2019 took it’s last bow, while we ate a combination of takeout and homemade Asian food and finally got a chance to put on our matching family penguin pajamas.
2020 came in with a gorgeous orangy-pink sunrise.
Today is for sleeping in, removing the last of the Christmas decor, and our most important New Year’s Day task, setting our goals as a family for 2020. Those penguin pajamas that I’ll spare everyone a picture of? They were on 2019’s list, the kids having determined that we needed to have a set of matching ones. Other key goals were ‘have a family picture done’, the wedding, and Connor’s perfect addition of ‘share our love’.
Every year we make a list, and every year we try to get to all the things. This is an acheivable list – not ‘Mom becomes and Olympian’ but things like ‘more family dinners’, ‘do something new on vacation’. Our first year at Sithean the list included meeting our neighbors, which we’ve done rather successfully.
In addition to the fact that I intend to mostly live on broth and salad for a week or so, to offset the heavy foods the holidays brought with them – I enjoyed them all, but I need something lighter for a while, today kicks off a major initiative for us – a Spending Freeze. From now through April 15, we’re only buying groceries and things we absolutely need.
So what is a spending freeze? It’s not a financial diet (diets fail), it’s merely a course correction. We have all the things we need and many things we don’t. We have a lot of big, big goals coming up in the next couple years. We’ve accumulated some debt, which I hate. Our pantry and freezer are completely stocked. And over the 3 years we’ve been here at Sithean, clutter has crept in.
It’s time to clean out, not add more. Ending mindless spending is one way to do that.
For 4 1/2 months, we’ll focus on the things we need, such as food, and make lists of the things we might want. Since we won’t be buying stuff, we’ll have time to really consider if we want it. Every purchase needs to be weighed against questions – do we need it? Can we get it without spending? Can it wait?
But surely there are things that will come up? There are.
K’s 11th birthday will be an exception, although her big gift is already purchased. I have a little cash set aside for things like book fairs for the kids, and Easter is in there too. Car and house maintenance that must be done, will. I ordered our garden seeds early, along with some much-needed tomato cages, and pre-ordered 2020’s fruit trees, because those are time-sensitive items. I can’t start seeds in mid-April and have a successful garden.
But for the rest, it’s going to require creativity. For Eli’s birthday in early April, it means I need to create or find for free a gift, a challenge that I need to start thinking about now. It means I’m not planting Cranberry bushes until 2021, because those didn’t make the priority list.
If Eli and I find we really need a meal out, we have a couple gift cards we can use, but otherwise it’s home for us for a while. Which is great – we love to cook, we have lots of food to use up, and honestly if we get tired, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional bowl of Cheerios for dinner.
The key here is not to feel deprived. We are doing this so we can have other things, not giving spending up because it’s what we ‘should’ do. This is the path to way more opportunity in the future, not a diminishing of our present.
Happy Frugal New Year to all of you!
Little House on the Fairy Hill 