learning to keep an open mind.
As DH and I took a walk while MIL watched the kids, I pondered out loud how much I had changed in the last year and even in the last 5 to 10 years.
When we were first married, I never cooked. I didn't really know how and I didn't know what to cook. Nothing seemed to turn out well. I believe this is the second biggest cause of our current debt.
The first cause is poor financial planning while attending graduate school.
Since the inception of our budget last November, we've changed drastically. I got tired of DH complaining about us not being on a budget, his implications that I was the cause of our money problems, and tired of the same old..."well, we'll just spend less money this month!" So I took a day off work, and put all our financial info. into Mvelopes. We stopped using Mvelopes after about 2 months because I still didn't feel in control of the money. Then I started handrecording our expenses.
Then I happened upon a book called "The Tightwad Gazette." Although this book could be thought of as radical in some ways, it opened my mind to possibilities. I began to wonder why I was using baggies for everything, why I never turned off lights when I left the room, and why I never learned to cook. I spent a lot of time researching and reading.
I forced myself to keep an open mind. Since then, I've learned a lot about cooking and we eat things that I NEVER would have considered even a year ago. My sister thinks I'm absolutely insane for eating beans! Once I read that some people hang out their laundry, I was dumbfounded. It never occurred to me to do this. Now I've used the dryer twice since August. I cook in bulk and really enjoy it! I love providing homemade items like waffles, breakfast burritos, and other dishes for my family and doing this provides a real sense of accomplishment. I stopped buying all the convenience foods and saved a ton of money. I'm taking sewing classes. Once I opened my mind, I found liking things wasn't as hard as I imagined. It's really just a mindset that I developed growing up.
I look back a year and say WOW..I've really changed. I look back 5 years ago and say "What in the &*^$ was I thinking?"
A powerful lesson is learned. Be willing to try things you never imagined.
How I was able to save money by...
November 7th, 2007 at 03:35 am
November 7th, 2007 at 03:40 am 1194406809
I'd like to start cooking in bulk soon.
November 7th, 2007 at 05:02 am 1194411777
November 7th, 2007 at 11:28 am 1194434897
November 7th, 2007 at 04:09 pm 1194451761
It is amazing how much money we spend on 'incidentals' like baggies or saran wrap.
November 7th, 2007 at 04:14 pm 1194452076
November 7th, 2007 at 05:11 pm 1194455511
November 7th, 2007 at 10:38 pm 1194475123