Wake up Call

I am not a big one for New Years Resolutions. I sort of camp in the thought that if something is worth doing its worth doing now, not just on January 1 st (as in, I have 33 more days of deviant behavior before I turn over my new leaf). That being said I have been thinking seriously for the last week or so about my eating habits and perhaps giving the 21 day sugar detox (which ended after three days last spring when my then full time nursing infant was spitting up constantly from the influx of dairy products) another go or even trying out the Whole30 to sort of reset my system. These thoughts were whirling in my head today as I stood in our little café downstairs trying to make a “good” “sensible” lunch choice. I settled on a delicious little gem they offer that is essentially homemade cranberry/walnut chicken salad on a bed of greens-letting myself not think too much about how bad it probably is with the mayo holding it all together- and blinked a little heavily when she rang me up. I spent the rest of my elevator ride back up to the office reflecting on how I just paid 9 dollars for a salad! 9 DOLLARS (well 8.36 but I handed her 9 so it’s close enough for me). What an idiot. I could spend 9 dollars at the store make the same salad and have enough left over for three more lunches! IDIOT! (Let me pause here to disclaim that this is in NO way a riff on my little café or their delicious salad. Rock on small business owner with overhead cost-I get it-your salad is fresh and delightful but I’ve got to check myself) Finances are always a timely topic. Even though the economy is on the mend, my paycheck is not. It has held steady (bless you Lord for a great job) for the last 3 years but the cost of goods has marched on. Everything from the gas for my car to the eggs in my fridge cost more today than a year ago and while the Hubs and I are aware of the changes we haven’t really had to make any of our own to compensate (first world problems, I know). But lately our talk has turned to baby number two, specifically whether or not we can afford it. I’ve made charts highlighting our monthly expenses, we’ve looked at the added cost a second bambino would bring and each time we seem to come back to the same answer; that we just couldn’t make it work financially…but could we? How many 9 dollar salads am I buying and not giving any thought too?Clearly I realize that skipping Starbucks and lunches out aren’t going to equate to enough added income to make room for baby but this little revelation did get me thinking that a detox might be just what the Dr. ordered. Conveniently tomorrow starts a new month…extra conveniently it happens to be the shortest one of the year…and in an effort to be a more thoughtful spender I am going to attempt a little project I’m going to call “Free February”. The goal is to nip any unnecessary or luxury spending. No coffees, no lunches, (unless someone else is buying…hey I’m no martyr) no uncalled for trips to Target…esh that last one hurt, and to see where I stand financially at month end. As alluded to in my blog title, failure is mostly guaranteed so I will chronicle my days and share my successes as well as afore mentioned failures with you all! Now if you will excuse me I have a little discretionary spending to take care of before midnight.