Out With the Old and in With the New! (Sort Of?)

We just had a busy weekend! On Friday, we paid Travis’s auto payment on time and then stayed home and relaxed with friends outside. Before starting Project Money, we would have gone out for food and drinks on Fridays, resulting in an unnecessarily large bill. Saturday was then my day to look at our finances and pay what I could with what was left over. We really had it backwards! 

This Saturday was haircut day for the boys, and this monthly ritual helps them bond and look good and is an expense that brings value to their lives. We planned to get the grocery shopping done after their haircuts, but there was a cooler breeze in the air, and we were feeling the anticipation of the upcoming season change. Routines are about to be different with the start of school right around the corner, and the changing weather is turning our attention to the indoors.  In response, we decided to take a trip to the furniture store without a specific need in mind. It was fun walking around the store and thinking about all of the possibilities of how we could improve our comfort level within our home. Two goals we have are to get a new, more supportive mattress and buy a sofa set for our basement. The very nice salesperson told us all about financing options, and it would have been so easy to sign up for payments and get that new bed home. However, without hesitation, Travis and I both politely declined. We would not have slept very well in the new bed knowing that we bought it by taking on high-interest credit.  We do plan on purchasing a new mattress in the future, but for now we can pick up a much less expensive mattress pad to try out on our existing mattress and see how that improves our comfort level. This kind of change is getting us closer to living within our means.

The grocery shopping trip was pushed out another day and that made for a bigger grocery bill because our daughter came along. A lot of things went into the cart that were not on any list, but she gets a pass because she will take some of it with her when she goes to college next week.  And speaking of college, all the back to college shopping is done, at least for now!  We feel so good knowing that she is headed to campus and her dorm with the things that will help her feel more comfortable living in a new place. We are learning more and more that shopping is necessary and can add so much value to life, but mindless shopping doesn’t have to be what life is all about. There is such a difference between being busy for the sake of being busy… and being busy for a purpose. 

Have a good week!

~K&T