"Stop spending and accumulating crap!" That line has been quite overused in my household for awhile now. Starting July 1 It's On! No Spend Challenge is underway and as my husband knows, I hate to lose, so bring it!
Our biggest weakness is going out to eat. When I was working full time we'd easily spend $500 or more a month on going out to eat. Add that to all the other money that we cannot account for and it was a lot!
Now I'm a SAHM and we can be considered "Siok"s- My word, just made it up: Single Income One Kid. Catchy isn't it?-and broke. :-) Back to topic.
In January of this year we started our get-out-of-debt pay down which has been on schedule to let us be free by June 2012! About 3 months ago we started to focus on eating the Mediterranean way (click here to read about our motivation) which has meant Cooking! There are some days now that I actually get happy while making a beautiful meal and enjoy the simplicity of the recipes we use.
So as I sit here today getting everything in order-like we are leading an expedition to Mt. Fuji or something-I have determined the food staples we must always have on hand.
Here's a list into our "pantry" must haves:Olive OilFlourYeastBeans: all kinds and both dried and cannedPastaRiceCanned tomatoes and pasteEggsLemonsHerbsSeasonings/spicessugarOatmealFresh Fruit and Veggies (we grow alot of our own veggies)Milk & PowderedYogurtMozzarella CheeseCoffeeAnd meats-but on an as needed basis.
This list can make three meals a day with much variety! It's amazing.
Now on to the tactical planning of clutter-purging to be implemented during this challenge too.
Check back regularly to see our progress!
Progress Posts:
* Big Girl Bed Blessing
* Purge to be Healthy
* Day 3: New clothesline Family time
Good heavens! I am really considering doing the no spend thing! My fam must get out of debt, in order to buy a house in our pricey neighborhood. The idea scares me to death! So I will be following closely.
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CJ
http://killsuperwoman.blogspot.com
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