First Weekend Progress

So... Our first weekend of zero spending, other that what was laid out in our guidelines, is complete. All in all I think we fared out pretty well.

We did however spend some that was not apart of our guidelines... My husband's birthday was this week and he received some birthday money. He asked to go out to dinner with that money. So, we did. Two, we had put in our guidelines for our road trip to see some friends from back home. We budgeted for lunch (and were super good about loading the car up with snacks and food so we didn't have to stop for anything along the way), but we broke down and got 2 coffees and 2 diet Dr. Peppers along the way. The kids rocked and didn't ask for a thing as they knew they were to have the waters and Gatorade.

We did stop at Michael's yesterday after church to look at the newest Project Life Kits and walked out with nothing. Trust me that was HARD!! I had a coupon that would have helped the cost and washi tape on sale for $1.49!!! Hello... ouch!!! Would purchasing any of that been taken out of money we didn't really have to begin with... yes. So, we didn't really see a savings per say but we didn't set ourselves up to be short in another area we had the money set up for. So, that was good.

I think all in all we did really well. Our road trip cost a little more than we were hoping for and the little left over birthday money helped with the little over in grocery budget, but we survived the weekend. How many more to go!? Heehee.... I think the real test will be when our regular check hits the bank. Then it'll be hard to not go "shopping". However, our church is gearing up to start a 21 day fast next weekend and some of what we have said to cut out in these 31 days were laid on our hearts to add to our fasting. Really solidifying the ground rules and confirming we are definitely supposed to be doing this.

It's going to be a great stretching process for sure.

Do you have any idea how many killer sales are on right now or special pricing so for field trips we will be saying no to this month!?!? Talk about an eye opener.

Now... where is my pen and paper to keep a list of all I would like to go back and look for after our 31 days.... Hmmm.... Heehee... kind of defeats the purpose huh?

Today we start back to school after our 6 week mid year break. It'll be nice to get back into doing something again. Don't get me wrong the break was nice but we kind of miss having "a plan" for the day. God filled it with people who needed our help, and relaxing around the house. My plans certainly were not touched but I guess that is the joys of not driving the vehicle... It's God's plans that were accomplished then. So, we aren't exactly where I'd like us but apparently we are were God wants us. It's about that time go wake up the kiddos and get breakfast going.

Hope your first weekend of 2014 was great. We have a lot of changes coming. Family dynamics. Prayer life. Fasting. 0 spending. It's going to be a stretching month and a stretching year. I'm thankful in the stretching he keeps me flexible, takes the bad out to replace it with good, and God never lets me go.

Here is to our first full week of 2014 and good stretching!