Friday, July 26, 2013

Cut Down on Spending Money Week 1

I've put a goal to myself to stop spending money on work lunches. This week I brought my lunch from home 4 out of 5 days. The day I missed, I actually made my lunch, but forgot about it, and left it in the fridge (Mondays, they're a bitch).

Money that I Spent (outside of necessary items, like household food)
Monday- Lunch from Q'doba- $7
Wednesday- It was my turn to buy the office candy- $20
Thursday- Bought The Brothers Sisters from Amazon, Kindle Daily Deal, $1.99. I heard it was good.
Friday- Breakfast sandwich- $5 (we ran out of eggs when I put together a bread pudding last night)
Total: $35.99

Things That Are Going To Screw Up My Budget

Philosophy. They have a good sale going on, and while I don't exactly NEED anything right now, I WANT some things right now. But, I'm resisting. So far.

Old Navy. Again, things I WANT rather than NEED. So, I've been doing the old fill up the online cart, and then forget about it trick.

So, why am I saving money? Well, the time has come to take my darling children to Disneyland. We've promised them this trip for Christmas 2014. That gives me a little over a year to sock away money, and do this trip right, because we're only going once. I have no love lost for Disney. The thought of spending thousands of dollars on this trip to hang out in lines with horrible screaming children- my own and other people's- basically gives me hives. To even begin to deal with this, I'm taking my parents along for moral support. That means we need three hotel rooms, or a family suite and a room. I can't sleep for a week in the same hotel room as my kids. I just can't. So, it's adjoined rooms or a family suite for us, and a separate room for my parents. My Dad also has limits, and staying in a hotel room with children is one of them. My Dad also will not be going to Disney. He'll hang at the hotel pool or find other things to occupy his time. He did Disney with us when we were children, he has no want to do Disney with his grandchildren.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

What’s your very earliest childhood memory?

This is part of Ginger's Bring Back The Words Prompts

I'm not taking part in this on a regular basis, but my Earliest Childhood Memory is really specific, and strange, so I thought I'd share with you all.

My earliest childhood memory is from when I was about 3 years old. We apparently went to Disney World for the first time (I've seen pictures, I was there for sure). But, the only thing I remember is getting off the plane and walking across the tarmac. It was so hot, and the smell of asphalt was so strong! I remember nothing about Disney- this is why I've waited so long to take my own kids, I'm not dropping thousands of dollars on a trip I'll hate and they'll not remember. But I remember walking across the tarmac.

I really don't remember much about my childhood. Honestly. There are a few memories that stand out, but things are pretty blurry until maybe 10 or 12 years old. At the same time, certain things will trigger very clear memories of very specific events when I was much younger than 10 or 12. For example, when we buried my grandfather in 1998, I got a very clear flash of going to that very same cemetery with him. We- my brother and I- were playing around the graves, and I remember watching my grandfather plant flowers on his mother's grave. I was only 4 or 5. I can remember what I wore that day. What we ate for dinner. What he wore that day. But I can't remember Christmas of that year. It's strange.