Oh boy, I stepped away for a few days and now there are so many new great ideas! I love the food suggestions Gerard. That reminds me of one of my favorite crock pot recipies... dump a bunch of chicken legs in the crock pot with a whole lotta BBQ sauce... serve it over rice and there's food to eat for days :) Mmm, I am definitely paying attention to the food thing, because it is the foundation of everything that makes us feel good. I do feel like I should have thrown just a little cheese at dear hubby (to go with that whine, naturally), because his company is constantly catering lunches. So he does get free food as long as he swoops in fast enough to grab it out of his coworkers' clutches.
Cable's gone, my phone plan is cheaper, and I got a Costco membership. I was pretty amazed at how many staples I was able to pick up for a good price. I took a lot of care to plan out our meals, which I found helpful too, and I have been using meat as more of a garnish (we had Tikka Masala tonight... Indian food is awesome and delivers a lot of flavor with cheap ingredients) Counting that we are halfway through the month, I've spent a little under $400. I know still a lot for most of you, but I'm learning :) I have many staples still, so the next grocery trip can be smaller. I am hoping to end up between 700-800 this month. Down from $1200... that's a $400-500 improvement! Getting rid of the Audi will save us another $500 when you count gas, insurance etc (Galaxie, you are so right that it is about thinking of the big picture. Being "grown up" is overrated in any case!)... That's $1,000 more in my pocket every month! This is definitely an amazing feeling, finding happiness with careful choices. I feel like a big weight is off of me already, and moving forward, as we get rid of our debt and get our finances in order, I know it's going to get even better. I like how MMM philosophy is all about the power of picking yourself up and doing something right now... Any small thing, and just building off of that. It is an empowering way to think of it.