 ~ This month's topics: Budgets, Losing Weight, Once-a-Month Cooking and Finding Time for Prayer ~ WHEW! What an incredible five weeks it has been since I last posted. My daughter has begun Kindergarten and is loving every minute of it. I help out in her classroom on Thursday mornings and I must say that I truly admire anyone who can direct 23 children who are only 5-6 years old! Jenna’s teacher is wonderful and Jenna has had no problems pertaining to her hearing impairment - it has not been a factor at all in her ability to keep up with the class (You can read more about her hearing impairment here). This was of great concern to me and my husband when we decided to go with the public school system and I’m thrilled that Jenna only has to use her hearing aids in class and is needing no further source of amplification. Ian has begun his twice weekly preschool classes and is doing very well in the "wiggling" department. He is not one to sit still and listen, but the director says that she is seeing an improvement in his ability to pay attention with each session. Let’s see ….. what else has happened in the past few weeks? Well, we’ve had to make some adjustments to our budget, but all-in-all we have it nailed down pretty well and are continuing to make progress in getting our debts paid off. Personally, I’m tired of thinking about budgets, money, debt and so on and have become quite weary of directing the finances in our home. My husband has offered to take over this responsibility, but he and I both know that I have more time to devote to this area and since I do most of the shopping, it’s best just to leave things the way they are. My biggest goal was to get our food budget down and I’m very happy to say that I’ve almost halved the amount spent on groceries each month. We are down from $400+ /month to $200-250 month. I’m hoping to stay closer to the $200/month mark and truly believe that I’ll be able to accomplish this goal by continuing to purchase the loss leaders each week and stocking up as much as possible when a great sale occurs. I finally began my price book by spending several hours at my local Super Walmart, so now I have a reference point for watching the prices of items we buy often. One area my husband and I decided to open up in our budget was a "splurge allowance" for each of us. This is money that either of us can spend on anything we want that is not budgeted for - that new music cd-rom, software, extra clothing, etc. - anything that is truly an "extra" that we wouldn’t normally purchase. Our reason for doing this was this that because we had our budget set so tight, we were feeling a bit deprived. In our eyes, life is too short to totally "do without" for the 3-4 years it is going to take us to get our loans paid off. I, personally, always feel guilt when purchasing an "extra" because I know that that money could be going towards our loans. This "allowance" will let both of us splurge on those items we want without feeling guilty about it! I truly feel that we had to find a happy medium because deprivation and extravagance and we finally have found that in the "splurge allowance." My plan to lose all of my weight in one year has fallen flat. I could have done it if I had been more motivated, but I know now that God was using the Weigh Down Diet to have me focus more on Him and it turned out that I did this, just not in the "losing weight" area. I must say that getting our budget under control is a lot more important than losing those extra pounds. However, since I have dealt with this budget area ad nauseum, I’m ready once again to tackle the weight loss. My husband and I decided to join a local fitness center (luckily we get a discount through his work) so that we both can work on getting in shape. We don’t have to sign a membership contract, but can go month-by-month, so I plan on going during the winter months and learn how to lift weights so that I can then can develop a weight routine. Then I plan to purchase my own set of weights at home and continue the program during the rest of the year. I also plan on walking the treadmill or taking aerobics classes when it’s too cold to walk. I figure this initial investment will be worth it (plus it’s only $18/month for me to join as my hubby’s spouse and I can go as often as I’d like during the month). I gave blood last month and this company analyzes your blood for your total cholesterol level and mine came back 202 (up from 174 a year ago), so I know that exercise MUST become a part of my daily routine. I have got to buckle down and make this commitment to myself and my family so that I can live a very long time! As this year is drawing to a close and I look back on how far I’ve come in trying to adopt more of a "simple life" attitude about everything, I have to admit that it is definitely not an easy task. Society (TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, Internet, etc.) is constantly telling me I have to have MORE, MORE, MORE!! I know this is not true, but it is difficult to fight this external pressure at times. I know that if I keep my eyes on HIM then I will be lead down the right path for me and my family. My relationship with my Heavenly Father needs a lot of nurturing at this point. At the current moment, I have not set aside time for daily prayers or devotions. I know this is something I need to begin so that I’m more open to understanding what the Lord has in store for my family, but I keep putting it off saying, "Oh, tomorrow, I’ll begin my prayer/devotion time." Then the alarm goes off and I make it through my day without opening my Bible or taking the time to open the lines of communication to my Father through prayer and devotions. I just plain forget to make this a part of my day because it’s not an established habit yet. No, this is no excuse, it’s just the reality of my day. I’m definitely not proud of myself for this behavior and my hope is to begin a regular prayer/devotion time and have it established by the end of October. In looking at my current schedule, the lunchtime hour is a good time for me to devote to God; early morning comes too early (smile!) and is kinda rushed with preparations for school. Please keep me in your prayers in the coming weeks that I can establish this habit quickly and smoothly. Oh my, this update was longer than I originally thought it would be, I truly didn’t think I had *that* much to say! The only reading I really have done lately is in the area of once-a-month-cooking and I was lucky enough to come across the 30 Day Gourmet website. The owners of this site promote their very own Freezer Cooking Manual of which I have a copy. IT IS FABULOUS! (and that is no exaggeration). I’ve written up a review of this book in case you are interested. The recipes use everyday items you will find at your local grocer (and often on sale as well!) - I have yet to begin a 30 day cooking schedule, but this book as well as Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough have made this process seem within my reach. The idea of cooking for a few days in order to have dinners for the next 4-6 weeks ready in my freezer truly appeals to me …. I guess I’m a tad overwhelmed by the idea of the "whirlwind" cooking session, so I have not tackled this yet. However, I do wish to have many dinners in the freezer for those weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s when the tempo of life seems to quicken, so I think I’ll have to try this soon! I wish you the best for the Fall! This is truly my favorite season and it’s always over much too quickly for me. I’ll see you next month! WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
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