Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Day 21

I love fall in the Northwest. Today was such a beautiful day. It was cold and foggy in the morning and sunny and beautiful in the afternoon. What did I do on this beautiful day? I cleaned out a chicken coop! It needed it and it is all clean and sparkle-y! Happy chickens = many eggs!

I was almost out of food in the house so I went grocery shopping. As I suspected I used all my $50 (plus 1.78, somehow I miss added while I was shopping, sigh.). I also bought $12.00 worth of laundry detergent which we desperately needed but I didn't count that in my food budget even though I bought it at the grocery store - sue me if you must. I got lots of good stuff - some snack stuff like Cheezits, oranges, apples, and bagels and cream cheese. My family was very happy when I came home.

I made an unexpected trip today and used more gas than I wanted and now I'm back to thinking I might not make it. It was worth it, though. Tali and the cross-country team went to Olive Garden for dinner to "carbo-load" for their district meet tomorrow. Tali and two of her friends needed a ride home and I offered to do it. The mom of one of her friends has picked up and taken Tali a million times this season and I really wanted to return the favor. We'll see, I don't have many places to go this week so maybe we'll make it. On the plus side, gas is $2.89 a gallon here right now. So if I do need to get gas, at least it won't cost a fortune (just a half fortune!).

I'm off to soak some beans before I go to bed. We are having baked beans, the rest of the ham, and veggies with ranch for dinner tomorrow night. Should be yummy!

Only 10 days left of my month of nothing. I find myself flip-flopping between making lists of all the things I'm going to buy once Nov. 1 rolls around, and being sad that it's almost over and hoping we don't just slip right back into our old ways. Mostly it has been fairly painless and has sure opened my eyes about how much money I spend on stuff I don't really need, I just really want. And that was really the point, right?

Jill

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Sounds like it was a good day, even if it involved cleaning a chicken coop. Some days are like that, even in Australia. (Do you know the Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day book?)

momstheword said...

Don't they say it takes about 29 days to make a habit or something? You may find yourself examining whether something is a need or a want more than you'd like.

Like the sweater I almost bought but put back because I decided I wanted it but didn't really NEED it....sigh!

Jill said...

Yes, Nancy, I love that book! I work in a elementary school library and sadly, that book doesn't get checked out much any more. Maybe if I put it on display . . . hmmmm. I think I'll do that tomorrow.

Momstheword, that's right! I hadn't thought about the whole habit thing. Maybe by the end of the month I'll be in the habit of not spending money!

Jill