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Well, it’s another birthday! In case you haven’t heard, Lucie (my poodle) and I have the same birthday. Of course, I thought she was adorable first, then saw her birthday and knew it was meant to be! I think she’s a big part of why I had a better year this year 🙂 This may ramble, but I’ll try to break up the thoughts with photos 🙂

I don’t know about you, but birthdays can be hard. Cake and flowers are always fun, but there’s inevitably at least one person in your instagram feed who has achieved all your life goals 5 years earlier than you.

In Girl, Wash Your Face Rachel Hollis talk about exactly this issue:

The Lie: I should be further along by now…

God has perfect timing… You look at your life and the eight things you though you’d have accomplished by thirty-five and feel depressed. But maybe it’s just that you don’t have enough life experience yet… Or maybe that goal wasn’t ever meant to be yours. Maybe you are destined for something so much cooler, which won’t come until five years down the road. Maybe you have to walk through this space you’re in to be ready for that. Nothing is wasted.

But whether or not you choose to see this time as something wonderful — the time when God is stretching you and growing you or maybe forging you in fires hotter than you think you can withstand–all of it is growing you for the person you’re becoming.

Set goals, not time limits: I love goals. They can help you become your best self… but big dreams shouldn’t have expiration dates. As long as you’re working toward the things you hope to accomplish it shouldn’t matter if it takes you a month or a decade.

This year was different for me. View Post

Well, I survived the first three months of my Year of No Shopping! To be honest, I didn’t shop much last year so this gets easier and easier. I did, however, get 2 flat tires during these first few months, which cost more than my shopping did…. Ugh winters in NJ make for lovely driving conditions.

In case you forgot, here’s a link to my New Year’s Resolution post where I mention the Year of No Shopping.

So let’s recap..

The beginning of the year was a little tricky because I had a target-dollar-bin habit.

Random Shopping Urges in January:

• Walking into Target on Jan1 and seeing the dollar bins filled with Valentine’s Day supplies! And they had Galentine’s Day too! Leslie Knope is my spirit animal (oh and she’s a hoarder), so I had to tear myself away. THAT WAS JUST DAY 1.
• On Jan 3, I thought I would order a zip pouch for some planner supplies. Then stopped myself, because that’s insane. I know I have a pouch somewhere. And I have a sewing room FULL of items to make a pouch if necessary.
• On Jan 4, I wanted tea. Somehow I have survived 5 years of living in my own house without a tea kettle, but today I wanted to order one on Amazon Prime. I blame the snow storm and Whole30 for this one.

I generally consider myself a disciplined person, so this process is enlightening. Amazon Prime has truly ruined me. After that it really did get easier.

Now I feel a little overwhelmed when I walk into a store without a plan. My Target re-arranged itself this year to bombard customers with homegoods in every corner of the store (literally). I love everything, but no longer feel the need to buy something without a specific use.

I DID SHOP A LITTLE: for Easter. Remember this Easter post last week? We needed a tablecloth, a few placemats, and glasses. But I knew exactly what I wanted going into those stores and walked out if I didn’t find it.

And I buy books through Book of the Month, Kindle deals, random Amazon recommendations… it’s hard to resist. And I love writing in books! I need to have my own copy, but I’ve also gone to the library a lot lately.

I just wanted to be honest with you 🙂

While this challenge isn’t about how much money I was spending, we did see a nice impact on our budgeting! View Post