Although I have settled into a pretty healthy attitude about saving money and budgeting, and intend to continue my newfound money saving practices beyond our current financial crunch, there are a few areas I will be thrilled to spend money again when the opportunity arises.

In the kitchen.  Money saving tips have helped me identify where I wasted a lot of money grocery shopping.  I was buying too much fresh produce to be able to eat before it went bad so I was throwing money away constantly on ruined food. THEN spending MORE money to replace what I threw away.   More frequent shopping trips buying only what I need makes it possible for me to keep fresh, healthy food on hand without breaking the bank.  But what is a bummer is we ONLY have what we need, be it fresh foods, lunch box stuffers, meal time, ingredients, etc.  I mean it's not a bummer, I appreciate that we have what we need.  But as a mom and someone who likes to cook and present food to please, I miss having more CHOICES.  More variety.  A few snacks.  Special things on hand like colorful bendy straws, chocolate milk, caramel kits or cookie ingredients, you know? 

Speaking of bendy straws... that falls under wasteful and not environmentally friendly.  Hmmm. I might need to rethink that one.

In the bathroom.  I am 40.  I don't really have any wrinkles and I like that.  I am sure they will come one day but I'd like to hold them off as long as possible, right?  I credit my smoothish skin to my mother starting me on an advance skin care routine before I went into high school.  I had oily skin, break outs and such, so she took me into Merle Norman and onto a skin care plan.  Oil control products eventually turned into using wrinkle cream and exfoliation. Thanks to budget cuts over the last year my skin care program has been reduced to drug store cleanser & moisturizer and I feel like I have aged 5 years.  How much of this is caused by actual aging I am not sure, but I plan to get back with the program as soon as possible to fight it! 

The liquor cabinet.  Ha! I should be ashamed, right?  I don't drink that much, really.And this isn't a matter of having an empty cabinet.  I mean YES it's empty, but I don't want to just stock it and chug any old thing.  After a particularly stressful day or at a moment of celebration I like to sip a Grey Goose Bloody Mary or a really good margarita. It's just a tiny luxury that I enjoy. Or at least I did.  And look forward to doing so again. :-)

Going out with the kids. Of course it doesn't require money to enjoy family time.  One benefit of being on budget for us is the time we spend doing simple things together that cost a dime.  But I love movies. We all do.  And although life does not depend on elaborate vacations, a Seaworld trip or a few days at Great Wolf Lodge certainly enhance it, bonding us together outside of the every day grind of home and creating special memories and smiles.  

Of course, even if I never got to reintroduce those things into my life I am still happy and grateful to wake up every morning to a new day with my family full of possibility and love and opportunity.  I just like it to also be filled with beauty, food, and good liquor.  How about you?

Do you think that title is a contradiction?  You could be right. It depends on how you look at it I suppose, but it makes perfect sense to me. Maybe because I spend a lot of my time in the gray area?  I'm not sure.  But the fact is things are able to be more than one thing at a time.  Take my yoga pants.  They are both black AND blue. They can be used for working out and trimming inches AND sitting on my butt, typing and accumulating inches. Then take my family. (please! hardy har) I want to run far away from them and take up residence in a Yogi commune, spending my days deep breathing in silence. YET I cannot breathe without my family at my side.  Contradiction? Sure.  But that doesn't mean both statements aren't true. Same with this budget business.

HAVING to do anything sucks, actually.  Even if it is what you want to do, nobody really likes having their choices made for them.  That's really the biggest downside to being on a budget.  Most people don't choose to be on them unless they have to.  When the cash is flowing we do and buy what we want without giving much thought.  But when the cash is merely trickling or perhaps even stopped up, we are forced to think about how we spend our money.  We have to plan and... eek!... budget.  Hideous!

First it's boring.  You shop for low cost health insurance. You trade designer brands for store brands. You trim the fat from your expenses.  You bargain shop, fall behind on trends and fashions, color your own hair, and go out less.  OMG it's depressing just writing about it. But when you start "finding money" it suddenly becomes fun.

When our finances started tightening the first thing I did is cut back on all my personal luxuries and beauty routines.  I started coloring my own hair and trimming my bangs. I bought my lip gloss from Rite Aid instead of Estee Lauder.  These things are good and they saved me money, but it wasn't really money I could "see" because those expenditures had always been planned around having "extra" money. I needed to see some every day change.

First I canceled our home phone line.  We use our cell phones all the time anyway so that was a no brainer.  Then I trimmed the fat and funzies off our cell phone bills.  I need the unlimited texting and internet for work and my lifestyle but I didn't need answer tones, gps, and to keep buying games and ring tones.  Most recently I combed my satellite bill for wastefulness. Not only did I trim $15 off my monthly bill, I received 3 months free of HBO and Showtime.  Wait a second! This doesn't suck at all! It kinda rocks! :-)

***NOTE*** $15/month savings may not be enough to give up the luxury associated with a single cut  back. The magic comes in over hauling everything you do and spend.  $5 here and there can easily add up to more than $100 of savings each month!  Don't even get me started on coupons!   

The fact is most of us waste shameful amounts of money without even thinking about it.  Make the decision on your own that you are going to be more responsible to yourself, your family, your community, your planet and the choice is YOURS again.  You are spending smart and being less wasteful for the good of the whole, not because circumstance has forced you to do so. That rocks!

What have you cut back on lately?  What do you miss most?

 I like this time of the year when the sun is still warm but the breeze is cold.  It is toasty during the day and chilly late at night and early in the morning.  It’s the time when you stop wishing you had central air and find yourself thinking about heated floors. 

Heated tile floors is one of those things on my mind for my “dream house” one day.  I always thought they were a difficult expensive home feature.  Maybe not.  New, more affordable products are being developed so that anyone can have the luxury of warm floors, even on a budget. You can even save money by installing the radiant heat tubing yourself which comes with a how to install heated floors manual.

I know slippers are cheaper and fun to pick out.  But they are hard to keep up with.  And the cutest ones keep falling off my feet anyway!  Wouldn’t it be nice to tip toe out into the kitchen onto heated tile floors first thing in the morning for a hot cup of coffee?  <sigh>  One day.