I posted this elsewhere, but it needs to be put here too. These are my 2009 resolutions that are relevant to this blog:

- Save money
- Save MORE money
- Move from Stockpile Mode to Save Mode. I don't have room for anymore doomer supplies unless I rent a storage... oh wait!
- Check prices on small storage units within walking distance.
- Don't let that be an excuse to not save money! It does not need to look like a personal Costco! Especially considering how vulnerable it is.
- Get rid of junk in the house.
- Set aside 8 hours a week minimum to do nothing but that.
- Get a PO box and set up our LLC
- Make an itemized list of all the things I need to equip my trailer with or make myself. It's all just thrown together right now.
- Buy my new house in cash! Both the travel trailer and truck.
- Disappear off into the wild blue yonder. Or, you know, to the quiet little RV park outside town.

As for other stuff...

- Take classes that are relevant to the off-the-grid lifestyle and post collapse world.
- Find other doomers near me living similarly to network with, and preferably some in other Western states as well since I'm mobile.
- Make friends with the farmer closest to where we'll be parked the majority of the time.
- Volunteer. Both at places that would benefit me and places that I could benefit.
- Go hunting and fishing alot more.
- Join the CSA farm in the spring and go work on the garden in exchange for my share of food.
- Work like mad all winter long sewing clothes and making useful crafts so come Spring and Summer, I can sell my stuff at the farmer's market and won't have to work much during the fun months.
- Exercise more now. It's easy in the warmer months, but in the winter I just want to hibernate. Then I have to spend 3 weeks in the Spring getting back into shape.

This is a nice rough guide. I should write it out in pencil and elaborate alot.

Moving along

This past month has been such a lull. I haven't done much of anything that I should have done. I think I needed the break even though I tried not to take it. I spent Thanksgiving week with the in-laws and wound up snowed in, right on the interstate less than 100 miles from home. Now I sit here with a sprained ankle from snow boots that were not supportive enough. I've been taking good care of it, so I expect it to heal rather nicely. My training as a gymnast and figure skater has given great agility, flexibility and balance -- but weak ankles.

The news has been full of doom lately and I realize I haven't been full of enough doom to get me moving on my plans. I spent November in a haze of some kind. I stockpiled a little more, but I'm re-thinking the notion of doing anymore of that. We are moving into a travel trailer full time and won't have room for everything. And if something should happen and we can no longer pay rent here before we get the trailer, there certainly won't be a place for all of that. So it's back to the whiteboard for my plans. Having alot of food and supplies is great... but have you ever seen a homeless person lugging around 6 months worth of stuff? Me either.

I think I need to stop right here at the stockpiling and start saving that money instead. I have a feeling at Tax Time this year, we are going to wind up on the losing end. However, both the husband and I are getting a raise in January but I have no illusions about job security. Come April, perhaps taxes will be the least of everyone's concern. I hope things hold together for a few more months. We desperately need that time to save for and acquire our new permanent home. As long as I have shelter and at least a ration of food and water, I'll be perfectly fine. Being without shelter bothers me more than being without food. I have lived in some extreme climates and I know what the heat and cold can do.

I can't stress enough how mental this all is. My struggle or success with this or that is about 90-95% mental. It has little to do with the amount of money we do or don't have. It's more about how well I can prepare myself for change and how well I can slide through the transition, out the other side. Everyone has things holding them back, some are just more detrimental to this sort of thing than others. I need to reel in those issues and get real about the future. It's frustrating how slow change can be.