Saturday, January 31, 2009

Leaving Excess in January

Leaving Excess is cataloging the ways that we saved money, minimized, or went without each month. I love this idea, so I'm joining in.

In January:

  • I did some serious de-junking of the kids clothes (and even some of my own clothes). Some toys too (shhh!). Here's the load of stuff that we donated to the local mission. Six large bags!

    I wish I could say that it actually feels like less around here.

  • I packaged up a load of stuff to a friend that is expecting a baby soon -- there's clothes, a diaper bag, socks, and such. It's all stuff that I had too much of, and I'm so glad that I know someone I can share with!

  • I switched to a cheaper internet server. This involved being without service for a week. I discovered, through that, that my quality of life is better without internet anyway. So I'm setting up new limits for my time online.

  • I ate potatoes. There seems to be something with potatoes recently, where the grocery stores are throwing them away like crazy. We're getting 20+ pounds a week from food net, and I'm, quite honestly, tired of eating them. We currently have 30 pounds in our kitchen, and have been giving 10-lb bags to Chester's parents every couple of weeks. But we're still eating them. I know, quit whining.

  • Birthday presents. Last year, I had the brilliant to make pretty much everyone the same thing for their birthdays -- monster hoodies. After a lot of searching, I think I came up with a suitable, similar idea for this year. I have two weeks to make the first three, so I'll share pictures of them next month!

  • Bought a (used) new car. This was hard. We totaled our van on December 27th, and spent a bit over two weeks scouring the internet for a good deal on a replacement. After lots of thought and prayer, we decided to invest in a newer model, for a lot higher price, because it would last us a long time and not require a lot of maintenance while we're in school yet. Chester drove down to Dallas one weekend to look at a van, and ended up not liking the seller. So he saved money there. The next weekend, he drove to Indiana, and actually bought that van -- a 2006 Odyssey with 39k miles. I hope it lasts a long time :)
That's as many as I can think of off the top of my head. I look forward to seeing what other people did!


1 comment:

  1. Amy,

    That is great! Look at how much stuff is in your truck!

    I know what you mean about the tough decision about the van. We faced that two years ago. I hope it serves you well and you might as well enjoy it!!

    Thanks for participating.

    ReplyDelete