This month is going to be a month of very intentional frugality. You see, last month was not. Back in November, I took the never-to-be-had-again opportunity to convince Travis that we should go on a "babymoon" since all the articles and books about pregnancy recommend it. Essentially, it's your "final" honeymoon before the baby arrives. (That's not to say that you'll never get a weekend away again, but it's far more complicated to make happen once you have babies.) I also happened to know that Wicked on Tour was going to be in Austin in February. So I asked my dear husband if he would be willing to go to Austin for a weekend in February so we could watch Wicked and enjoy a nice, clean hotel room, and the joys of not having to cook, and all such things. He was very sweet and agreed. :) Then some family stuff came up and we ended up needing to go to New Jersey the weekend before our "babymoon" which involved driving to Dallas, flying (not my favorite thing to do pregnant, I found) to New Jersey, staying in another hotel room, and, essentially, spending a tad bit more money than we'd originally planned. It was a wonderful time with Travis's family, and I have no regrets that we went. However, two weekends of traveling and hotels coupled with extra eating out (because what else are you going to do while you're traveling?) made for a very expensive month. And ironically, it was the shortest month of the year so Travis's paycheck was slightly less than usual. Go figure.
So this month we need to play catch-up! I don't know when or if we've ever played catch-up before, but I'm almost looking forward to the challenge. I had originally planned to go grocery shopping yesterday, but didn't. Then I was going to go today... but here's the thing: we're playing catch up! And in so doing, I think it would be an excellent time to eat the food we have. In terms of meat, we don't have much. But I think we'll be able to manage. I've been craving pancakes and we have some frozen sausage and bacon in the freezer and plenty of ingredients for pancakes! We have leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge, spaghetti in the pantry, and frozen bread in the freezer! We have two boxes of macaroni and cheese in the pantry and two loaves (because we prefer different kinds) of bread for sandwiches! We have ham and cheese and lettuce... and we have LOTS of indomie! I'm almost tempted to see how long we can make it before we absolutely need to go to the store. I'm interested to see how resourceful we become with what we have when we don't have the option of just "running to the store" whenever we so please. (But then I do have a man to feed... so meat might be more of a necessity than I think it is.)
I've also been reading up on home-buying and saving money in small ways and all that incredibly exciting stuff. Unfortunately we don't have a whole lot we can cut out (which I guess is also a good thing, depending on how you look at it). I would cut out my data plan on my phone, but I'm stuck in a contract for another year or so. Too bad. We don't have a TV, so we don't have cable. (Travis broke our TV... I'm sure I've told you THAT story!) We try to keep our electricity bill down by never running the heat (and by "we" I mean Travis in this particular example). The dogs make things expensive at times (like when Sabre keeps breaking his nails), but they're not going anywhere. :) And you know what's incredibly amazing? We already have so much "baby stuff" that my aunt and uncle gave us! We have a crib, changing table/dresser, pack n' play, a heavy-duty and a lightweight stroller (for poor weak me when Travis isn't out with us!), a swing, two bouncers, two baby bathtubs, and about fifteen trunks of boy clothes from newborn size to at least 5T! We even have bibs and hooded towels and washcloths and adorable little baby shoes! God has provided us with wonderful family that help us manage something that, at one point in time, seemed utterly impossible! I'm dying to start setting up (I think they call it "nesting") the nursery, but since we might be moving, I'm holding off till we figure that out.
This was, perhaps, not the most exciting post in the world. But talking about managing money and preparing for baby makes me feel responsible and grown up. :) My belly is growing quite fast it seems. Yesterday I noticed that my bellybutton is starting to pop out. Travis is thoroughly fascinated by my stomach. It's cute. :) Baby kicks a lot! The dogs don't seem to have noticed anything different going on. Some people say their dog(s) acted completely different (more protective/clingy/etc.) while they were pregnant... my dogs haven't done that. This morning, Baby was kicking pretty hard while Tatum had her head on my belly and she didn't even notice. It's going to be very interesting how they handle our new addition in just about three months! Wow, time sure is flying by now!
My newest and most persistent craving is for ice cream with dark chocolate fudge sauce and strawberries. And we're almost out. It's going to be an interesting month. ;)
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