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Tuesday, May 01, 2018

2018 To Do List: April

  1. Rearrange/clean the family room to make it a more usable space
  2. Read at least 28 books - two books finished in April (12/28)
  3. Hang snow shoes
  4. Hang rabbit art (x2) in my son's room
  5. Acquire a hammer ✅
  6. Get rid of clothes my son has outgrown
  7. Get rid of clothes I don't wear/like
  8. Go swimming, preferably in a natural body of water
  9. Go to the Adirondacks
  10. Take my son camping in a tent in the woods for at least one night
  11. Frame 2017 school pictures ✅
  12. Spend less money on weekly groceries - efforts underway
  13. Try shopping at Aldi ✅
  14. Eat more veggies
  15. Eat more fruits
  16. Journal more
  17. Complete 365 Mile Challenge - 34.3 miles for April (101/365) Best month so far!! 
  18. Refinance my mortgage
  19. Make my own kombucha
  20. Get my son to use the potty
  21. Get new glasses
  22. Decorate the house in some way for smaller holidays (Valentine's Day ✅, St. Patrick's Day ✅, Easter ✅)
  23. Grow some sort of veggie this summer (zucchini? tomatoes?)
  24. Have the driveway sealed
  25. Take down the baby gate at the top of the stairs to the family room ✅
I continue to plug away at my reading and mileage goals, but otherwise April was pretty slow for the to do list. My reading time during lunch has been much interrupted of late, which is frustrating but goes with the territory job-wise.

I've fully incorporated Aldi into my weekly shopping routine. I go there first, purchasing as many items as possible, then I race across the road to Wegmans to get the rest of what I need (items not available at Aldi). The only line in my monthly budget that is at all flexible is food. So I am focusing my efforts on spending less money on food since it's the only item I can control. I already switched to store brands whenever possible and stopped buying organic. But it's not like we can live on rice (my son won't eat rice). This past week I spent a total of $59 between the two stores and $11 of that was diapers (dude really, really needs to start using the potty). I am taking advantage of some food items already in the freezer and pantry, so I won't always be able to get the bill down that low. And of course now that I'm into an Aldi/Wegmans rhythm my Aldi is closing for renovations until the end of June. Sigh.

I may share more about my finances and budget in another post.

1 comment:

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...


Good work!!! Paring down budgets is really hard work. Good luck!!

And with the potty, too!