More Than a Month

We are well into our second month of renewed efforts to stay within budget and attack debt. The new is definitely wearing off! But I am ashamed to need novelty in order to do what is right. I am fighting it! And praying. The written goal thing definitely helps. When I see where we can be in a couple of years if we stay focused, it is easier.

Last pay period we dealt with a car repair; this month it was dental expenses-- cavities, and a bill left over from a crown I had done awhile back that the insurance company wrongly excused us from. They corrected their error. I have had so much dental work done this year that I have gone over the maximum they will pay for me. Help, my mouth is falling apart. :o)

We were able to pay the bill this week, and I thank the Lord for that. We paid cash. We did not put it on payments. It is gone from our life.

Mariel's teeth are ready to begin orthodontic treatment also, and we are saving up money so we can pay cash up front.

We did much better with our grocery money this pay period-- I haven't spent all of it yet. That is one of my mini-goals-- to have money in the grocery envelope even at the end of the pay period.

And we have had some blessings in the form of home equipment this month-- we received a lawn mower and a new (to us) refrigerator!

We have been wondering for the past year when our fridge is going to give up the ghost. The new fridge is the same size, two years younger, has a working icemaker and is free! It was my parents' and they got a new one. We still have to pick it up from them.

The lawn mower came from our next-door neighbor, who moved this week. We had offered to buy it from him, and he came over the other day and gave it to us. He wouldn't accept any money. It is a manual mower (you know, a rotary mower). We also have a mower we borrowed from my dad when ours died a few weeks ago.

I always feel a like a little kid when people do these kind things for us. I feel like as grown-ups, we shouldn't need help. But I guess I need to get over that feeling, because we all need help sometimes.

Update: I forgot to mention that our dishwasher stopped working this week. But ol' Murphy isn't getting us down, because I married a handyman. He repairs things like this for a living, so he pulled my dishwasher out this morning, fixed the problem and is putting it back together. Yay, Mr. Honey!