2013 is going to be a huge year for the Henderson household
We are going to have our second baby, Ronan
We are going to buy our first house
We are going to be debt free (excluding said house)
We will have furniture that has not been handed down or craigslist-ed
I am starting to re-do our budget in preparation for this monumental year. I have to say it's a pretty fun job. I love spreadsheets and watching our debt decrease and savings increase. It's such a new feeling for me. I've been terrible with money my entire adult life. Having car payments, eating our money (too much eating out and not enough budgeting for food), and buying a lot of small things that add up to a BIG number. With so many big purchases ahead of us I am determined to change all of that.
Now, I do know my strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately couponing is a weakness for me. I'm terrible at it. I will merrily cut those bad boys and put them in my gargantuan binder and then either forget to use them, get too lazy to use them, or get mad at the whole process and boycott them all together. What can I say? I'm a toddler at heart. However, I do like to budget so I am researching ways to save money and stick to a small budget just by shopping smarter (no more wasting food!). It's really pretty fascinating how people save money. I have read about a family of two spending a tiny $30/week on groceries. I bow down to your awesomeness and respectfully disagree that I could do that. However, I have learned from your Jedi master ways and I will shop smarter.
Ronan, being our second child, will also have MUCH less stuff than Lilly did. She had so much baby crap it was ridiculous. She hated 75% of the toys and gadgets we had so they were relegated to the corner to collect dust and remind me of the wasted money. Well, this time around i'm just purchasing the 25% of the things that worked for us and Lilly. Bassinet/changing table/playard awesome thingy? CHECK! Sleepers? CHECK! Swaddles? CHECK! Boppy? CHECK! Ok, you get the picture. Only the necessities for us. If generous family members want to go crazy with cute clothes and such that is perfectly fine. However, I am sticking with a budget so I can snuggle this new miracle in my new house!
Speaking of the new house.....That is going to be a huge expense. We have iffy credit. Not bad and not good. It's still repairing from our idiocy. So, we definitely have to have a down payment saved. That is not a small amount by any means. Plus we will need to purchase appliances unless the appliance fairy comes to visit us. I wonder what I need to do to be on her nice list....
So yeah. Big year. Big things in store. I'm pretty darn excited as is the family. Stay tuned for more of my savings hi-jinks and maybe we can all learn a trick or two.
