Happy New Year...?

Guess who this stinker is? My dad's so creative. (Didja notice the cloth diaper, huh, Kate?)

I meant to write this 29 days ago, I swear.

I've thought a lot about it, and in recent years I've decided that I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions. I mean, it's kind of unrealistic that beginning on Day One you're going to do a total 180 when it comes to your body, your finances, your spiritual life, whatever. (Thank you, Bridget Jones, for so amusingly showing me this in your stream-of-consciousness prose. I love you, even though you're not real.)

I am, however, in support of the symbolism of a new year, of turning over a new leaf, much in the same way that Easter is reminiscent of eggs and rabbits. Okay, maybe not the best metaphor, but bear with me. I'm not a believer in saying, "Starting January 1st I'm going to be 100% better at this, this, and this." I do think, though, that it's a good time to set goals for oneself in the coming year. Do you think, maybe, that goals might keep us going to the gym past mid-February? Maybe...if you haven't set impossible standards for yourself, you're less likely to feel like an utter failure and throw in the towel for the rest of the year, yes?

Our goals for this year include...living in a way that honors our bodies (portion control = good, Krispy Kremes = less so), interacting with our finances on more of a daily basis (including actually sticking to the budget we spend so much time creating), traveling more, and chipping away at some lingering debt.

Now, we're doing fairly well with the first two. Not perfect, no earth-shattering changes, but guess what? I guarantee we'll still be working on them come May. We're making more concrete plans for a Florida trip in May and a Europe trip in August, including money and logistics. (Remind me to apply for my passport!) The debt one, though, is the one I'm going to talk most about today, because I'm really proud of us.

We talked one day last weekend and decided that we need to make some sacrifices toward this one. Not that we have much leeway in our budget, honestly...but we both, uniformly decided to get rid of cable. For our own good. Unilaterally. Oh, how good it felt. We also decided not to join the Y as we'd previously planned...part of the reason being that the "scholarship" they offered us was $74 a month, more than twice what it was this summer. Not affordable right now. But little did we know there was more to the story...that night, a friend of a friend called Josh and basically said, "Hey, my roommate's moving out, I heard you might be looking for a place to live, come live at my house for $200 a month cheaper than what you're paying." Initially, we weren't really about it...we don't know this guy. We don't want to share living space with someone else. No. We're selfish creatures of comfort. The next morning, we both woke up thinking, "Ohhhh, but we could pay off our debt FASTER. We can DEFINITELY go to Europe before we have kids. Hmmm." Josh called the guy, who was on his way home from work. We went over, looked at the place, and talked to him for awhile. Not a red flag to be seen. We felt very comfortable with everything, and after a few days of thinking about it, we decided that we're doing it. It's open-ended - we can decide to move out whenever we want. We'll have the whole 2nd floor (2 bedrooms and a bath) to ourselves...he sleeps in the basement and we'd share the main floor (kitchen, living, dining room) with him. It's a nice, well-cared for house. He said we could paint our rooms if we want. I'm two miles from my office instead of 15 (which I figure will save me alone at least $60 a month in gas). We'll be giving up some things for awhile, yes - the use of all our stuff (some of it will go into storage), total control over our domain, cable (yes, we're sticking to that one!), some privacy, maybe...but it's good. Making steps to improve your life is HARD. You gotta give a little. You've got to be creative and unorthodox sometimes. We're not thrilled about moving in the winter, we're not totally comfortable with everything we'll be giving up. But guess what I tell my clients? The definition of insanity is doing what you've always done and expecting a different result. Change is uncomfortable, but being comfortable isn't really getting us anywhere in this department...so change it is. (Yeah, that's right, I got all therapy on you - THAT JUST HAPPENED!)

We're moving on Feb. 23rd. Wish us luck...and if anyone wants to help paint or help us lug some stuff in or out of a U-Haul, please let me know :) We can't offer you much beyond pizza and love, except we'll get whatever kind of pizza you want and even get you a soda :) Oh, and moving things to and fro burns calories, DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT? Wow.

Oh, and the newest "Lainey's The Cutest Thing Ever" photo (I made her necklace):