April Showers

My showers right now are currently whines...

Joe and I have been fairly fortunate financially. Tonight I realized that since we've moved into our new house, we've truly been living paycheck to paycheck. You may think this means we can't afford our mortgage payment, but that's not the case. Since moving in, we've taken on a new expense/project practically every month. Right now our only debt is my car, my student loans, and our mortgage, and I want to keep it that way. I realized tonight how much I need to cut back on my spending. I don't have expensive taste, but in general, if I want a new fancy plate for food pics, I buy it. If I want a new book and know I'll keep it, I buy it. If I want a chick-fil-a milkshake, I buy (except since Ash Wednesday, come on Easter!). As the Today Show has constantly told us, these things add up. So, last week I decided that April is going to be my month of cutting back. I'm not going to spend money on anything but food or a household essential. If I'm going to try a new recipe, I'm going to try real hard to make it one that both of us will eat, or for an event, and it can't have expensive ingredients. I love baking, but often it's just for me, and then I take in the baked goods to work. That's fine, but it's an unnecessary expense.

So far, I've veered slightly. I bought a study guide for my next licensing exam. I also bought some silk flowers for a flower arrangement for the house. I justified the flowers that they're for the house.

I'm going to try really hard to cut back on spending this month. Right now our freezer is full, so I'll also work on going through every meal in there before restocking.

I do have a caveat to this though. Last week I mentioned that I want to work out three times a week for the next four weeks and if I stick to my goal, I'll buy myself some reward. I'm in week two, and I'm on track, so I'm still going to buy that reward if I stick to it. Last night I was craving oreos, I popped in Jillian Micheal's DVD instead. Tonight I went for the oreos. Tomorrow I'll work out.