One of the rewards of living frugally, and I’ve spoken about it before, is that when you really need a good evening you’ve got some money sitting around to do it. While making homemade lentil soup, watching a Redbox movie, and just enjoying each others’ company may not sound like the most exciting evening usually, this type of living produces “margin” in your life. When I use the word margin, I mean breathing room. It’s no fun living life when you are extended to the margins and there is no room left to have any fun. Living life frugally gives you some extra space. When your budget is not overextended and you aren’t living in distressed conditions, you have some wiggle room. My husband and I decided we would leave our teenage twin girls at home so they could watch a movie and we would go out shopping with our three year old son. We spent a little while shopping in Target and then relaxed for a while in Starbucks. Starbucks is generally a frivolous and unnecessary purchase in our world, but the way we live makes it possible even with only one income. Our son ate an entire donut and some chocolate milk and then helped us take some Starbucks coffee grounds for our compost pile. While in Target, I found some great deals on Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal (on sale for $2.75 per box and then combined with a $3 off two coupon!) and Cascadian Farms Organic Chocolate Chip granola bars (on sale for $2.50), and at CVS got some Nature Made vitamins (on sale and combined with a great $7 off Nature Made reward coupon). This is what an enjoyable evening is like in my world.

Well, it is a new year, and I while I usually make myself a list of things that I want to accomplish throughout the year, they never seem to make it past January. It’s really never to late to make a decision to make positive changes in your life, whatever those changes might be, and no matter what time of year it is. I am really good at making the lists, but this year I plan to follow through on them. I’ve failed in the past because I’ve simply stated what I wanted to do, and not how I was going to accomplish my goals. I plan to start by setting reasonable goals. If it’s unrealistic, I don’t leave myself any room for failure, or for starting over fresh and trying again.

What are my goals? Well, they’re your typical goals. I checked to see what made the top ten list for the 2010 New Years Resolutions to see how it compared to what my goals are:

• Stop Smoking
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Enjoy Life More
• Quit Drinking
• Get Organized
• Learn Something New
• Get Out of Debt
• Spend More Time with the Family
• Help Others

My list is actually much smaller than this. I am keeping it simple, setting reasonable goals for myself, and allowing myself to not be a perfectionist. If I don’t perfect something over the course of the year I won’t consider it a failure if I am at least able to begin my resolution and make some progress, however small that progress might be. My goals aren’t listed in order of importance, they are just things that I want to do.

Get Fit and Lose Weight. This is actually on my list every year because it’s a necessity for my health. I had to make a lifestyle change to accomplish this goal by eating fewer calories and working out. I don’t so much care for the working out part, but I know it’s a definite requirement for my health.

Learn to sew. I have always wanted to do this. I am not unrealistic though. I don’t expect myself to be an excellent seamstress by the end of the year. I just want to be able to sew craft projects for things in my house. Simple things that don’t require major sewing skills. I do however want to continue to expand on my sewing skills after I acquire the basics though.

Organize and declutter my house. This one seems silly to me, but I like to list it anyway. Organizing and decluttering is a constant necessity at my house to keep things organized and decluttered. It has to be done on an almost daily basis because of the volume of things that come in my house throughout the year. I accomplish this by keeping a bag ready to fill with items that we no longer need or want to take for donations. I also keep my children’s items organized for the two consignment sales that I participate in each year in the spring and fall.

Just keep it simple, don’t stress yourself out, and set small goals.

One of my son’s favorite places to go is our library. It has a kids section with puzzles, computers, big bean bags, little couches, and small sized tables and chairs. It’s appealing to him because it was designed for kids his age. I like it because it not only has an area designed specifically for kids his age, but that it is someplace that we can go when the weather does not permit him to spend time outside. The other thing that I like about the library is that my entire family enjoys spending time there. It’s something that we can do as a family together and there is something for everyone.

I frequently borrow DVD’s from the children’s section of the library for my son. Borrowing allows me to have a good variety of things for him to watch without purchasing them at full price, although I can’t resist when I find a good video at the thrift store that I know he’ll watch. We can also pick up a few books that will keep his interest for a few days. The best part about the library though is that it allows my son to get out and stretch his legs from being cooped up in the house.

My husband went with us as well. He enjoys the music collection that is available at the library, and found a 6 CD set of Miles Davis which should keep him entertained for days. I always find myself gravitating to the organizing books. I am now more organized than ever, but I like to look at the pictures and wonder how a normal family actually lives an organized life with everything in its place. Such order. Immediately upon leaving the library I enter the due dates for my books in my phone as an appointment with a reminder so that I don’t miss the due date and have to pay late fees.

When I was still working in the real world, I was reminded on an annual basis by my employer about the need for further education. Not only did the continued education help me to remain a viable employee, but it allowed me to progress slowly through the ranks of a successful employment. The education not only helped my employer though, it helped me as well because it allowed me to be a more prepared employee with the tools that I needed to succeed. Forward ahead four years, and I come to the realization that I still need continued education to keep me on my toes at saving money, and living frugally. I actually find enjoyment at doing both so it definitely does not feel like a job, but a way of life.

Along the way, I have had to try new things, change my way of thinking (code for accepts change well), and yes, work well with others; all items that would have been listed on my annual review. Even though I’m a housewife, I still have to look at my life as a job and apply things that I learned during my working years to my stay-at-home life. The two really are more similar than one would think. After all, I rise each morning for my workday just as everyone else does, although my day is a little different with snacks, and playtime interspersed with house work.

I furthered my education slowly at first, learning along the way as I went. I didn’t have a clue where to start, except that I knew that I would need to use coupons in some fashion to help me save. I had tried to use coupons in the past, but they never really worked and I would only save a dollar here or there, nothing that really excited me about using coupons.

My first introduction to learning how to save creatively landed me on CouponForum a discussion board that talked about saving money, using coupons, and coupon experiences that other board members had experienced. I was excited about the opportunity to learn from other moms who were just like me. I learned a lot about shopping at CVS and Walgreens, and how to use coupons more efficiently.My next and greatest fascination was finding another mom’s blog. This of course was long before I started my own blog. The mention of the MrsMoneySaver blog (then, it was Frugal In Virginia) was a topic of discussion, and after I landed on her blog, I can clearly say that I was addicted to the blogging world of other moms.

Between CouponForum and MrsMoneySaver, and now other blogs, I have learned a good deal about saving money, where to find the deals, and when to limit my spending, even if it is a good deal. After all, it isn’t really saving me money if it’s not something I would use already, even if it is a good deal. There is certainly a learning curve when first figuring out all the changes that can be made to help save money. There are so many ways to save money that it can be a little overwhelming at first regarding all the changes that you can make to help stretch your budget just a little further.