And thus it begins...

Crikey. 2012 is finally here. I've been thinking about this project for months and now I'm starting it. Suddenly it all seems a lot more overwhelming. My desk is piled high with books to read and my brain feels a bit overwhelmed. Oh well.

Where to start with a project like this. Well, I’m a scientist at my core, which means I’m going to take a scientific approach to this. I can't know where I need to go until I know my current position. So I’ve decided to spend the first couple of weeks focusing on my current situation, looking at what I spend money on and from where.

So I’m going to try and keep my behaviour as normal as possible during this time to give an accurate representation, and I’m also going to go through my bank statements from the last year and find those big one off payments that I’ve made and include them on a weekly basis in my findings.

I've also come up with some guidelines for myself:

1. It’s not all going to happen at once. This is a year long challenge, and the aim is to make long term sustainable changes to my life. And these don’t all need to happen in the first week. One thing at a time... Some things like phone contracts and insurance are time dependent and will be approached as and when they come up. So I might seem to jump around a bit, but that's likely to just be as need arises.
2. Sometimes it might be out of my control. I will aim to do everything I can to stick to things, but I’m not going to make things awkward or difficult for the people around me. For example, I’m not going to refuse to eat food that people have bought from a supermarket, or refuse to enter a chain coffee shop if people are set on it. I’m going to aim to talk to people about what I’m doing, but I can’t expect everyone else around me to follow the same decisions I’m making. Sometimes it might be making the best decision I can under the circumstances.
3. I’m not going to change or throw out what I already have. I’ve got clothes and belongings, and it makes no sense to rid myself of this. But I will try and dispose of things properly and re-use and recycle where possible, not to mention lending things out as and when I can.
4. Challenge me about the decisions I make. I’d like you to convince me that I’m wrong some of the time. 
5. I have to be honest. It's ok to slip up or make a bad decision, but I have to own up to it.