Acquiring Things

I'll be the first to admit that I'm very obsessive about spreadsheets. I love them. If I could tweak and adjust and toy with everything in my life and get it "just right" the way i can with the formulas in my spreadsheet, I'd never be stressed. Oh look... that thought train just went right off the rails.... onward...

I tweaked our budget yesterday to find out just how low our spending can realistically go. Let me just say WOW. We can almost live on half of what our income was, if we just try. So why haven't we done that? Well, because it means sacrifice and planning.

Not only sacrifice and planning, but WORK. It means remembering to thaw the roast the night before, every time it's on the menu. It means keeping accurate stock of what you have in the kitchen... or the bathroom... or knowing just how long that pair of socks can really last before replacing them.

I'm very guilty of acquiring things. Not because we're wealthy or because we need them... but because I was poor for my entire life and many times left behind everything I owned at the whims of a gypsy mother. Now that we're fairly stable, the habit of buying things for my family just because I can is very ingrained. My first personal goal is going to be to combat that habit. I'm dragging it out in the open and staring it in the face. That is going to make living more sensibly much easier.

I think......