IF you'd told me last January I would be tucking into a veggie Christmas dinner, wrapping my pressies in newspaper and composting my sprouts by the end of the year I would have laughed all the way to the supermarket to pick up my battery-farmed chicken.

But that was before the Hughes household's eco revolution. Since then, 2008 has seen more changes to our lifestyle - and wellbeing - than we could ever have imagined.

We've said goodbye to the days of chucking out all our old plastic and glass, of having every light on in the house with the heating turned up and the fire on.

In their place, we've said hello to home-farming, energy monitoring, recycling and - most importantly of all - to our new arrivals, the girls. Or, more specifically, our three rescued ginger nut ranger chickens, Penelope, Henrietta and Jem.

As regular readers of the Ecodad column will know, it's not all been plain sailing on this green ship. However, I've already learnt several valuable eco lessons. Although, I can't take all the credit as I have to admit my good lady wife, Michelle, has proved a force of nature in her own right.

Now, I know there are still some sceptics out there who reckon it's too expensive to be environmentally-friendly in these credit crunch times. But I actually reckon there's never been a better time to go green. As I've found, nearly all my changes so far have been good for my wallet as well as the environment.

So, having survived the first few months of our eco experiment we're heading into 2009 more determined than ever to go even greener - with these New Year eco resolutions.

DIG FOR VICTORY

The first plan is to properly dig out the vegetable patch and start growing my own - not only in a bid to boost our health but to beat the credit crunch by saving cash at the same time.

In an attempt to make all that muck-raking more interesting, I've been looking at the unusual vegetables I can grow from different coloured carrots to yellow cylindrical beetroot. Hopefully this will get my two boys interested in fresh vegetables, instead of just pushing them to the side of their plates.

I think two patches should be enough to start with and if I want to make another one later on in the year it shouldn't be too difficult.

I've already worked out where to dig the plots. The best place I think will be at the bottom of the garden next to the chicken coop, so I can move their manure over with minimum effort.

Inspired by Jamie Oliver's green new leaf I've also bought two second hand ceramic sinks which I plan to use to grow my herbs. I've also been reading up on how to keep the home grown veg fresh for longer.

Jamie reckons you can store them in an old wooden box lined with newspaper and sand. Place the box in a cool place like a garden shed or garage and they will last for ages - just check for rot every now and again. The upside of this plan is if it all goes wrong I can blame Mr Oliver.

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

The credit crunch is definitely creating an air of wartime frugality as we all try and save a few extra pennies. In that same spirit, I am determined to be less wasteful in 2009. I just seem to throw more stuff out than I end up eating.

Like most people, we seem to have a mound of things left over at the end of the week that end up being thrown them away, half the time it'll still be in its unopened packet. Leading to more junk clogging up the landfill and less money for us.

So this year sees a new frugal outlook to food in our house. I'll be looking into ways to plan meals ahead, freeze a week's food and set up our old slow cooker from the back of the cupboard. Plus, I'll be digging out some wartime style recipes and rationing. It's all the retro rage, you know.

STOP SPENDING

I've saved the biggest - and the bravest - resolution till last. The one that might set Gordon Brown on the road to an ulcer. I'm going to stop spending.

Seriously. We've decided to buy nothing new for the whole of this year. From kitchen cupboards to clothes, it's all got to be home-made, second-hand or recycled from now on.

With a few obvious exceptions, out of necessity, such as food, medicine and toiletries. Apart from that we will have to live with the clothes and household things we have now.

The more we buy, the more we contribute to the endless mountain of unwanted landfill junk.

Hopefully, our new thriftiness will have two effects. One, it will make us realise that when we go out and buy that latest must-have thing, in reality we could have lived without it after all. Secondly, I'm hoping it reminds us of the real value of money.

Of course, a few people have already scoffed - but many more have told me they too will be spending less to try and enjoy life a little more.

Well, I wish them all the luck and may we all be better for it in 12 months' time. Until then, here's wishing you all a happy and green new year.

See how well Ben sticks to his New Year's resolutions in his weekly Ecodad column - or drop him an email with your eco tips to ben.hughes@men-news.co.uk