!
Best of luck on your goals, and I hope 2019 is a much better year for you and your family!
Thanks so much for the kind words!
You have great lists and plans! It looks like you’re off to a good start.
THanks Robin!
You have some great goals. What I’ve realized with my goals is so many tie together. Saving money and growing food… being healthier, so many cross paths. We will have a great year hitting goals!
I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t think most people realize that when we set our goals, even if they are in so many different areas, that many times those goals all inter-connect in one way or another to make the big picture! Hope you have a successful new year in 2019!
I’m sorry to hear about your rough year, but you’ve put it all to good use planning for a better future!
You’re right, Kathi. Sometimes we have to deal with the rain and storms before we can see the rainbow at the end!
Best of luck on reaching your goals. Breaking your larger goals into manageable chunks is just what you need to do when facing a lifestyle & mindset change like this.
Thank you Stephanie! You’re absolutely right because I needed some lifestyle changes if I want to continue building my dreams! Sometimes in life we need to assess where we are and where we need to be.
Hi Annie,
So sorry you had a rough last year. Your new goals and plans are perfect and sounds much like mine. Follow your awesome plans and goals! You got this.
Having a rough year last year just makes me want to strive to have a better year in 2019! After all, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger! Thanks for the compliment and I am glad there is someone out there like me!