Meg Reads: 2020 Book Round Up

My goals for 2020 were to read more, run more, and waste less. 

The reading goal was one book per month. Prior to 2020, I was averaging 2 books a year.  I selected a few books ahead of time, and the rest fell into place. 

The only book I truly hated was Girl, Wash your Face, by Rachel Hollis.  I didn’t really love the two Melanie Cellier books, either, but they were chosen for mother daughter book club, so I got them on audible and just powered through them while doing laundry. 

I do a lot of laundry. I realized I can multi task with audio books while cleaning, cooking, gardening, and laundering, and driving back and forth to schools, and that usually squeezes in at least 1 hour a day of reading...sometimes several more! 

This “found time” has been a great way to stretch my brain. I learned a great deal about the Gospel, homeschooling, finance, racism, history, and nature during my reading dates. 

The most inspiring books were More Than Enough and Folks This Ain’t Normal. These books both motivated me to evaluate my role as a consumer. Use what I have. These fell right in with my “waste less” goal. I started recycling cardboard, reusing and repurposing what I could (bags, for example), and giving things a second life instead of throwing them away (saving garden scraps, onion peels, and celery roots for homemade chicken stock, or making fire starters from the paper shredder, candle stumps, and dryer lint). I have a greenhouse and 100 little pots! Dozens of super old seed packets. Why not use them? So I did, and I got the children involved, too. We started composting again, which unfortunately attracted raccoons, snakes, and possums in droves. I learned that my comparing efforts would be better done in compost bins instead. Maybe a purchase for 2021? Or maybe composting will just wait until I have some acres to work with. I hate tossing egg shells though when I know they could be putting vital nutrients back into my garden.  

I also purged my closet and only kept what I actually wear.  Simplifying decisions has made it possible for me to focus resources like energy, money, and time, in other places like my family and our mini homestead.  Our gifts to the children for birthdays and Christmas have been more purposeful and intentional. The kids have also worked hard to manage their finances and reach their money goals.  

There were many failures in 2020, but reading books was definitely a success. 29 books in 2020. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻