September 2011
24 posts
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90 Days
Today marks 90 days since we began Operation Debt Reduction. Do we feel changed? Are bad spending habits broken? I woke up feeling the same as always, but I’m sure of one thing - shopping is pretty much ruined for me.
Last night, I attended a party at Antrhopologie in San Francisco for the new Design Sponge book by Grace Bonney. Surrounded by the beautiful garments and accessories that I...
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I mention our financial “advisor” Dave Ramsey quite a bit on here, but he has become kind of a sensation in the debt freedom world. So many Americans, just like us, have been spurred on by his enthusiastic talk into getting a handle on their personal finances in pursuit of permanently living debt free. Hubby and I listen to his nationally syndicated radio show every single weekday, and...
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Everything is shaping up just fine with our savings for September. Man, we CAN’T WAIT to tell you how much we saved at the end of this month. The big reveal will come towards the end of the week. How are we doing it? We’re applying Dave Ramsey’s rule of “live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.”
Simple rule but difficult to abide by.
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I’ve been slammed with work this week, while at the same time hubby has been finishing a big work deadline. Now that the weekend is upon us, we’re planning to spend time on personal creative projects. It’s so important as working commercial artists to make time for our own art. We literally have to pencil it into the calendar. Otherwise another weekend would pass by leaving us...
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Progress Baby!
Little update on Operation Debt Reduction and our September savings.
After not saving one penny last month, we have been bound and determined to “show up” at the end of this month. And like always, it hasn’t been easy trying to nickel and dime our way through September spending. This comes as no surprise now that we’re over halfway through month three of the lockdown....
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The Nitty Gritty of Saving Money
May I just take a moment to tell you how very hard it is to save money? Hubby and I are on a spending lockdown, slashing our expenses left and right, yet we still find it challenging to save money on a daily basis. I’ve boasted about our stellar cheap grocery spending - one weekly trip as low as $15. You might think we’re saving bundles, but reality is, we had to cut our grocery...
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Presence and Presents
Over the weekend, we attended our friends’ wedding in picturesque Sonoma. We’re so thankful to be present at these once in a lifetime events, especially when they’re only a short drive from our home. This year alone, we have received seven wedding invitations! Although we’re unable to attend all of them due to long distances, we’ve made great efforts to be there...
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The Under $15 Shopping Cart
This was our shopping cart from a few weeks ago. Granted, we did have a decent amount of staple food already at home. We just wanted to see how little we could buy on the weekly grocery run. Thank you Trader Joe’s for saving us once again.
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Making Exceptions
When we embarked on our year long so called “spending lockdown”, we took the time to list our guidelines , which basically came down to want v. need. Three months into it, we often find ourselves facing a judgement call as to whether to spend outside the set parameters. Ninety percent of the time, we decide against it. Our rationale is that once we make one exception, it’s going...
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Symptoms of a Spending Fast
Persistent scrutinizing of how much soap to put on the loofah while taking a shower.
Complete dependence on every variety of Trader Joe’s brand products.
Inappropriate behavior such as “borrowing” magazines from the gym.
Unable to carry out activities of daily living without help, for instance using your friend’s printer because your own printer just printed...
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Attack Mode for September!
A long holiday weekend is exactly what I needed to get me fired up again for saving this month. Hubby and I were kind of down last week, but this week we’re ready to hit the ground running. In addition to our September savings, our plan this month is to make up for what we didn’t save in August. We will apply a good chunk of this money to credit card debt, however, we’ve decided...
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Focus on the Positive
Over the past couple of days, we’ve been reeling from our August savings debacle. Having an “off” month with such a goal oriented endeavor could so easily throw us off course. With this realization, last night, we decided to refocus our attention on all the good that we’ve accomplished thus far in only 2 months.
For starters, we’ve completely stopped using the credit...
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