Monday, January 12, 2009

D and I are taking at least part of Suze Orman's challenge for 2009. So for today we will not spend any money. For the week, we will not charge anything. And for the month, we will not go out to eat.

However, we have made some exceptions. Any previously scheduled dining out meetings and work-related lunches are allowed. We are also allowed to use restaurant gift cards. And since D's 40th birthday is later this month, any birthday-related spending is exempt.

My strategy for today is to go nowhere so I won't have any reasons or temptations to spend money. I have used the notes option on my wonderful, practically free iPone to plan the menu for this week using items we already have on hand.

The greatest challenge will be not dining out as a family for the entire month. It is so easy to use lack of time or energy as an excuse to pick up something for dinner. Hopefully, if I can get into the habit of planning ahead on meals, fast food or any other dining out option will not be such a temptation.

I downloaded Orman's Action Plan for 2009 from Oprah's website, but I haven't read much of it. The thing about finance books is that they rarely offer any new insight. We know what we need to do. We just need to be more self-disciplined and follow through.

Here's to our Action Plan for January 2009!

UPDATE: Jeremy brought home the snack box. Usually I would try to plan ahead for this occasion, but he hasn't brought home a snack calendar for January so I had forgotten about this possibility.

2 comments:

Kristin and Co. said...

Is "snack box" the new code name for Alfredos? What if I needed a snack box next week sometime? What if I paid for said snack box?

Dayna said...

Maybe we should come up with some code words. Anyway, I can spend my own cash however I'd like. If I want some Alfedo's, I'll get some Alfredo's. So anytime you're in the mood, let me know -- as long as it's after the 15th.