It got away from me.

Let me start by saying that I had another crazy whirlwind year. Life picked me up in a funnel and dumped me somewhere that I did not expect to be. Changed me, rearranged me and brought me to where I am now. As 2011 draws to a close, I am deep in thought about what I want out of 2012. I do not like resolutions, I prefer to set goals. I do, however, feel that I should explain a bit and update you on where I am now in my life. and why I disappeared off the face of the blogging earth.

2011 recapped and current status added.
-Budget took a hit. I completely stopped spending money on beauty, clothes, shoes, etc.
After discussing things with Mr. Man we decided to pull together 100% and start attacking debt with a fever. We have succeeded in cutting our debt load down by over 50%. We also had no savings, we now have a nice emergency fund. We went on vacation and paid for it with cash. I returned to couponing to save money and have done well with it. While we do use our credit cards we pay them in full each month and have not paid a dime of interest. We sit down at least once a month to have a 'State of the Union' meeting. we review where we are, what our current goal and focus is. We also reevaluate and shift if need be. Currently we are on a spending freeze until January 14 (Mr. Man's birthday) and then we will resume the spending freeze until Valentine's Day. We do this to draw us closer together for our common goal and to shift our focus to what we have done.
-In May, we lost our beloved Boston Terrier, Mi. We are still heartbroken about it. We did open our home to a new Boston Terrier, 2 year old Trixie, as well as a 1 year old Pit Bull, Seva and a 2 year old Shih Tzu, Maci. I think we will stop there for a bit and just donate money and supplies to the shelter. Doing those things helps to heal our very broken hearts.
-My health took a hit when I was diagnosed with some food intolerances but we have adjusted well with those and have taken to shopping with our Farmer's Market and have made some wonderful new friends because of that. Mr. Man and I quit smoking. That helped our budget and our health! Our one year mark is fast approaching.
- I returned to my love of reading. It is rare for me not to be reading something now. I MAKE myself take time to read. It has become a great stress reliever for me. I have set a goal to read 100 books in 2012! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about it.

I am sure that I have bored you to no end with my ramblings but I also hope that you will join me this year and see how much things have changed. Before I let you go I want to share with you what my goals for the month are.

1. I want to get an addition $500 in savings
2. I want to pay off what little credit debt we have under $600
3. Bedroom cleaned and clutter cleared
4. Unwanted items taken to Goodwill.
5.  9 books read.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you are up to.

Goal 1: Spending Freeze

Oh Me! Oh My! At the beginning of the year we always have some killer bills come our way and to add insult to injury it is also tax time. Mr. Man is a owner/operator (from here on out known as O/O) so taxes are crazy expensive. While we save for that all year we had some major expenses this past year toward the end of the year that put us in a tough spot on the amount needed to pay these killer bills.
In July my baby boy proposed to his then girlfriend, Mr. Man and I footed the bill for the wedding. During the crazy, mad wedding rush for their set date in September, Mr. Man calls me to inform me that he was going through a mad thunderstorm and that the truck had just been struck by lightning, all of his panels were going crazy or they were gone completely. That put him out of the truck for two weeks. (Wheels not moving means no money but HUGE ballin' amounts going out.) Multiple little things happened but when you compound them they are not so little.
All of that brings us to where we are now. Not enough in the fund to take care of our beginning of the year bills or taxes. So I am imposing a spending freeze on myself and cutting my beauty budget from $100 to $25. AH HA a challenge! I know it will be tough but I am sure I can do it. After we get what we need for this major outlay I will re-evaluate and increase it MAYBE. I also know that Mr. Man and I have a goal to be debt free in three years, that thought crosses my mind as well. Anyway, wish me luck... hmmm do I feel a YouTube video series coming on? Maybe I do ;)
Some of you may be asking what this has to do with being fabulous. Being debt free is going to be fabulous!