I'm so glad to see so many people on board! 
Yeah! It keeps me in line. I was disappointed to find the owner of this blog taking a break though. I guess we are all human, right?
My SIL and nephew just left this AM to return to India. We had been way overspending on food. We did not end up treating them to anything big as far as small road trips and attractions, so I did let them buy a lot of things to try and experience when they were here. We went out to eat twice but stuck to salads and soups, nothing really big. SIL wanted to eat out and she won't be visiting for at least a couple of years, so I felt justified. I sent some small gifts back for my MIL and FIL, too.
Now that we no longer have guests I can keep a tighter grip on the wallet. I am going to redo our grocery shopping list and dinner menu to simply but still provide wholesome food. That's my goal for February. What are some of your things you are focusing on this month? I'm hoping too, that if I focus on my knitting projects (using yarn I already have) and decluttering/organizing our home now that our guests are gone, I won't be so tempted to go out and shop for anything.
As far as what's hardest to avoid shopping for-- I think yarn is the biggie. Dd's teacher just announced she's due with a baby in July and I went ahead and bought some yarn to knit her a baby hat. However it was only like $2.50 for the yarn. I was eyeing the other yarn and trying to restrain myself. SIL has taken up knitting and I was taking her to some yarn places to stock up on good yarn and it was soooo hard not to fill up my basket.
I'm also trying to avoid donating money every time dd's school asks for it. For example they are doing a walk for diabetes, and just sent home the pledge forms. I told her basically that we won't be participating. Sure, we could sponser her for $15 and get the free water bottle. Her teacher said it's really important to do this. However I don't feel comfortable asking for pledges because almost everyone I know is watching their spending, some of the neighbors have lost their jobs even. We have our Smile Train charity that we are saving up for by the end of the year. It's hard though, when the school keeps sending these fundraiser things home! What do you all do about it? I don't mind donating supplies when they are needed like Kleenex, but I don't feel like donating to this charity walk or asking others too.
Yeah! It keeps me in line. I was disappointed to find the owner of this blog taking a break though. I guess we are all human, right?My SIL and nephew just left this AM to return to India. We had been way overspending on food. We did not end up treating them to anything big as far as small road trips and attractions, so I did let them buy a lot of things to try and experience when they were here. We went out to eat twice but stuck to salads and soups, nothing really big. SIL wanted to eat out and she won't be visiting for at least a couple of years, so I felt justified. I sent some small gifts back for my MIL and FIL, too.
Now that we no longer have guests I can keep a tighter grip on the wallet. I am going to redo our grocery shopping list and dinner menu to simply but still provide wholesome food. That's my goal for February. What are some of your things you are focusing on this month? I'm hoping too, that if I focus on my knitting projects (using yarn I already have) and decluttering/organizing our home now that our guests are gone, I won't be so tempted to go out and shop for anything.
As far as what's hardest to avoid shopping for-- I think yarn is the biggie. Dd's teacher just announced she's due with a baby in July and I went ahead and bought some yarn to knit her a baby hat. However it was only like $2.50 for the yarn. I was eyeing the other yarn and trying to restrain myself. SIL has taken up knitting and I was taking her to some yarn places to stock up on good yarn and it was soooo hard not to fill up my basket.
I'm also trying to avoid donating money every time dd's school asks for it. For example they are doing a walk for diabetes, and just sent home the pledge forms. I told her basically that we won't be participating. Sure, we could sponser her for $15 and get the free water bottle. Her teacher said it's really important to do this. However I don't feel comfortable asking for pledges because almost everyone I know is watching their spending, some of the neighbors have lost their jobs even. We have our Smile Train charity that we are saving up for by the end of the year. It's hard though, when the school keeps sending these fundraiser things home! What do you all do about it? I don't mind donating supplies when they are needed like Kleenex, but I don't feel like donating to this charity walk or asking others too.
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