My new financial year pledge

I've finally slowed down and focused myself enough to work out my pledge for the next 6 months, being prompted by Sam's pledge for the new financial year here in Australia (funny how I'm actually at work when I choose to slow down and focus on something that isn't work! Hehe).

So here it is. My pledges for the 6 months to help lead me down my path to living simply.

1. I pledge, along with Sam, to not purchase any new clothes. I don't have a sewing machine nor know how to sew too well just yet, so I will limit my clothes purchases to only second-hand clothes from thrift shops, etc (except knickers of course, but I should be good for these for the next few months)
2. I pledge to master the perfect loaf of bread, that is good enough that I am happy to replace store-bought bread with it and to also make my own bread starter. I've seen this on quite a few blogs and it doesn't look too difficult at all, it just takes a little while.
3. I pledge to keep all of my current plants alive! and to make my own organic fertiliser and pesticides. Fingers crossed this doesn't ruin my pledge and actually kill the plants!
4. I pledge, to join Sam, in making my own dishcloths. I will look at crocheting mine, whereas Sam will be knitting hers. I saw a great post (I can't for the life of me find it to link to!) about using twine to crochet dishcloths that are a bit more gritty and good for pots and pans.
5. I pledge to keep trying to make my own dishwashing liquid that doesn't glob up and add more oil to my sink than the dishes do! I've seen a few recipes online but they all include glycerine, and glycerine is really expensive where I've seen it so it's not cost effective at all. Please, please, please tell me where you get your glycerine from or if you have a dishwashing liquid recipe that doesn't use it.
6. I pledge to stick to my newly-edited budget, which will net me savings of $7200 by the end of December. I will post about my budget changes shortly, so stay tuned if you'd like to see how I can manage to save $600 a fortnight!

Well those are my pledges for this coming 6 months of the new financial year. I'm looking forward to hearing about your pledges and also hearing your comments about what I hope to achieve. It will be interesting to look back in 6 months and see how far I have come in achieving those pledges.

x
Kim