Budget - January

My One Word for this year is Budget. As you can read about in my original post, this encompasses much more than money. I am on a quest to keep our financial budget, to have a healthy budget of my time, and a healthy budget of 'me versus them' time. This also includes reasonable levels of household duties, time with God, and healthy eating and exercise. It's been a little more complicated than I thought. So how did I do in January?

Financial

I accomplished what I set out to accomplish this month, only putting $50 on my JCP credit card because I ordered a flat iron that I actually needed. I will pay it off this month. I didn't put anything else on any credit cards that I didn't immediately turn around and pay off.

• I used the excess money in our utilities and fuel budget to pay two medical bills and extra on a credit card.
• I put $60 in our Christmas 2015 savings.
• I put $30 in Dawson's savings (for emergencies).
• All other scheduled savings went into their respective categories (vacation, taxes, emergency, etc.) and have stayed put.
• I did spend all of our clothing and activity budgets (the kids having bowling tournaments I had to pay entry fees for).

Exercise and Healthy Eating

I am happy to report that I am succeeding here. Each morning I get up and do 25 minutes of Tae Bo while I drink a glass of water with lemon oil (for my heartburn). I have been eating about 1450 calories a day, using the Trim Healthy Mama philosophies and logging on MyFitnessPal. I have noticed that I am eating "clean" about 80-90% of the time and feeling great! I have lost a total of 3 pounds since my last weigh-in. 

• My favorite breakfast is a 2 oz. baked boneless pork chop covered in cooked spinach and a fried egg. 
• My favorite lunch is whatever soup I have made for the week. I've had vegetable, creamy cheesy cauliflower, and chicken and noodles.
• My favorite dinner is a chicken stirfry with cooked spinach and mini sweet peppers over brown rice.

Time with God

As soon as I am done exercising each week, I grab my Bible for some quiet time. I do a few pages out of the book Living So That by Wendy Blight. 

• My women's small group is meeting twice a month for one hour and we are memorizing scripture (with Beth Moore) based on our individual word of the year. I practice this every day.
• Last week my friend Jessica and I started doing a Beth Moore Bible study together. I have done about 10 of her studies in my life, but never done Breaking Free. I am excited to do this! We are going to get together on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. to watch the weekly video, that you can now purchase and stream on your advice. You no longer have to buy the Bible study kit. Awesome!
• I teach the 4th - 6th grade Sunday School class at my church. But, the actual church service just leaves much to be desired. I don't attend. Instead I have started watching the life streaming of Epic Church's 6:00 p.m. service. Rick goes back to Oklahoma at about that time and I can retreat to my bedroom with a cup of hot chamomile tea with lemon oil to watch the service.

'Me versus Them' time and My Daily Schedule

If I am failing anywhere it would be here. I am in a phase right now where all I want to do is be alone and read! I get annoyed when I am interrupted by the phone or a surprise visitor. I am a homebody extraordinaire and a recently self-diagnosed pathological introvert, so I have to remember that it is not always about ME! I have two children who are introverts as well (the boys and Dawson's girlfriend, Taylar). Brynne is an extrovert adapting to living in a household of introverts (but gets super excited when her daddy is home for the weekend ... finally someone to have fun with!). Rick is a good mix of extrovert and introvert, but could sure use me to come out of my shell on the weekends. And Kyndal is a total extrovert and gets her feelings hurt easily when I don't want to come out to play on a whim like she wants to. I am trying to navigate these waters and find a good balance of taking care of my family's needs while still staying true to myself. It's tough but I am determined.

• I am still not good at making sure my housework is done when there is a good book longingly gazing at me from a few feet away. It's a matter of just getting it done!
• That basement is still staring up at me, begging me to start purging it!
• Even though I wanted to take a longer nap yesterday, I got up and cleaned out my refrigerator/freezer. (Baby steps!)
• Although I have added a few things to our schedule (Bible study, etc.), I feel like they are important things that don't take too much away from myself or my family. I am happy with the way things are going.

So, overall I think I have had a successful month. Of course I have room for improvement and need to stay the course. For me that is a strict schedule.

Check back at the end of February to see how I did.