Shavua Tov! It’s a new week, and a new month – at least on the secular calendar. October is one of my favorite months, as I’m a big homebody and these cooler temperatures really say “stay at home and snuggle with your family” to me. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I am kind of burned out from having 10 days of yomtov or Shabbat out of the last 24 days. I feel as though everything else in our lives has been put on hold — for good reason, but still, it’s time to look forward and make some plans. I want to be sure that we finish off 2010 strong!
First on that list is a family goal. Even though we had all this time to be together in September, it somehow didn’t always feel like the most quality time. There were always dishes to wash or meals to prepare hanging over my head. I plan to refocus on my kids and my husband this month, and truly make them my first priority. Even if that means meals have to be super simple, or I don’t get as much blogging done as I would like.
As far as the more practical goals go, let’s start with financial. As I mentioned here a few times, we increased our food and household items budget quite a bit in September, in order to accommodate all of our chag meals. This month, we’re scaling way back to just $400 for the month, and I’m thinking we’re all going to be in a little bit of shock.
In order to stay within our budget, I plan to make a lot of vegetarian meals and hearty soups during the week, and then use up some meat that I have frozen in my deep freeze to get us through Shabbatot. I also have an insane amount of apples in my basement, which I got from our CSA farmer. I plan to work those into some creative desserts and snacks, as time and energy allows. Stay tuned for my monthly meal plan on Monday.
I did very little CVS/drug store shopping in September, as it just never felt like I had the time. I actually had to pay full price (well, Costco full price with one of their coupons, but still) for toilet paper — the horror! In order to get myself restocked on TP and other toiletries, I plan to inventory (and reorganize) my basement store room and make a list of “need to buy” items, so I can be on the look out for good sales. Of course, I’ll point them out to you guys as well!
And finally, I plan to sort through, declutter and downsize all of our clothing. Well, except for my husband’s, because I learned the hard way that shalom bayit really suffers when I insist on decluttering his clothing! We are blessed to have many friends and family who offer us hand-me-downs for all three of our kids. But we haven’t stayed on top of this enough, and their closets have become a complete jungle. I also have about four different sizes in my own closet, from pre to post pregnancy and a few stops in between.
Are you feeling the push to get back on track now that the chagim are (finally) over? What do you hope to accomplish, financially or otherwise, in the month of October?
Okay, so I could have written the first 3 paragraphs of your post. Serious. Isn’t it incredible how exhausting the chagim – supposed “days off” can be? Also our grocery budget was/is identical to yours for the same reasons, and my plan is the same.
Hoping to at least get a menu plan post up this week…baby steps, right? 🙂
Glad it’s not just me! I’m looking forward to reading your plan later this week.
Thanks lady! I posted and I linked up to your site. Hope to see you soon.:)
Oops! Wrong URL linked up to my name. http://www.thefrugalima.blogspot.com …fixed now. 🙂
First, thanks for all the love, Leigh Ann! You are too kind. Kindred spirits, indeed! Second, your menu looks awesome! Very healthy and inspiring. Hope you’ll share your pirogie recipe. And third, why can’t I figure out how to comment on your blog?! I know that some blogger blogs have an option for “Name/URL” but I don’t see that on yours. Help the tech fool out!
I am feeling incredibly motivated now that the holidays are over. My first order of business is to check the oodles of emails that are clogging up my work inbox. I am sure that will require a few phone calls of apology since some of them have been there since pre-Rosh Hashana.
Fall- and soon Winter- are around the corner when the sewing machine comes out. Seventeen minutes prior to candlelighting I lugged it out of the closet so I could ‘quickly’ stitch my son’s comforter that had an unfortunate altercation with a hook in this room. Would not want my son to be cold over Sukkot. It was sewn and the candles lit with a minute or two to spare.
Tuesday morning BBBS (Big Brother Big Sisters) will be stopping by to finally remove all the Give-Away from our property. We have learned through the years that simply moving it to the garage only relocates the clutter. It will be so liberating to gain those precious square feet of garage. Then we will be able to start the purging process from our kids’ closets AGAIN as I am sure some small sizes are still lurking in their drawers.
And last but not least, my goal is to start quilting again. It has been years, but something I really do love doing. It is completely a winter activity and perfect when all you want to do is nest and keep your little ones warm.
You are amazing, Dana! Definitely nesting:) I completely agree with you about relocating the clutter. I’ve got four bags in my basement, which desperately need to be moved O-U-T of here.