New Years Resolutions (or lack thereof)

Starting the 1st of this year, we have officially started our Total Money Makeover, or as I like to call it, budget cuts.  It is a new year and a new start.

Tony and I sat together alone and really went through every dollar of our income and all of our bills, debts, spending patterns, etc.  Let me be clear when I say we are doing this not because we aren't making enough or we are spending too much (okay, maybe a little bit because of how much I spend...) but to be completely aware of where our money is going and to pay off all of our debt.  Yes, all of it.  Credit cards, car payments, student loans and eventually even our mortgage. All. of. it.

I know I have talked a little bit about going cash-only and here we are.  Yesterday was my first day out and about with my nifty little organizer with cash divided out in different slots.  Here I was feeling all empowered and in control of my money and I walked into Target.  It was like an alchoholic walking into a bar and thinking they can sit down and drink a water their first day sober.  Suddenly that clothing envelope that I thought was "reasonable" felt like a couple of nickels and I was kicking myself in the butt for not having a after-Christmas-Target-clearance envelope.  I bought nine stockings.  Nine.  Let's do the math;

5 stockings I already have

+ 9 new stockings

= 14 stockings

- 4 people in my family

= 10 too many

Needless to say, I went back today with a bag full of stockings (and a cupcake rug and a random tablecloth and a couple of not-that-great ornaments) to return.  I vowed to leave immediately after returns, not passing the check outs into the store.

In other news, I am trying to "bulk up" for my Get Fit challenge weigh-in this week.  Tony got me a Wii Fit + for Christmas (should I be offended or excited? I'm a little bit of both) and I have been using it almost everyday.  We had to bring our white scale down from our bathroom for Lucy to have her own board to exercise along beside me.  She thinks we are BFF's.  We really kind of are :)  Clara plays in her exersaucer and sometimes I think she is working harder than Lucy and I on the Wii.  She is getting ready to crawl and I don't know that I'm ready for that.

I have been missing my blog and am starting to get ready to jump back in, but my blog really is a journal of my life and has been, thus far, real.  I do, however, believe "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" and I have been a bit preoccupied with some things in my personal life that are not so pleasant and I will not share.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I have a hard time writing and putting forth a smile when the thing heaviest on my mind is an unresolved issue that is too personal to write about. 

On that note, I will continue to find all of the wondeful things in my life (as I am incredibly blessed) to share and write about and open up about all of my challenges in motherhood, dropping that baby weight and living within my means to, as Dave Ramsey says, "live like no one else". 

:)