We are very much consumers in our household.  You know those relationships where one person is conservative about spending money and the other is a spendthrift?  We aren’t that couple.  We are the antithesis of that couple.

While we don’t go crazy overboard normally, this past year we have been spending more than we really should.  After looking at our credit card balance – that was paid off at the beginning of the year – and seeing how HIGH it is, we need to put the brakes on our spending habits.  Exert a little thing I like to call self-control.  That would be something we used to have in spades, but the past year or so we have lost our way.  Me especially, but Brian has been catching up quickly with his new obsession with good wine.  Which I like to drink, too. 😉

I think if we take a few months and really watch where the money is going we can put a good dent in that card.  I hope.  The economy being what it is today, I think everyone has felt the need to conserve a bit.  I’m just glad that the crooks at Lehman Brothers didn’t abscond with our checking account – it was just temporarily frozen.  Bastards.

The plan of action:

• I’m going to focus on using what is in the pantry and freezer and just buy the basics at the store.  I really need to use what we have since I normally have food that expires and gets thrown out.  I LOVE to cook and this usually translates into me hoarding food and buying too much.  I figure that I need to use all those wonderful things I’ve already bought before I go buy more.  Makes sense, right??
• I’m not going to spend money on new clothes/shoes/fabric for either me or the kids.  This will greatly decrease the spending.  If they or I need something new, I have several bins of fabric in the basement waiting to become something extraordinary and awesome.  I do have to buy the urchins new pairs of tennis shoes, though – I can poke my finger through the front of Kai’s and tickle his toes. Dang it – they still fit, too. 
• I’m not going to get my flavored, yummy, highly caffeinated and caloric coffee in the morning. *SOB*  I can feel the pounds just melt off with that statement.
• No more eating out for lunch or dinner (unless it is getting together with friends, and not me being lazy and not wanting to cook!).  The eating out after swimming is going to stop right now kiddos…you have been warned!  Of course, Anya doesn’t actually eat any of her food so I’m moreso just really tired of shelling out money for food that goes to waste after she eats 2 french fries, drinks all her milk chocolate and declares, “I’m FULL!”. >:(
• Brian is going to stop buying wine.  That alone is going to be extremely helpful. 😉  That is until the Fall shipments start coming in from our wine clubs.  As in plural…as in we have a bunch of wine we have to buy this Fall.  *SIGH*  I wish we could just say no, but I guess we’ll have to suck it up.  One of them has already been charged anyways.

I know things will come up that will need to be purchased (Halloween costumes for one!), but if we really try to be better overall I know we can start filling in the hole.   At least we are very good about saving for retirement and for the kid’s college educations.  That limits our fun money, though, and we need to live within those limits.  This seems to be a hard thing for most Americans to do…I know we are not alone in this.

Go Team!!

Unfortunately we decided to do it the same week as Brian’s birthday, and so he said he didn’t want a gift.  Well, that just doesn’t work for me.  I decided that he needed something with meaning if I wasn’t going to spend a bunch of money on him.  I made a 2 photo collage of the urchins to fit in an 11×14 frame I bought at Michael’s (that was 55% off – YAY!).  Then I had each urchin “sign” their name on their photo with a Sharpie.  This is for Daddy’s wall at work – he’s getting into the big time and getting an office of his very own soon-ish.  I decided on a simple black frame and black and white photos so it should fit any decor.  I printed the 11x 14 at Costco, so the turn around was pretty dang quick.  Plus, their 11×14’s are $2.99 – talk about cheap! 

I’m all about being last minute with gifts these days.  I had the kids sign the picture in the car before daycare on his birthday so it was a surprise.  Now hopefully he will be allowed to have a picture of his children hanging in his company’s office.

*****

As a side note on the economic turmoil that is going on now, I really urge everyone to get a better understanding of what is going on (click that link for a great article).  I understand it because it is my business.  I’ve audited banks, brokerage firms, sub-prime lenders and other financial entities with trade structures so complicated they gave me headaches trying to figure them out.  It isn’t the easiest thing to understand, but one thing that I think everyone needs to take away is that if our financial systems fail, all our money goes *POOF*.  There will be no $700B that we should get as taxpayers instead of giving to Wall Street because there will be NO MONEY.    As it is, the $700B is going to be debt our government takes out to buy up these mortgages.  Debt that will most likely come from outside parties that would not lend to us if our financial infrastructure was faulty.  At least we may get some of the $700B back since not all will be defaulted loans.  That’s something at least.  The bailout is intended to stop a domino effect that could cause our banking and financial services industry from failing.  I really don’t want another Great Depression that began with the stock market crash in the 1920’s.  

One thing, though…those ousted CEO’s need to pay back those insane salaries.  They failed at their jobs in such a giganticly enormous way that they should not profit in the least from it.  *RANT OVER*