Freshness of a New Season!

Today, My house is order, my floors are semi-clean, all the dishes and laundry are put away, and I'm sitting next to a pile of devotion/marriage books and new pens...and I feel so excited about my goals and plans! Mostly I have these because I've not succeeded in all the ways I've wanted to this summer! Last night we had a great planning session using a great FREE website called Mint that helps you organize your spending, gives you charts and trends and predicts your bills/payments! Basically it helps a visual girl like me really SEE where I am spending money...namely...at the GROCERY store! BOO!! I have no idea where all the money goes because up until this month we pretty much ate what we bought and had empty shelves by the end of the week! We got a deep freeze for our wedding, and this has inspired us to buy things on sale and freeze them! That comes in handy, but it sure makes your grocery spending sky rocket! Yikes!

I have also copied my sister`s meal planning calendar and have been writing out ideas on the side of possible meals and then writing in the squares what I make! This is helping me know what I have stored away in the freezer! This month I was also BLESSED by one of my dear friends who was moving away with TONS of meat...like...TONS! I got ribs, chicken fingers, chicken, pork chops, soups, just so much and it has also helped me feel like I have so many more options for meals! I hope it never runs out!

But I really need to get strict with myself and last night my dear husband sat down with me and we both set some spending goals for ourselves with Groceries, Date Nights and Fast Food (or in my case, Starbucks) that we can spend weekly! We also made a great reward system that if we spend below our budget we can put the extra money into a travel account and maybe someday we can take a dream vacation to Hawaii or somewhere really exotic!!

Anyways. I have to continually be inspired, and I find I start out with alot of gumption, but I need to continue on and FINISH WELL! Start strong, Finish strong!

I know that there is alot of other people in the same mode as me this Fall, trying to gather up ideas and inspiration on starting a new season well! I love the new school supplies, fresh wardrobe change and new plans that Fall brings! I am also trying and PRAYING for the perfect part time job that will help me put payments on my loans, but won't take me away from my BFF for too long! I'm trying to think that this is a season that we have so much freedom with our Time and if there was ever a time that I could easily work in the evenings or on the weekends that this would be it! I just hate thinking of it right now! I only have 2 more full days of work, and the precarious subbing days will be upon me! So this is really important for me to figure out soon!

Hope you can send any tips or ideas or suggestions that work well for you! I need all the help I can get!

'

A little shot of Danny and I near the East Point Light house, PEI