Our Boy and His Cricket

A few years ago I was awed and inspired by a challenge that fellow adoptive mom and blogger, Christie from A Bushel & A Peck did....to be honest I'm always awed and inspired by this woman.  She will have you in tears and then will leave you laughing by the end of her posts.  She will make you think, do, and dream.  Well besides inspiring me in other ways, this year she and her family are challenging many to stop spending for the next 30 days!  We're talking use what you've got, stay away from the coffee shop, eat in instead of out and save, save, save!  

I couldn't resist to jump on board and challenge myself and my family to put away some money.  In fact I'm hopeful that this will just turn into a habit that goes beyond the 30 days because we need it to.   This last year has been tough for us to be completely honest.  We've lost a huge amount of salary and have had to cut much of our spending already.  And while we have cut back on all of our monthly expenses, we still struggle with walking past the coffee shops and cafes for lunches out or steering clear of eating out on those nights when I just don't want to cook.   So with this challenge our extra spending ends starting Thursday for the next 30 days and hopefully beyond!  We will put away each cent for Christmas and hope to have a better holiday than we'd thought we would just a few weeks ago.  

In preparation for the next four weeks I've spent the last week getting a meal plan together for the entire month.  I am a big meal planner and sit down every Saturday night and plan out the week to come so doing an entire month was challenge enough!  If you're looking for a great way to find new and yummy recipes, meal plan and add your plan to a shopping list, check out myrecipes.com.   I've used this site for years and find it to be the best!   I've also cleaned out the pantry and freezer and taken note of what we have and where to use it in my meal plan.  I've sipped a few coffee's along the way and will have one or two more before Thursday I'm sure!  The family is on board and ready to go...I hope!   

Do you think you can challenge yourself to spending nothing for 30 days??  Can you buy just the milk, bread and veggies??  Jump on board or follow along at A Bushel & A Peck on how others are making it happen, you never know you might be inspired!