After last month’s failure in couponing we decided to take
even more drastic measures. Instead of allowing ourselves the gray matter of discounting
and couponing it’s time for a spending freeze! A spending freeze in our house
is a time period set aside by us, where we do not take money out of our
checking accounts unless it’s vital, or preplanned. Gasoline to get to work for
example would be considered a vital expense. A bill like our daughters preschool is preplanned
or something we already expected to pay. The rest of it we are not allowed to
buy!
Why do we do it? It allows us to really reflect on our
spending habits, and reset them. We have a few leaks in our budget. I’m guilty
of spending money at coffee shop right down stairs from my office without
thinking about it. Other things we are guilty of are quick meals out and about
due to poor planning, or because I’m too tired to cook after a long day. And of
course there are the impulse buys, and retail therapy we are all guilty of.
Tonight I kicked off the spending freeze by looking at what
we have in the fridge and mentally planning some meals based on those items. It’s
about making do with what we have, and hopefully at the end of this developing
a better sense of gratitude for the things we are provided instead of always
wanting something else, or something extra. I’m going to try to update my blog
at least once a week so you can follow along in our success, failures, and
attempts to better account for the way we spend our money.
In the spirit of being a shameless self-promoter you can
also check out the food I make during our freeze at http://laurasmaking.blogspot.com/
to learn how I make do with what we have on hand, or make a recipe when I don’t
have everything I need to do it.
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