Let's talk about money shall we?

I just sat down to get a handle on the family finances for this coming payperiod and it seems we'll be alright. Over the past several months I've taken a real interest in our budget after almost 14 years of leaving it to His Lordship. It just seemed easier and less overwhelming to let him deal with it all. Ostrich with her head in the sand? Yup that was me. Not very responsible or grown up but I just couldn't handle seeing how things actually were.

After reading countless books on how to manage family finances I decided it was time to try it for myself. Wow. What an eye opener. Do you know we bought 18 bottles of laundry soap last year? and we've been buying the super expensive, scent-free, environmentally friendly kind. Ouch. It's the little everyday decisions that really add up.
Beyond making a budget and meal-planning and grocery lists I learned a few lessons between the lines of all those books. One of the best ones I read although I didn't realize it at the time was Peace and Plenty by Sarah Ban Breathnach, the author of Simple Abundance.

(Does this photo look familiar?)
She shares her story of financial success and subsequent down-ward spiral after Simple Abundance became a best seller. One of the best concepts I got from that book was that money is precious and almost like a living thing. If you want it to stay in your life you need to treat it well and with respect. In other words: spend mindfully.
Another book I read taught me to regard every cent as valuable. Look at the actual amount of income and expenses instead of just rounding up or down to make the math easier. Take those extra cents and put them in a jar. They will eventually add up to something significant. We once paid for a steak dinner out of our change jar. Mind you, we couldn't go back to that restaurant for awhile after leaving $100 in rolled change to pay the bill but it was well worth it!
We work really hard to live within our means. We hardly ever eat out, we don't have tv and we often have to say no to each other when someone wants something. But that's just how it is. We also don't have any debt except our car and mortgage.
I think we live a simpler and less stressful life because we don't have a lot of extra money in our lives. There's a lot of front-stoop-sittin' that goes on in the summer and lots of game-playing and reading that goes on in the winter. We almost always eat dinner as a family at home and our summer holidays are spent at our family cottage where the only extra expense is the gas to get there. It's not a bad life ;)