Have I Changed That Much?

Today has been one of those days.

What with the multiple projects that all need to be ready, now. The old house that needs to be cleaned and painted so we can give the keys back to the landlord. The late hours. The car that is in the shop. A mild cold. The kids home all day from school with nary an extra-curricular activity to distract them, because of the public holiday.

Today has been one of those days.

Just a few years ago, my first instinct would have been to run to a store, for a bit of restorative shopping. And I certainly would not have cooked dinner (and probably not lunch).

Instead?

I (mostly) kept my cool with the children. And I didn’t spend any money at all. Not even on dinner. Instead we’re having lemon fish and lima beans. With lots of butter and red wine to drink. For the restorative health benefits, of course!

I’m proud of how much I’ve grown and changed over the last few years and I know that writing Almost Frugal and coming to know so many of you, also on your own frugal journeys, has helped immensely. Thanks… and cheers!

How has your behavior towards spending (or saving) money changed over the last few years?

{ 5 comments }

1 Abigail November 12, 2009: Yeesh, my attitude toward spending has gone all over the place. I’m mainly frugal. But living so close to my mom, it was easy to let her take care of details. She always had extra toiletries to use when ours ran out, for example. Before moving down here to Phoenix, I don’t think I’d bought a new toothbrush in years.

I’d also struggled with keeping a balance for Tim, who has ADD and was a spender when we met. He’s gotten a lot better, but he still gets restless when we stay in too many nights. He has a lot of things he wants, etc. I tried to make room for that, and sometimes went too far over to “spender” as a consequence.

Now that we’re on our own and it looks like my contract work is ending, we’re buckling down. Tim doesn’t love it but he’s trying hard to stay in line with it because I pretty much told him that I’m very nearly paralyzed with fear about what will happen once this work runs out. I don’t know if and when I’ll find work that I can do with my health problems.

So now, when we really don’t want to eat at home, we don’t call for a pizza. We suck it up and try to find something that we can stomach. We only ate out about once a week in general anyway, but we’re trying not to at all. Some weeks are better than others, but I think we’ve spent perhaps $50 total over the past month on meals out. Given that we used to spend $25-30/week, that’s pretty good for us. And that includes days where I was missing some of my medications, which makes it hard to cope with basic tasks, like cooking.

I don’t think it’ll be easy over the next 3-6 months, but it makes me feel safer that we’re trying to eradicate as much debt as possible. And that helps me to be more proactive (rather than frozen and freaked out and overwhelmed and just wanting someone to come to my door with food) about keeping frugal habits going.
.-= Abigail´s last blog ..It’s the new math! =-.
2 Hampers November 12, 2009: Glad to know you had a great time having lemon fish and lima beans. With lots of butter and red wine to drink. Happy Living.
3 Nicki at Domestic Ce November 12, 2009: I appreciate this post. Every now and then when I have one of these same moments – noticing that my automatic reactions have changed – it makes me so happy. It only comes over time. Good for you! 🙂
.-= Nicki at Domestic Cents´s last blog ..Festival Of Frugality #203 – American Flag Edition =-.
4 Jackie @ Lilolu November 13, 2009: Being frugal has changed my attitude as well. My kids and I spend more time being creative together. It’s great!
.-= Jackie @ Lilolu´s last blog ..Homemade Laundry Detergent =-.
5 Lawrence @ CRB November 14, 2009: Unfortunately, we all have those days. While I feel a little silly saying it, all you can do is… Just keep swimming!