End of January ramblings

It is hard to believe that the first month of 2008 is almost over! Time flies when you're cleaning out the basement!!! Yes, one of our major goals for this month is well under way. We've made 2 huge trips to Goodwill and we've been throwing things out that can't be reused, donated or recycled a little at a time so our trash company will take it. We are making great progress and hope to have our contractor over by the middle of February (at the latest) for a final bid and then to start the even bigger project of finishing the space.

January has been very frugal for us. I have watched my spending (because I am the spender in the family) and I'm proud of myself. We are under budget by a good bit, I canceled my biweekly cleaning and I'm putting that $120/month directly into savings, I've planned menus and stuck to them, we haven't eaten out on the household budget (it has come from our weekly allowance) and I've been very aware of what I buy at the market. I'm cooking more from scratch and I'm thrilled with our efforts on the money front so far in 2008.

My serious case of the "I wants" has subsided for now. We have a wedding to attend out of town late in the summer so I'm rather focused on saving money for that as well as our planned vacation at the beach. I've put off our Disney trip (which we will combine with visiting my family) until 2009 to help us plan our savings better. Not too mention saving as much as we can so we can finish the basement and furnish it the way we want within reason... as in quality furnitre and not just whatever will do for now :)

As far as doing my best to live simply, this is and probably always will be a work in progress. I am using my Chico bags and I love them! I am only buying what we need and taking the time to help my older girls understand the difference between what we want and what we need (this is not easy!!!). We are planning our spring plantings, yard work and garden. I'm hopeful that most of our butterfly/hummingbird garden will come back this year (it was new last year so we're hoping everything made it in spite of the new puppy trampling things). We are making sure that the activities and outings we agree to attend are what we really want to do instead of going out of obligation. No is a powerful word... not just when I use it but it makes me feel powerful instead of a "yes girl". I'm enjoying this power and making sure I don't abuse it :)

Overall, I'm happy with our start to 2008. With some hard work and fun mixed in, we should have a simple and fiscally sound year!