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

I think the best gift anyone could get is to be debt-free… at least it would be for me! Don’t get me wrong… Tyler and I aren’t struggling financially but we really want to get out of debt now before we’re stuck with it for too long.

I find paying bills kind of fun actually… it’s not dreadful as I always thought it was when I was growing up seeing my mom pay bills.

I have to start paying for my college loan soon so tonight Tyler and I sat down and calculated how much money we’re in debt and created a budget to follow to actually save money every month. We want to start saving money to put in our emergency fund and torwards our retirement savings.

I absolutely love this website, The Nest, where I can go to look for ideas and to receive tips! We used their Budgeter tool to figure out how much we’d be saving.

Saving money begins now!