Day 22 With No Cable

In my absence of blogging I have been doing my best at slimming down our expenditures in expectation of our baby in April. Way before we even got pregnant, I always had a healthy fear of the cost of a baby. So when it happened, that was in the forefront of my brain. So, I decided to make my new years resolution to look at out monthly expenses and cut back what we don't need or use.

I started with eating out, and am now making a calendar of what to make throughout the week. I think this one is the hardest because it is not only cutting out something, but obviously it is more work to not only cook the meal, but plan it. I have a magnetic dry erase board on my refrigerator, and I have been writing out everyday of the week, what we are having, and the recipe, so I have no excuses. I do leave at least one night of the week that we can go out. But it needs to corresponds with the budget I set out for the month.

I have also been getting out the extra cash out for our "extras" that we like to get, such as Starbucks, and any other outings that may be unplanned. The idea is that we get the money out when we get paid, and then when it's gone it's gone.

The last adjustment that we are going though is getting rid of our cable TV. Like I said, it has been 22 days with no TV at all. That was not the initial plan, but we don't have an antenna yet for our house yet, so we get nothing. It has been so different without TV, but it has been a nice adjustment. I am going to be honest, I could sit in front of the TV for hours, and I have, especially with TiVo. My morning routine was to get up turn on the TV, get my coffee, and breakfast and just sit in front of the TV. My Mom's quote when we first got rid of it was, "I just feel so bad that you don't have cable because I know how much you use it."

Being that the biggest sacrifice has been the TV thing, I have to say that it has freed up so much time for me to get things done that need to get done. Instead of getting up and sitting in front of the TV, I get my breakfast, grab my bible and do my devotion first thing, which is the way it should be. Jon is liking it too, because in the evening we sit and read together instead of watching junk.

Last night I got 6 loads of laundry done and cleaned our bedroom. This was not a nesting thing, it really just needed to be done, and I didn't have the TV tempting me to sit and spend an evening doing nothing.

I am not saying that we will never have cable again, in a year I could think that I want it because of all the kids shows that are on, but right now I really feel like the Lord is blessing us with this decision. Plus the $50 a month that we save is nice too!

This whole taking control of our money is so empowering. I use to just go by how much our bills were, save a little bit, and then the rest was ours to spend, and the whole ideal that I didn't really know where the money was going would always have me on pins and needles. As I look in the previous months the spending was so destructive in so many ways but most of all destructive to our marriage, because it was stress that was not needed.

My prayer in my devotion is that we are wise stewards of our money, and spend it in a pleasing way to the Lord. It is really making me be so aware of what goes out, and how we may be "throwing away" our money. The biggest thing is not getting lazy about the work that goes into it, because it is work. But thankfully the Lord is giving me such a desire to spend our money right!