Learning to be grown ups...
It only took us 30+ years.
But it feels kinda oddly fulfilling to be making "the tough choices". Delaying gratification. Being wise with our resources.
And all that "mature" stuff.
Choice one was to not eat out at all during the month of August. To some, this may seem like no big deal, but we are frequent restaurant eaters. Some of it is necessity--Seth works a lot, sometimes days at a time with no interruption, so it isn't always possible to bring food from home for his lunches and dinners. At the fire department, all the ffs pitch in ten dollars every duty day and get two meals, so that works nicely. When I can, I try to bring him lunch when he's at his part time job the day after working at the fire station. But there have been a few times when I couldn't get over there that he has to eat fast crap for lunch. Or we have plans at 6 in the evening and he gets home at 5:30. Or when we have to be at church at 8:30 on Sunday mornings, nothing sounds better than Tim Hortons. And one of the highlights of my week is having Sunday dinner out with my parents. Oh, and I'm a lazy slob that gets tired of my day at precisely the time I'm supposed to be preparing an evening meal.
Within the first few days of the fast food fast, I wanted to break it. It was SO HOT in my kitchen by the end of the day and my heart longed for nothing more than loading up the kids and heading to some nice overly air conditioned excuse of a restaurant. But for once, my stubbornness beat out my laziness, and I stuck with it. There were a few days where the boys ate cold cereal for supper, but doggone it, we ate at home. Then, the weather cooled a little and I got creative. We've had some awesome meals in the last few weeks, thanks to pinterest and our commitment. And now, surprisingly, I don't long to go out anymore. Honestly, I never missed the food (except Chipotle), but I missed the convenience. But I think I've moved past that now.
In all honesty, it hasn't saved us much money because I've had to increase our grocery budget, and then we needed a new battery in the van. So I suppose not eating out helped fund that in a way. Nor has it been about health, because I think I eat more when I cook. But the idea was since we'll be on vacation soon to save our money and eating out-ness for then. And for me, it was about proving to Seth that I can stick with stuff. Because I'm not the best at that. I've also put off all extra shopping this month and pretty much only gotten necessities and school things. You have no idea how much I want to go to Hobby Lobby.
We'll certainly resume eating out in September, though definitely not as often. And if I fall back into my "let's just order pizza" dinner ruts, maybe we'll do another fast.
The other big decision was to put off our anniversary trip.
The plan was to go to Chicago on our tenth anniversary. But then I got pregnant and had a brand new baby on our tenth anniversary. So, the plan got postponed to our eleventh anniversary, but now family vacation is taking precedence. We had really hoped to go this year, but we both separately came to the conclusion that we should probably hold off.
When we go, I want to be able to do it right. I want to visit all the places I love and stay in a decent hotel and not worry about the price of gas. I want to pick up souvenirs and eat at a nice restaurant. And I'd really like a new camera lens before then. I also have a feeling that I would miss Homegirl too much if we tried to go now. She's still so little and that would be rough. So, Chicago awesomeness postponed.
But isn't that what growing up is all about? Learning to make the tough decisions, delaying getting what you want so you can get it the way you want? We've never been good planners and both have a tendency to live in the moment, so this is a necessary lesson to learn.
Yes, we're slow learners. But better late than never.
But it feels kinda oddly fulfilling to be making "the tough choices". Delaying gratification. Being wise with our resources.
And all that "mature" stuff.
Choice one was to not eat out at all during the month of August. To some, this may seem like no big deal, but we are frequent restaurant eaters. Some of it is necessity--Seth works a lot, sometimes days at a time with no interruption, so it isn't always possible to bring food from home for his lunches and dinners. At the fire department, all the ffs pitch in ten dollars every duty day and get two meals, so that works nicely. When I can, I try to bring him lunch when he's at his part time job the day after working at the fire station. But there have been a few times when I couldn't get over there that he has to eat fast crap for lunch. Or we have plans at 6 in the evening and he gets home at 5:30. Or when we have to be at church at 8:30 on Sunday mornings, nothing sounds better than Tim Hortons. And one of the highlights of my week is having Sunday dinner out with my parents. Oh, and I'm a lazy slob that gets tired of my day at precisely the time I'm supposed to be preparing an evening meal.
Within the first few days of the fast food fast, I wanted to break it. It was SO HOT in my kitchen by the end of the day and my heart longed for nothing more than loading up the kids and heading to some nice overly air conditioned excuse of a restaurant. But for once, my stubbornness beat out my laziness, and I stuck with it. There were a few days where the boys ate cold cereal for supper, but doggone it, we ate at home. Then, the weather cooled a little and I got creative. We've had some awesome meals in the last few weeks, thanks to pinterest and our commitment. And now, surprisingly, I don't long to go out anymore. Honestly, I never missed the food (except Chipotle), but I missed the convenience. But I think I've moved past that now.
In all honesty, it hasn't saved us much money because I've had to increase our grocery budget, and then we needed a new battery in the van. So I suppose not eating out helped fund that in a way. Nor has it been about health, because I think I eat more when I cook. But the idea was since we'll be on vacation soon to save our money and eating out-ness for then. And for me, it was about proving to Seth that I can stick with stuff. Because I'm not the best at that. I've also put off all extra shopping this month and pretty much only gotten necessities and school things. You have no idea how much I want to go to Hobby Lobby.
We'll certainly resume eating out in September, though definitely not as often. And if I fall back into my "let's just order pizza" dinner ruts, maybe we'll do another fast.
The other big decision was to put off our anniversary trip.
The plan was to go to Chicago on our tenth anniversary. But then I got pregnant and had a brand new baby on our tenth anniversary. So, the plan got postponed to our eleventh anniversary, but now family vacation is taking precedence. We had really hoped to go this year, but we both separately came to the conclusion that we should probably hold off.
When we go, I want to be able to do it right. I want to visit all the places I love and stay in a decent hotel and not worry about the price of gas. I want to pick up souvenirs and eat at a nice restaurant. And I'd really like a new camera lens before then. I also have a feeling that I would miss Homegirl too much if we tried to go now. She's still so little and that would be rough. So, Chicago awesomeness postponed.
But isn't that what growing up is all about? Learning to make the tough decisions, delaying getting what you want so you can get it the way you want? We've never been good planners and both have a tendency to live in the moment, so this is a necessary lesson to learn.
Yes, we're slow learners. But better late than never.
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