Looking ahead

I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming year lately. I usually set resolutions, but honestly, they are the same silly things most people set and I sometimes wonder if I really have the intention to meet them.

Some interesting things have happened to me/us this past year. For one thing, Marty has reached a career goal that he has been aiming at for years. When he left the Chef world in favor of the stability of corporate restaurants, he basically had to start over. Sure, he was a manager, but his experience as a Sous Chef, Banquet Chef and Executive Chef didn't matter. He started at the bottom of the management ladder all over again. Now that he has achieved his goal he needs to decide what his next big career goal is. Whatever it is, we are all along for the adventure.

Of course, a huge thing that happened was that we finally have a name for what has been ailing me since I was about 4, and what has been ailing Alex literally since he was born. Even better, he have hope that we can live a pain free life with just a few modifications to our diet. We are not "fixed" yet, as that can take years. I can't speak for Alexander but for me I can say that even if this is as "fixed" as I get, I am ok with it. I can not even begin to tell you how much better my life is since eliminating gluten from our lives. Compared to stabbing stomach pains, hair loss, severe anemia and many other things, a gluten free diet is a piece of (gluten free, of course!) cake!

A more subtle thing is that I have noticed that we have become almost complacent in many frugal aspects of our lives. I am sure that it is just part of the natural ebb and flow of life, but it seems that lately we have been slipping in the frugality department. When we first began our frugal journey, it was out of sheer necessity. As time went on and our income went up, frugality became a game. Sure, we could run to Wal-Target and pay full price for something, but it was much more fun to try to figure out a solution using what we already had or shopping thrift store if we didn't have a solution at home. Now, we are just running to Wal-Target whenever we need something.

I could explain that it is because our thrift stores here suck. They really do. I have rarely found anything worth having at any of the three thrift stores here, and of they do have something, the price is usually so high that is is a better use of my money to buy it new. The exception to this is our couch and chair/ottoman set.

I am not feeling well (some kind of breathing thing - I have a Dr. appt. Monday) so spent most of the day on my $150 couch reading through the archives of one of my favorite frugal blogs. (She no longer posts, so I won't bother to link to it.) Although I have read her archives before and the things she talks about are nothing new, it has lit that fire again.

So I guess my plans for the new year are simple.
1) Support Marty in whatever career decision he makes, and try to be more understanding about the long hours and hours of work on his day off
2) Stick with the gluten free diet and teach Alex how to figure out what he can eat and make the right decisions about his health/diet
3) Remember the thrill of the hunt and how satisfying it is to not have to spend money to provide for my family
4) Remember something that I read on my favorite blog today - "Frugal and cheap aren't necessarily the same thing. To be frugal, you need to spend money wisely, simply spending less is not enough."