If ever there were a year when we should all get a pass for not setting resolutions for ourselves, I definitely think it should be 2021. These past several months have been heavy for all of us, so if the best you can do this year is keep surviving, that is more than enough in my opinion. But if you’re feeling ambitious and do want to set a few New Year’s goals for yourself, here are a few co-op-related ideas to inspire you:

1. Shop Local. If you only have the energy to make one small change this year, making a commitment to shop local more often is the one that can have the biggest impact on not just you but our entire community. When you buy locally sourced products, your dollars stay in the Chippewa Valley and help support local farmers and producers. That’s why we work so hard to stock as many locally grown or produced products as possible. And to make it easy to shop our wide selection of local products, we’ve added several new ways to do so, including (A) installing large local vendor signs (pictured above) throughout our store, (B) highlighting local vendors in our weekly emails and social media posts, and (C) adding a “Local” filter to our online store.

2. Save More. After the financial hardships caused by the pandemic, we know trimming your grocery bill is top of mind for 2021. To help, we offer a myriad of ways to save money at our co-op. Some of those include shopping our weekly Co+op Deals, Fresh Deals, and Owner Deals, taking advantage of larger sales (like our annual Owner Wellness Sale coming in February), and redeeming coupons we send out in emails or include in our bi-monthly print newsletters.

3. Eat More Nutritious Snack Foods. A great way to get healthier is to start with cutting out junk food. To help you do that, we stock lots of snacks that are just as tasty, including bulk trail mixes, seeds, and nuts, snack bars, and plant-based foods. If you want to take it a step further, other options for improving your health are eating more fresh produce especially when it’s in season and most nutritious, looking for foods with low sugar content, or shopping our wide selection of special diet options—from gluten-free to paleo, keto, and more.

4. Go Green. Another way you can make a positive impact is by making more sustainable choices when buying food and household products. Sustainability is one of our biggest focuses, so we make it a point to carry a wide variety of eco-friendly products. Some of those include locally sourced milk in returnable glass bottles, reusable food wraps, cloth coffee filters, metal straws, plastic-free soaps and hair care products, and more. On top of that, we also accept egg cartons for reuse by farmers and offer a bring your own bag program to reduce waste.

5. Give Back. If it’s in the budget to increase your giving this year, we have several donation programs to which you can contribute. An easy one is rounding up your purchases; even just a few pennies go a long way to support our local farm grants, nutrition-incentive program, and more. If you’re an owner, you can even request that we automatically do so every time you check out in-store.

6. Get More Involved. After a year of social distancing, even I—a typically very introverted person—crave feeling that sense of community again, the one you get at our busy special events or just catching up with one another over lunch from our hot bar in-store. If you’re feeling the same, some of the ways all of our shoppers can get involved when life returns to more normal someday include attending our community classes, teaching a class, volunteering at an in-store or community event, gifting an ownership share to someone else, and staying up-to-date on co-op news by reading articles. And if you’re an owner, you have even more opportunities to get involved such as running for a seat on our board, voting in board elections, and attending important meetings.

7. Make Time for Self-Care. If you need to let your mind and body recover from the exhaustion brought on by 2020, prioritizing self-care can help. Sink yourself into your hobbies during your free time, or maybe find a new one. Read more books to escape into stories, learn new skills, or exercise your mind in different ways. And don’t forget to treat yourself to special wellness products every once and a while to help yourself relax. Some of our favorite products to help you do all of these are bath soaks from Aura Cacia, luxurious lotions from Dr. Sarah’s Essentials, and gently used books from the Menomonie Public Library available in-store.