Monday Medley: Holding Steady

I haven’t posted a status update in a while, but it’s mostly because there is not too much to report.  It’s not that we’ve stopped making progress; to the contrary, it seems like our financial state is improving every day.  Persistence and small gains are the key to our continued progress.

It’s staggering to realize how quickly time is passing.  Months disappear in the blink of an eye.  There is much to do, and the demands of living a standard life monopolize so much of our time.  We’re trapped in the monotony that comes with working full-time for now, with the rest of our living crammed into evenings and weekends.  Packing lunches, daycare drop-offs, long commutes, work, dinner, laundry, bathes, and bedtime struggles dominate the majority of our days.  The days seem so long, but the years are short (roughly quoted from Gretchen Rubin).

But it won’t be that way forever – it just can’t be.  Fortunately, we’re starting to make progress and the view of the path to our future is becoming visible through the trees.  It’s somewhat magical to realize you’re approaching the top of the hill.  We’ve dug ourselves out and are building momentum to reach the top of the mountain, from which we can race downwards.  We haven’t had trouble paying the minimum balances due in a long time.  We have been able to completely pay off the credit card that we use for our monthly expenses in full, every month, for at least a year.  Most recently, we’ve started paying off more than the minimum balances.  We actually have “extra” money that we can allocate as we decide.  This seemingly small feat is actually a huge accomplishment for people with our financial history.

Mr. Smith continues to collect firewood to keep our hearing costs down this winter.  My car is having a little trouble, but my wonderful husband knows exactly what to do to fix it.  I’m eating peanut butter and crabapple jelly sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch at work.  I gave Goofball and myself haircuts last night, and Mr. Smith is up next.  We continue to forgo buying new clothing.  I do have an issue with my winter boots, but hope to patch them up enough so I won’t have to suffer through soggy socks or frostbite.

In my spare time, I’m busy earning a few extra dollars on Swagbucks and making Christmas presents.  I’m thinking of doing a special series of posts on this site, “25 Days of DIY Christmas Presents.”  It would be quite a commitment.  What do you think?

I have to admit to purchasing a toy for Goofball for Christmas already.  It will be one of the few presents that he receives from Santa.  It was a Transformer that he has been talking about for months.  Fortunately, I got a great price on it with the help of camelcamelcamel.com.  It’s a neat site where you can see the price history for any product on Amazon.  You can even request an email alert (as I did) for when the price of an item drops below a certain price.

In other news, little Trey has become very good at sitting up.  He’s starting to eat food regularly.  The little guy is already over seven months old!  We buy some jars of baby food out of convenience, but make a lot of our own too.  The easiest homemade baby food has to be bananas or avocado – all you have to do is squish it up.

Tornado is taking on the role of “helper” in our house.  It’s funny how she won’t pick up her own room, but eagerly volunteers to sweep the kitchen or put away groceries.  I’ve been making an effort to give her some extra attention as I worry that she gets lost sometimes between the baby and the big brother in Kindergarten.  As much as I yearn for financial freedom, my family is my top priority.

Goofball is learning a lesson about taking care of his things and not wasting money.  We purchased a new backpack for him for Kindergarten.  Somehow, he managed to rip out the whole bottom of it.  He won’t admit to us how this destruction took place.  It looks like he kicked his foot through it.  Most parents might scold their child and then run out to purchase a replacement.  Not us.  Goofball has been using a plastic grocery bag to carry his things to school.   Maybe Santa will get him a new one, maybe.

I have so very much to be thankful for this week.  We are a happy and healthy family, with so much opportunity.  We are working hard and our days are jam-packed right now.  However, we have discovered better priorities that are driving our progress out of debt and towards freedom.  We can do this, we can break away from a standard life and create something amazing for ourselves.