luxe chandelier

It feels great to still be doing something and not spending money at all. After running into some financial issues lately, we have been forced to buckle down for a few months. I am hoping our new habits will stick for a while anyways so we can put more money towards our debt. Credit cards are not fun at all! Especially after getting married and combining our debt together. It also has helped that we have recently taken upon some projects that we’re getting paid for designing brochures, business cards, etc.

So we have been finding more money-free activities lately.

Spoil the cars. We cleaned our cars this weekend. It’s a nice way to get some tan outside too and keep ourselves busy. We managed to rinse off our driveway. Now it’s dirt-free! Unfortunately we were still unable to find Tyler’s wedding ring in my car. My in-laws are coming next week and I’m really hoping they bring their mojo with them and find it!

Gardening & weeding. I never thought this could be exciting! (Only when Tyler’s doing most of the work, haha!) I guess it’s a different story when owning a house. Our first priority is making sure the front yard looks good because of our HOA rules. The last warning we got was that our drip lines were showing. It’s ridiculous!

Bike rides! We’re definitely saving money on gas by going for a bike ride while enjoying the weather and view. I love this because I know I’m also getting some exercise in for the day. It’s an exercise I can truly enjoy without sweating and saying I can’t do it. I ride my Mom’s old hot pink bike while Tyler rides my Dad’s old blue bike. I still dream of owning a beach cruiser some day!

Pay and organize bills. I truly love paying the bills even though it’s not fun. It actually makes me feel more relaxed afterward knowing I’m done. It’s also nice to be aware of what needs to be paid soon and work around our budget. We can now see our budget everywhere we go since I just transferred it to Google Docs. I wish I thought of this sooner since there has been times where I’m at work or somewhere else and I wanted to look at our budget. We recently started focused on paying for necessities only. The only thing I refuse to give up is my DVR!

Fix things around the house. The best part is when we know we don’t have to spend more money to get things fixed. Recently our vacuum started acting up so we took the time to take it apart and clean the brush underneath. Now it’s actually working! If this happened to me in college, I would have totally gone out and bought a new vacuum.

Scrapbooking. This is an endless project for me. I have so many unorganized pictures and wedding pictures that I need to go through. Tyler and I majored in Graphic Design/Media so we have a lot of supplies, canvases, & scrapbook paper. We should start blowing the dust bunnies off our storage box and dig up all these supplies that we have and put them to a good use. There’s always Photoshop and InDesign too! We could always save them on the computer until we have the extra money to print them.

I really wish I realized all of this a few years ago instead of spending money all the time like it grew on trees. The best part of this is that we have taken this situation and turned it into a positive. We’re grateful to have a house and jobs. We both know that our financial issues won’t be forever.. only just a few months if we take ourselves seriously. We know we’re doing the best thing for ourselves as we would like to live comfortably later in life and not still be in debt.

We’re on a tight budget this month because it’s Christmas after all! We did our food shopping last weekend and figured out what we’d need for the week. So last night we had. . .

tuna fish on english muffins with cheese melted on top. Can we say YUMM!? As Tyler was putting this in the oven I told him I had to take a picture and he quickly cleaned up the cooking sheet, “I know you’re blogging this picture!” I guess he knows me too well…

We have been looking for ways to save money here and there. The switch for AC and heat has been turned off! This way I can dress warm in the evenings and wrap myself up with a blanket since I don’t have a snuggie. And it’s about time we sleep with our duvet cover since it was always too hot to sleep with it.

We will be cancelling our Blockbuster account – I can’t believe we’re paying $30 a month when there’s the Red Box & NetFlix. The only problem with NetFlix is that the movies online aren’t closed captioned. Netflix, you suck! Also we have Showtime only because we love Dexter so much. We’ll be cancelling our subscription as soon as the last episode of Dexter airs which is soon by the way. So sad!

My next plan is to get Tyler to cut back on his shower time. He’s up before the sun is at 6AM and spends 20 minutes in the shower. Is it even possible to sleep-shower?! My shower time is 5 minutes or less because I’m always in a hurry to get back to bed and sleep for an extra 5-10 minutes.

It definitely feels good being conscious of our budget & sticking to it knowing we’re saving money.

Now that I’m working and not in college anymore, time does go by fast! It’s the same cycle everyday.

We go to bed, I read, Tyler does the light thing (again last night!) then it’s time to get up and do the whole morning routine – which I sometime wish I was a boy so I could just hop into the shower and dash out without having to put make up on & dry my hair then frantically run out to work and always arriving a few minutes late. Cycle repeats everyday.

Tyler and I made a goal to save money on food and have been cooking dinner every night now instead of eating out. After dinner tonight, we don’t have food anymore. We need to restock…seriously the fridge is almost empty except for mainly slimfast, yogurt, milk, & cheese.

Off to bed to repeat the cycle.

“My favorite pastime is letting time pass, having the time, taking my time, wasting my time, living out of time – against the current” – francoise sagan