Well...It's been a long time since I've sat down to write here. I've certainly thought about it. I'm still trying to "Make it Work". My husband has a job, but, being in retail now, he works a lot of long hours that seem to be the opposite of my hours. For instance, I worked from 8-11 this morning and he's working 11-8. Our income hasn't risen considerably over unemployment and although we've reportedly avoided the fiscal cliff, I think we're about to fall into the recently enlarged income tax sink hole.
So, currently I'm on a spending vacation. Well, for myself anyway. I've got a 14 year old son who just can't get with the "no spending program" and stop growing. Yeesh! He just keeps on getting taller and broader. I grew up with 2 sisters so this whole teenage boy thing is rather foreign to me. But he's currently in need of new sneakers, dress shoes, suit coat, orthopedic inserts for his shoes, Boy Scout pants, karate uniform and new blue jeans. Yikes. So I'm making a list and hoping to spread it out over a few paychecks.
Luckily I have a few money saving options. The dress shoes and suit coat don't get worn very often so we'll be shopping at Walmart and Goodwill for those. I can probably wait for a sale on Levis and even get free "ship to store" at Sears. The Boy Scout pants need to be kahki or green so maybe I can also find them on sale at Sears. As for the inserts, well, we tried getting Dr. Scholl inserts when he outgrew the last pair, but they were not really helpful, so in the end, not a bargain. And as for the sneakers, when you wear inserts, not every pair of sneakers fits so we take what we can find.
So I'm back to trying to clean out the pantry and the freezer before I buy more food. When I go to the grocery store my new plan is to shop the perimeter only for fill in food and fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy. (Obvious exemptions are toilet paper and pantry staples when I don't have an acceptable substitute.) Ok, maybe it's not a new plan, but I am approaching it now with new vigor.
One more item- paper products. I'm trying my best to buy as little as possible. I do have some paper towels in the cabinets for those really messy jobs, but on the counter I have a pretty basket with layers of cut up t-shirts. I use these for most day to day counter wipe-ups. I have micro-fiber cloths for bigger jobs and for meals we are using the cloth napkins that I used to hide away for special occasions.
