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We're almost two weeks into the new year, so I may as well fess up to my New Year's Resolution: I'm going to try not to shop at any major chain or "Big Box" stores for the year; instead I'm going to focus on local stores and making items we need myself.

Lately I've found myself completely overwhelmed by too many options whenever I go shopping. There's too much of everything to choose from. If I need socks I have to sift through package after package, type after type, and when it's all said and done, I feel like I've just wasted an enormous amount of time. Same goes for the grocery store. It takes forever to find something, and when you do, you've got fourteen different options for basically the same product, not to mention no matter how well I plan a trip out, I always end up walking the width of the store at least three times, backtracking to find an item they've moved to a different area. It makes me, quite literally*, crazy. Just before Christmas, I found great satisfaction in going to the local butcher and seeing chicken quarters instead of: chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken legs and thighs, each produced by three different companies.

So I've decided to take that bit of nuttiness out of my life and turn it into something a bit more positive, which is frequenting local shops and getting creative with what we already have. The hardest part will be replacing clothes. I've got two giant bags full of clothes handed down to Holly from friends, so she's pretty well set, but the young man is also growing like a weed, so I'll have to come up with some sort of plan of action for him.

Other than the clothing issue, I'm not thinking too far ahead, and am going to roll with things as they come. Wish me luck!

*I completely lost my cool during both of the trips I made to the grocery store for Thanksgiving. In fact, I haven't really been back for a major shopping trip since.