Happy New Year!! Chances are, your budget is shot from the holiday season that now runs from Halloween through New Years’ Day.  I get so tired of spending money 💰, and it seems I find myself at the grocery store all the time.  If you’re like me, you cherish family time together that comes along with the holidays, but your bank account is probably needing to be shocked back to life. 

If you overspent, you need to scale back, and write out your budget to get back on track. And every year we do a 30 Day No Spend Challenge in January, just for that reason.

During the challenge, you do pay your regular bills, (somehow I don’t think Entergy or Centerpoint will simply agree to let you skip a month 🤔), but you take time to focus on where the heck your money is going.  It’s a great way to stop the debit card swipe, the easy eating out, and the online click and shop.  Cold weather makes me dreary, so I used to click and shop away, with all of those dark, cold hours at home.

1.  Take this month to reconnect with your family.  You probably bought your children some new things for Christmas. Play!! Get outside and play, go to a local Rec center and play, and just reconnect, and don’t spend money. Cole loves for me to get in his room with him (his bed is much more comfy than mine, true story) and play. Then we talk and laugh, it’s my favorite time. Don’t spend money on entertainment (because you probably have that cable bill to pay still), play some board games, play some ball in the driveway, chase the dogs with your remote control cars. 🐶

2.  Take this time to clean your house.  Since you won’t be at the movies, the opera (right) or on a lavish vacation, conquer those little projects at home. Deep clean your carpet, paint your trim. Your kids can help!

3.  As you are decluttering, you will find some things you may want to sell/donate/trash. Any extra cash you make can go towards your emergency fund (if you are not at $1000) or some debts (have a look at the debt snowball!! Small debts first = big wins).

Let’s do this!! Who’s with us? 👦🏼🙋🏼‍♀️ (*”Mama. When I get to college I won’t have issues with money at all because you never let me spend it” Ha.