While the last 48 hours have been somewhat stressful, heck when is figuring out your life goals NOT stressful, it has given me renewed spirit to tackle my downshifting/simplicity dreams. It has made me realize that there is strength in knowing when to get off the treadmill and how to get off the treadmill. It has simply given me the energy and enthusiasm to continue to change the things in my life that I am not happy with.
So, in order to continue to motivate myself, I have created a 101 things to do in 1001 days! To read more about this project read here. Without further adieu here is my list to be completed by July 3 2011.
Environment:
1. To make my own natural shampoo and stop using commercial shampoos
2. To make my own soap and stop using commerical soaps
3. To make cloth menstrual pads
4. To grow my own veggies
5. To compost
6. Spend a month refusing all plastic – yes that includes food packaging!
7. Spend 3 more months as a vegan (0/3)
Family
8. To treat my mother to a holiday in Europe
9. To adopt or have a birth child (or at least be in the process of it – adoptions take YEARS!)
10. To visit my aunt & uncle in France
11. To meet up with three cousins I have not seen in 10 years (0/3)
12. To visit my Dad’s grave
Finance
13. To have £10,000 in an emergency fund
14. To have put £3.600 in my ISA for 2009
15. To have put £3.600 in my ISA for 2010
16. To have put £3.600 in my ISA for 2011
17. To have £20,000 in a down-payment fund for a house
18. To have £10,000 in my motherhood fund
19. Make it 1 year without spending anything on clothes, books, magazines, jewelry etc (5/12)
Giving
20. To sponsor a second child
21. To sponsor a third child
22. To start giving monthly to Water Aid
23. Volunteer overseas
24. Give blood (or if I’m not allowed due to my health condition) then donate £50 to the Red Cross
25. Pay for a child to have a cleft lip surgery
26. Start volunteering for a minimum of 3 hours a week
27. Befriend an older person (who is in need) and become a weekly visitor
28. Become a dog walker or cat visitor at an animal shelter
29. Give a loan through KIVA
30. Sponsor a cat, dog or rabbit in an animal sanctuary
Random Acts of Kindness
31. To pay for someones coffee/drink 5 times (0/5)
32. To make Read Me aka Happy Messages and leave them around a city 5 times (0/5)
33. To make homemade Christmas biscuits & truffles and give them to all my neighbours and people I know who don’t have a lot of family
Skills
34. To take a residential cookery class
35. To make a quilt
36. To make cloth nappies/diapers and donate them to a family in need
37. To make a homemade bag
38. To bake a cake from scratch that is successful
39. Make bread (0/5)
40. Make homemade jam (0/5)
41. Make homemade pickles (0/5)
42. Hand make all the cards I give out for a year
43. Make a years worth of homemade tomato sauce
Classes
44. To take a textiles class
45. To complete two more courses on my masters
46. To take a birdwatching class/course/holiday
47. To take a course on how to write a book
48. Take a religion course
49. To take a photography course
50. Take a wine tasting course
Health/Sport
51. To cycle from one city to another (at least 25 miles)
52. To go canoing
53. To go kayaking
54. To go surfing & take intensive lessons
55. To complete a run for charity (for example the great north run or the moonwalk)
56. To lose 2 stone (28 lbs)
Friendships
57. Meet up with 5 old friends (0/5)
58. Remember everyone’s birthday for a year!
59. Join a rambling group
60. Join a social or special interest group
61. Meet up with the British Personal Finance and Simplicity bloggers
Travel
62. Go to California
63. Spent at least 3 nights camping in a Yurt in the Lake District
64. Go camping
65. Visit Morocco
66. Go on a canal boat holiday
67. Visit Scottish highlands and the Isle of Skye
68. Go to Asia
Silly But Oh So Important
69. Meet James Martin (the British chef!) – bonus would be if he taught me to bake
70. Take an open top tour bus around London
71. Go and see The Sound of Music in London
72. Post a secret to Post Secret
73. Leave 5 books on book crossing (0/5)
74. Get an IPod
75. Read 100 books
76. Get a bike & helmet
77. To watch Gone with the Wind
78. To see another Opera
79. To visit the Victoria & Albert Museum in London
80. Finish the Times Crossword
81. Figure out RSS Feeds & do it for this blog!
82. Join a choir
83. Organize all my photographs
84. Have a DVD Marathon Day – Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Jane Eyre, Becoming Jane
85. Have a Friends DVD Marathon Day – watching at least 2 seasons of the show!
86. Attend a music concert
87. Get my hair cut short
88. Host a dinner party
89. Adopt a cat
90. Become a dog owner
91. Attend Church every single Sunday for 3 months/12 weeks (0/12)
92. Make every single present 1 Christmas something I personally made
93. Get a “fun” job – something I’ve always wanted to do like work in a Library on a Saturday or a tea room etc.
94. Write a will
95. Learn how to play chess
96. Go and see the guy I fancy but am too shy to spend time with
97. Go strawberry picking
98. Go apple picking
99. Buy a house or flat
Professional
100. Get a new job (!!)
101. Write a new CV
And for every one I don’t accomplish I will give £10 to charity!
And now I’m ready to get tackling!
Wonderful, wonderful list..you’re such a lovely person. I hope you accomplish them all x
By: Laura @move to portugal on October 5, 2008
at 5:32 pm
How inspirational!!! How amazing it’ll be WHEN you accomplish all of that.
(i love how you’ve organised it too, so that something major like no. 9 is dropped in there after “make my own shampoo”!!
)
xx
By: jade on October 5, 2008
at 5:41 pm
What a wonderful list. It’s so important to set goals for yourself. It amazes me how many things we are both interested in.
I look forward to hearing about each goal as you accomplish it!
By: Melaniesd on October 5, 2008
at 5:55 pm
Amazing list… I look forward to seeing you accomplish these and hear more about the guy you fancy!
By: apieceofwood on October 5, 2008
at 6:18 pm
I love your list!! Good luck
By: CanadianSaver on October 5, 2008
at 6:44 pm
Wow what a list! Interesting to see your goals and to think about my own…
By: sharie on October 5, 2008
at 6:47 pm
I LOVE your list!!! COMGRATULATIONS and Good Luck!! : )
My list is at http://www.myspace.com/jhcckkm
By: Heidi @ Southpaugh Homeschool on October 5, 2008
at 7:02 pm
Sorry, I spelled Congratulations, wrong!!
By: Heidi @ Southpaugh Homeschool on October 5, 2008
at 7:03 pm
Hi there-wow, what a list!! I totally believe you can accomplish the majority of these, if not all! Very best of luck!!
By: sharon rose on October 5, 2008
at 7:03 pm
Great list – best of luck over the next 1001 days!
By: My Life Makeover Journey on October 5, 2008
at 7:03 pm
Awesome list! I love the way you’ve divided them into groups, so they’re really specific.
I’m really excited to follow your journey and see the items get checked off one by one by one…or two by two by two…!
By: Annie on October 5, 2008
at 7:05 pm
Wow – an amazing idea. Wishing you all the very best with your list.
By: Elizabeth on October 5, 2008
at 7:12 pm
What a great list! I, too, LOVE the groups idea!!
I look forward to watching you accomplish these! Because, you so will
By: frugal dreamer on October 5, 2008
at 7:17 pm
No 1 is to go and see the guy you fancy – forget about the shyness (life’s too short)
By: Sandie on October 5, 2008
at 8:44 pm
Bloody hell – sounds brilliant! Good luck.
By: Miss Thrifty on October 5, 2008
at 10:51 pm
I’m exhausted just reading them!
Good luck, I know you’ll get through them…
By: emma on October 6, 2008
at 11:33 am
frugaltrenches, i can’t find words to tell you how inspiring i think you are. i feel lucky to have found you
I think I’m going to have to copy this idea.
By: neimanmarxist on October 6, 2008
at 6:52 pm
Laura thank you!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:48 pm
Jade – I know I found that funny too!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:48 pm
Melanied thanks! I plan to update each accomplishment! I have a post to add soon actually!!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:49 pm
apieceofwood – he is wonderful!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:49 pm
CanadianSaver – thanks!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:49 pm
Sharie – I’d love to read your list!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:50 pm
Heidi – thanks! I’ll check out your blog!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:50 pm
Sharon Rose
My Life Make Over
Annie
Elizabeth
Frugal Dreamer
Thanks for the encouragement!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:51 pm
Sandie – I do agree, need to build up my nerve first!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:53 pm
Miss Thrifty – that was my reaction when I read them!!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:53 pm
Emma – me too!!!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:53 pm
Nieman you are too kind!
By: Frugal Trenches on October 6, 2008
at 7:54 pm
That is a lot to accomplish in 1001 days! And I wish you all the luck. It will be neat to here the updates for accomplishing such a task.
I especially love #32.
By: moneyfunk on October 6, 2008
at 10:36 pm
Good news! You’ve already done #81… I read your blog via an RSS feed already!
In Firefox the little icon appears in the url bar for your blog and I added it to my bookmarks as an RSS feed, so I get a list of your last 10 posts.
The rest of it sounds great! Good luck with it all.
By: Mich on October 9, 2008
at 12:43 am
[...] who reads this blog knows I have goals. I have goals probably because I think they will help me get to a place I need to be in order to [...]
By: At What Cost…. « Notes From The Frugal Trenches - A Downshifting Journey on October 12, 2008
at 3:04 pm
i love your list, good luck with it
By: donna on October 12, 2008
at 5:22 pm
I’d opt for some quick wins. There’s nothing as fulfilling as ticking off some of your goals early on. Take an evening and watch Gone With The Wind. Invite the guy your keen on to go to a music concert.
Whatever you do, have fun doing it.
By: Yabusame on October 13, 2008
at 3:00 pm
[...] Instantly want to find moments/time to quietly reflect and decide how this fits in with your life [...]
By: Signs you’ve simplified and mentally downshifted « Notes From The Frugal Trenches - A Downshifting Journey on October 17, 2008
at 5:47 pm
[...] of him, I had to hide my face for it was simply too much to bear. It made me remember my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, and on that list one item which states my desire to befriend an older person who is lonely. So [...]
By: Another wonderful reason to be debt free and live simply « Notes From The Frugal Trenches - A Downshifting Journey on October 31, 2008
at 1:49 pm
i love your list too! am having a good read through your blog and related links while my poorly baby sleeps on me. (just a bad cold) I am finding tit all very inspiring, and confirming. I have been doing a lot of thinking since not working due to being a mum. i have never been happier and have so realised that life is not about – i dunno, designer clothes and ‘careers’. not that i am against either, but – we have changed our lives because we no longer have 2 incomes, and we are realising the difference between need and want, and just how much we wasted on – nothing / stuff. i have been reading a lot about downshifting, life values, living well etc. we arent there yet, but we are on the journey now. and of course, nothing is as important as spending time with our son. i am in the process of becoming a part time childminder so that i can stay being with him.
By: moyra on November 13, 2008
at 9:56 am
and i just wanted to say that having read many blogs – yours is brilliant and so very inpiring. i shall be writing a list of goals too……
By: moyra on November 13, 2008
at 9:57 am
I just found your blog via simpal & frugal coop blog and wanted to tell you that your blog is really inspiring & interesting!
Hope there are many more posts to come! Best wishes from Sweden!
By: Barbara on December 5, 2008
at 11:08 pm
It has made me realize that there is strength in knowing when to get off the treadmill and how to get off the treadmill. It has simply given me the energy and enthusiasm to continue to change the things in my life that I am not happy with.
By: Robin on December 21, 2008
at 5:31 pm