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Nov 1, 2018    |       5 comments

No Spend Month Extended

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We made it through the month! And it flew by. And more importantly, I truly enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the quieter life, being home more, cooking more. I’ve enjoyed not looking at my bank account every day and worrying about upcoming bills. I’ve enjoyed working for the sake of working and not counting every single penny.

I’ve enjoyed getting creative in the kitchen and trying new things. And I’m happy to report that not one failed meal happened this time. (in the past, I tried a cabbage and sausage dish that sent us out for cookies and ice cream for dinner.)

I didn’t quite make my goal for our trip to November, but I did grow my business significantly for the months ahead. And more importantly I put in some time on business development that I have not done a lot of in the past few months.

In the end, I am starting the month of November with a spirit of gratitude and relief that we are headed in the right direction. A solid plan for business development and growth. And some anticipation of our upcoming trip and holidays. It has been a good experience.

Extending No Spend Month

In the end, I have enjoyed it so much that I have decided to extend our No Spend Month by two more weeks.

We leave for our Texas roadtrip in just two short weeks, so why not continue to clear our cupboards and save money! There are a couple of small caveats to this though:

  1. I’m going to have to spend a little money on food and sundries, not a lot, but there are definitely some needs. For instance, we used our very last garbage bag yesterday and we are down to our last bar of soap. Working on a list of those items now.
  2. I have to finish Christmas stuff for my Texas family. And while I don’t anticipate spending a great deal as I’m making a lot of it, there are a few things I will need to purchase. Again, working on a list, my brothers are hard to think of gifts for. Anyone have ideas for frugal gifts for 3 single men in there 30s?
  3. Princess may need a few new clothing items. It’s started to get cold and while she has stopped growing, I hope, she doesn’t fit in any of her winter clothes from last year. She is going to need a couple of pairs of long pants soon. If we can hold out, we will, but it is a upcoming need.

Is anyone else ready to put up their Christmas decorations? I admit, I am. I don’t want to play Christmas music all the time, but I am certainly ready for a time of hope and good cheer. And I’m still thinking about a Christmas budget since I didn’t originally add one to my fall budget.

 

Oct 31, 2018    |       2 comments

Happy Halloween!

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Happy Halloween! Here’s a (dark) pic of the girls from over the weekend at a trunk-or-treat:

The kids will be sure to have a fun day at school today – its dress-up day so they get to wear their costumes. We bought them from Costco for I think $16 each. Pretty decent considering how many accessories they come with. I love Costco!

They have a little costume parade in the morning at school that I’m going to attend, and then they’ll have parties in both classes. This evening, we’ll do a little trick-or-treating around our new neighborhood and call it a night early. With Halloween being mid-week, they really did the majority of their celebrating this past weekend (we had their school Fall Festival on Friday, and TWO trunk-or-treats: one on Saturday and one on Sunday. ALL of these events were 100% free admission. I did buy $10 worth of tickets at the Fall Festival so the girls could play carnival games, but that was the only money spent!). I’m most looking forward to the fact that there’s NO HOMEWORK tonight in light of the holiday (I have to lol over the other parents’ comments on this post where I mentioned the volume of homework my first-graders have!! I’m glad other parents agree the homework is a bit much!).

Also…have I mentioned I’m doing another Ragnar race? I did one last year and can’t recall whether I’ve specifically written about it this year or not. I’ve been training for the past 3 months and the race is finally this week (Friday-Saturday). Wish me luck, as I feel pretty under-prepared. I’m a good 10 lbs. heavier than I was for last year’s race (separation-related stress-eating?? I really need to get this in check), plus I was knocked out for a solid week in the intense part of training due to kidney stones. I’ll finish, but it ain’t gonna be fast and it ain’t gonna be pretty. For those curious, Ragnar is a running relay race done with a team. We will each run 15 miles (split into 3 segments) over the course of a 24-hour period. Send all your good luck/racing vibes my way!

For those who celebrate, have a Happy Halloween!

 

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