The Year of the Poor
I've missed writing and engaging with this blog. It's been years, honestly. Two years, in fact, since I closed my keyboard to writing in a half-assed way. The problem is, I thought my audience was gone. I created and maintained the original blog to have a sounding board to share all of the great things my brand new little baby did on a daily basis with my mom. She lived 2-1/2 hours north of where I live so it was a perfect way to help her be a part of our every day adventures.
Then, not so suddenly, my mom died. She fought for her life for two years until lung cancer took her from me and my brother. I stopped writing. I tried updating a post every so often but still felt like there was no point so I just saved myself the job of one more thing I had to do and let if fall to the wayside.
Then I got a new job, had another baby, moved 2 weeks after having said baby, and started to move on in my life.
I decided today was the day to resurrect this little place for me to share my thoughts, not because I really think any one cares about what goes on in my daily life, but because I started a new project this year, and hopefully the things I learn can be helpful to someone else!
Last year, on December 26th, I set a goal to lose 50lbs. I nailed it by June. I continued to work on my health and by September I was down 3 more sizes. I started at 202lbs and a tight size 16. I'm now 145lbs and a size 6. This adventure taught me I could do anything I put my mind to, and with that, I decided this year my goals would be to not spend one cent of our money on anything that isn't a necessity.
Now, let me clarify...I didn't just decide to not partake in delicious consumerism. My husband is an AEMT, firefighter and was still working as a pressman at Quad/Graphics where he has been for 21 years. His Chief at the fire station offered to pay for paramedic school, but Kyle felt he needed to quit his full time pressman job.
He came home excited and I knew how much it meant to him, so we crunched some numbers. It would work. It would be tight, but it would work. We made some initial changes such as letting our cleaning lady go...UGH, I know. Right??? I clearly really love him. We also cancelled our coffee subscription from Black Rifle Coffee, lowered our cell and cable bills, cancelled the kids' Koala Crate subscriptions, the dog's Bark Box subscriptions, my clothing rental from Le Tote, and my subscription to the Honest Company. Then I realized, holy shit, we subscribe to a lot of random crap.
We paid off his car, reworked the budget, mapped out the plan and we were ready to go. We went out to dinner one last time, and mentally prepared ourselves to start living on a budget, not buying all the shiny things. I started on January 1st committing to not buy anything that isn't a necessity and living within a new budget. Today is January 19th and I've nailed it so far, I'm sure the rest of the year will be a breeze!
I almost feel lighter knowing I won't be bringing anything else into our home, and at the same time taking more things to Goodwill. Having less things means less cleaning (see above, we had to let the cleaning lady go) which makes my life slightly easier.
So, that brings us to today! Kyle's last day at Quad was yesterday, which was bittersweet after 21 years there. He started as an 18 year old goofball. Now he's a 38 year old man, father, husband. He's still a goofball though, so that hasn't changed. He starts school on Monday to begin his next adventure!
I can't wait to talk to no one in particular about my adventures of saving money, staying healthy, freeing ourselves from stuff and focusing on family. I hope at least one person follows along and enjoys our crazy experiment to see how we do over the next year!
Then, not so suddenly, my mom died. She fought for her life for two years until lung cancer took her from me and my brother. I stopped writing. I tried updating a post every so often but still felt like there was no point so I just saved myself the job of one more thing I had to do and let if fall to the wayside.
Then I got a new job, had another baby, moved 2 weeks after having said baby, and started to move on in my life.
I decided today was the day to resurrect this little place for me to share my thoughts, not because I really think any one cares about what goes on in my daily life, but because I started a new project this year, and hopefully the things I learn can be helpful to someone else!
Last year, on December 26th, I set a goal to lose 50lbs. I nailed it by June. I continued to work on my health and by September I was down 3 more sizes. I started at 202lbs and a tight size 16. I'm now 145lbs and a size 6. This adventure taught me I could do anything I put my mind to, and with that, I decided this year my goals would be to not spend one cent of our money on anything that isn't a necessity.
Now, let me clarify...I didn't just decide to not partake in delicious consumerism. My husband is an AEMT, firefighter and was still working as a pressman at Quad/Graphics where he has been for 21 years. His Chief at the fire station offered to pay for paramedic school, but Kyle felt he needed to quit his full time pressman job.
He came home excited and I knew how much it meant to him, so we crunched some numbers. It would work. It would be tight, but it would work. We made some initial changes such as letting our cleaning lady go...UGH, I know. Right??? I clearly really love him. We also cancelled our coffee subscription from Black Rifle Coffee, lowered our cell and cable bills, cancelled the kids' Koala Crate subscriptions, the dog's Bark Box subscriptions, my clothing rental from Le Tote, and my subscription to the Honest Company. Then I realized, holy shit, we subscribe to a lot of random crap.
We paid off his car, reworked the budget, mapped out the plan and we were ready to go. We went out to dinner one last time, and mentally prepared ourselves to start living on a budget, not buying all the shiny things. I started on January 1st committing to not buy anything that isn't a necessity and living within a new budget. Today is January 19th and I've nailed it so far, I'm sure the rest of the year will be a breeze!
I almost feel lighter knowing I won't be bringing anything else into our home, and at the same time taking more things to Goodwill. Having less things means less cleaning (see above, we had to let the cleaning lady go) which makes my life slightly easier.
So, that brings us to today! Kyle's last day at Quad was yesterday, which was bittersweet after 21 years there. He started as an 18 year old goofball. Now he's a 38 year old man, father, husband. He's still a goofball though, so that hasn't changed. He starts school on Monday to begin his next adventure!
I can't wait to talk to no one in particular about my adventures of saving money, staying healthy, freeing ourselves from stuff and focusing on family. I hope at least one person follows along and enjoys our crazy experiment to see how we do over the next year!
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