I've been trying extra hard this holiday season to stick to a budget, and be wiser than ever with our spending... and then our beautiful beloved dishwasher broke. So, just for future reference, beautiful doesn't mean better!
In a saving win, however, I grabbed a box of ornaments from a trash pile to decorate our outside wreaths. They look fabulous, and they were free. One woman's trash is another woman's treasure. Trash picking is most certainly not beyond me. I grew up doing it, and so did my mother. That's the life of this first-generation American, and I am proud of it.
And, just like my mom, I am far from loved ones. I live states away from my husband's family and my own. Then, some good friends (whose kids grew up with ours) moved to other states this summer. Three of them gone in a matter of three months. As you can imagine, it's been a long cold winter. Sometimes...okay most days, I feel lonely. It's just me and the kids, while my husband is off at work, so Target is a beacon of hope and a place to go.
In reality, Target or a mall is the absolute last place a mother with small children should be. Put aside the tantrums for cake pops, the whining for shiny new toys, and the breaking of the only breakables in the establishment. Being in a store just seems counter productive for a mom who is trying to stick to a budget, save for her kids' college, have a healthy 401K, and payoff a mortgage at a faster than normal rate.
I have become better at rejecting impulse buys, but it is being in those places with my kids that I fall victim to buying snacks or food to keep them full, or toys to keep them quiet.
Parenting and adulting are hard. I just wish someone would hand me a manual, a Starbucks, and a hug.
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you do to keep yourself busy in the winter or how you are saving / budgeting in the comments down below.
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