The Sweet Life On A Budget

  With inflation on the rise and salaries not increasing, our ability to make ends meet keeps going down.    Therefore, we must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     I am exploring how to keep costs down during busy weeks. One strategy is to keep dinner on the table instead of eating out. Here are some of my tips and trips.    1- Volunteer Hours    Since my last posting, I have been busy volunteering to develop stronger ties to my community.   I volunteer at my church in several different ways.   In addition, as part of my son’s swim team obligations, we must complete 35 volunteer hours each swim season.   I have completed 21.5 hours so far.  As part of our obligation, for every hour we do not complete, there is a monetary cost of $16.00 per hour.    Thus, we are grateful for put...

  I pick a Word in January each year that I find inspiring for the new year.    This year I picked the word Pragmatic because making choices based on a realistic situation assessment produces more positive results than choices based on what you want to happen.   It is great to have dreams, but they are only dreams until you break them down and devise a plan to achieve them.  Over the year, I will slow down my decision-making and remove myself from life drama.     I will take steps to remove myself from the work and church drama by not getting involved in as many issues.   I will carefully select the causes I will support and get involved in.      As part of embracing the word “pragmatic”, I will study stoic philosophies and logical decision-making.    This will be a process, and strengthen over the next year.  In addition, I have been dreaming about getting another certification but have moved slowly to complete ...