So it's 2010 and while I've never made any New Year's Resolutions because I know I couldn't keep them anyway, I've decided that this is the year to make some changes.
Changes in a good way, but not the the famous "I'm going to lose weight and start working out" change. I want to do that, but it will just have to happen as it does. I'm not going to make a resolution out of it, because I will only disappoint myself.
This year, I want to work on getting out of debt. Of course, everyone wants that, but we received a nice Christmas gift that allowed us to get started, and a book that helps put money management and debt elimination in easy to understand terms. (no, not from the same person either.) So I figure, here's our sign, let's do it. I have made a list and written all of our debts, excluding the house and Tim's new truck, onto one simple sheet in order from biggest to smallest. My first dilemma was which way to attack it. After talking with a few people, I've decided to attack the biggest one (MasterCard) first. So I made a large payment to it. Goodbye Christmas money, it was nice having you for a minute. I also intend to put our entire tax refund towards it as well. Many people told me, including the author of the book, that you should start with the smallest. I've come to view it this way: while tackling smaller debt is great because it's satisfied quicker, in the long run, it will cost you more money in accrued interest. Tackle the BIG debt first, it's less interest on smaller amounts over a long period of time. So MasterCard...I'm coming after you! After getting that big guy out of the way, I will probably resort back to the smaller ones and pay them off accordingly. Without the ginormous minimum payment I've been flushing away for the last few years on MC, I can start knocking Home Depot, LaZBoy, etc out quickly. Some are medical bills for myself, I haven't even paid off St. Charles from when Gavin was born, and now Tim's ACL surgery. These bills don't carry interest and the hospitals are just happy to receive payments every month. Why should I hurry? Debts with interest are on top of my list.
Besides the obvious way of saving money and putting it all towards the bills, I've been thinking of ways to be more cost efficient here at home. I mean, Gavin doesn't need a different outfit for everyday of the month, nor does he need 6 different hats. They were all just so cute! I did get everything on sale, but still...couldn't that money have been better off paying for something else?! Another big one, is our grocery habits. We run to the store as needed to make whatever sounds good to eat that night. We don't plan dinners, and I rarely eat leftovers. Leftovers going in the disposal is the same as cash going in the trash! So this past week, I did things a little different.
I made a list of several dinners containing many of the same ingredients. We started with a Baked Ziti Primavera (with baby spinach, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and of course spaghetti sauce) It was delicious and we ALL ate it up. Gavin and Tim had it the next day for lunch. For dinner the following night we had polish sausage with kidney beans. Gavin picked out those two main ingredients, but it's better than nothing. So now we have two different types of leftovers to choose from. Day 3, I made Zucchini Pasta. I was able to make this using leftover zucchini from the Ziti and adding some yellow squash and roasted red peppers. YUM! However, not for Gavin, I wasn't thinking and it was naturally too hot for him. Since I hadn't used all the noodles or chicken, and I had leftover Spaghetti Sauce from the Ziti, I could make a quick and simple chicken and noodle pasta for him. He devoured it. Today I heated Gavin up some leftovers, and took the leftover spinach and mushrooms and made some delicious sammies for Tim and I. I cooked the s & m a few minutes with salt and pepper and then using my new griddle made sandwiches with swiss cheese!
This might sound very simple to you all, but I must honestly say that in prior weeks, I wouldn't have saved leftover plain noodles, I would have dumped them. A tiny bit of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the jar would have been tossed too. I've never put a little bit of spinach or mushrooms in baggies for later either. It kills me to realize how much I used to throw away when I was cooking this week and saving every last bit. It ALL went into another dish and it ALL was eaten. Wow! I could pay off a bill or two real fast at this rate:)
Wish us luck! Just the thought of being able to get out of debt has been very motivating!! We CAN do this!
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