Spending Freeze

Our life is a little bit crazy right now.  My husband is changing jobs and that means we will be without a solid paycheck for a little over a month... a challenge was issued that I needed to not spend unless necessary and try to limit my driving to save on fuel and the chance of some dumbass sliding into me in the snow!  If you know me at all you know the following... My stress relief consists of the following... letting Ally (my car) air our her twin turbos on back country roads and mindlessly wandering around TJ Max and Target... I CANNOT avoid the Target clearance sections (seriously it is a problem)... I have fears about not having enough money and so I "squirrel away" certain household items (the clearance section helps fuel my hoarding collecting)... I am also not afraid of hard work or a challenge and I am very competitive in some ways (mostly with myself).

I have not given up on my new monthly goals and Care is still my word for this month, it has just taken on some new meanings for me... I need to care for my family in the best ways I possibly can for the next little bit... I need to care enough about all of our health and nutrition to make sure that they have good healthy meals and a clean living environment.  I need to care about our financial health and NOT BUY TARGET CLEARANCE ITEMS, this means I need to use up what I have hoarded. 

I am trying to follow the example of fellow blogger Jen of Balancing Beauty and Bedlam who talks about her annual month long no spend kitchen challenge.  To do this I have done the following:

1.  Cleaned out and organized my pantry and freezer
2.  Taken an inventory of what is there and what meals I can easily make with what I have
3.  Set aside a set amount of money to do one final shop before the spending freeze (I don't have a deep freeze so my meat stash was not up to the task of carrying us through)
4.  Set aside a set amount of cash for purchasing dairy, fruits and veggies during this time
5.  Composed a list of things I can do for stress relief instead of going on drives and shopping... this is really important because I NEED to break this horrible clearance habit... just because a lipstick only cost me a $1.67 doesn't mean that I needed it or that it doesn't make a little nick in my bank account.

Pantry Cleaning and Organization... I told you I have a problem

Today is Day One... I have spent the last week preparing for this.

This is a big change for my husband and involves a family business, needless to say there are hurt feelings and heartache happening... if you could send positive thoughts and prayers our way we would truly appreciate them.