Emme is in a homeschool Brownie troop.  It's a 20-minute drive to get there, and I have weighed the pros and cons of the costs.  It's really done wonders for her.  They are a really active group and it's helping her relate to girls her own age in a group setting.  So we've decided to stay.

They changed the uniform this year.  Instead of the tan pants they wore last year, which I have three pair of, now they want them to wear the Brownie skort.  The 23 dollar Brownie skort.  *sigh*  

This news came right after I found out that Emme needed the "big girl" ballet slippers.  Another 17.00 

I decided I would buy the ballet slippers in this week's budget and the skorts in next week's. 

Then I got an email from the Brownie leader saying she had picked up a pair of skorts 2nd hand for 2.40!  I jumped right up and told her I wanted them!  So you could either say that I am 2.40 over my budget for the week, or that I'm saving 20!  So that was some great news.

Now for a complaint. 

I made a pork roast and potatoes for dinner.  Dh gets off work at 12 midnight and he generally eats about 1 in the morning.  I make his plate and he (sometimes) warms it up. 

He ate a few bites of the pork, directly out of the crockpot -- and then proceeded in eating the salami that is for his lunch for the rest of the week.  So, now I am short of what to send him for lunch for 2 days. 

So I decided to send pork roast and potatoes in his lunch today, instead of his usual three salami sandwiches. 

I know I shouldn't complain about my husband.  I know it.  But the reason I have started budgeting and OAMC cooking, and trying to be a better wife and mother, baking, filling out surveys and for free samples, etc. is to help the money that HE EARNS doing a job he hates, go farther. 

He has had to change the least out of all of us.  He still has his 12+ 2-liters of pop every week.  His milk fetish is satiated.  He has his expensive hard salami and the 2 dollar a loaf of bread for work (see why I'm irritated?)  while we use the 50 cent loaves ourselves with egg salad. 

If you have advice on how NOT to be irritated -- please, I'd love to hear it.  I feel guilt all the time that I can't keep my mind free of negativity when it comes to my husband.  That is part of my 30-day challenge too.  To stop the negative talk going on in my head in regards to dh.  I am not disrespectful TO him.  I treat him like a king.  But in my head -- I treat him more like a jester.

So onwards and upwards -- it's another day -- let's see what we can make of it!

Sherry

Posted by Anonymous

Oh Sherry! How I sympathise. Dear Hubbies can really take a toll on our budget. When I was younger I tried to vary my DH's lunch to fit what was on sale. It did not work. He resisted for years. If he didn't care for dinner, he found something else-usually a planned leftover or ~gasp~ a whole pound of hamburger! I too, strugled with negative feelings in my head, but I persisted. Now, he eats 98 % of what I fix, and if I think he won't like something, I have a frugal back up planned. I can only say you are not alone, and don't give up. :)