It's a Mind Shift

Ted keeps telling me that all I have to do is change my mind set and everything will be okay.

Let me explain...

So, things are a little tight in our family right now, and when I say tight, I mean, tight in the money department. We like to spend our money faster than we earn it, so it makes things a little stressful (especially when I balance the account). So, last night I sat down with Ted and decided to talk about our crazy finances and figure out a way to stop spending so much. We came up with this plan...no clothes, no food, and no entertainment, which means, we cannot spend money on any of these things for the next week. Okay, I work at a clothing store and am around cute clothes all day, which makes the clothing part hard not to spend money on. Secondly, the clothing store is in the mall, which has a food court about 100 steps away, which means, easy to get food. And, there is a theater in the mall, which means movies are fun and easy to go to when I get off work early (And, there is another Chronicles of Narnia movie coming out this week). Hence, with these three things eliminated, we would save about $500 to $1000 a month.

Now, to me, this trade off means a lot more work. Now I have to cook and prepare meals 3 times a day, and I have to contain myself when we get new product in the store, and I can't just go to the movies whenever I want. This is a little overwhelming, and as I was talking to Ted about it, he said, "This is as big or as little of a deal as you want it to be. If you think it is a big deal, is too hard, and takes too much effort, you will never accomplish it. But, if you think that fixing meals only takes 5 minutes, and not buying clothes will not kill you, then you will be just fine." He continued to tell me about how it is all perspective, and that everything in life is as big of deal as we make it. So, next time I have something huge to accomplish, I am just going to turn it into a small accomplishment, and it won't seem so daunting. You see, it is a mind shift. That is why some people deal with certain issues better than others. Like, I freak out when our account only has a few dollars left in it, whereas Ted will nod, take a deep breath, and stop spending it. I have a lot to learn. Thank goodness I have a husband full of wisdom, patience, and love to help me. By the way, Ted has been doing all the cooking and packing of lunches since we started this thing yesterday. Sure glad I have him to help us out, cause otherwise, we would be going hungry!