The challenge

Okay so my brain's at it again...working overtime.  I am feeling worn down, burned out, frustrated and overall restless. A lot of my feelings probably stem from a recent failure at returning to work, but that is another story for another day. The important thing to understand is that as a result, my brain has been going around in circles for awhile trying to pinpoint a way to shake things up.  We tried giving up our dishwasher and washing all dishes by hand, but it was only marginally successful and only lasted a few weeks.  I do think my kids appreciate the dishwasher more now since they were my assistants in this little experiment.  We then tried the same experiement with the dryer and experienced a similar result-- complete and utter failure. so...

At the risk of sounding like a Scrooge, I will share some of my most recent concerns with you.  First of all, the holidays are coming and while I love the holidays, they are a bit overwhelming to me.  And don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVE my family as well as my husband's family. But  when I think of the crazy schedules, preparations for and drives to all kinds of gatherings and all the junk food that will be readily available, I nearly hyperventilate.  Plus I am the mom, you know the one who is never supposed to forget anything, but also the one who always forgets something and usually at a critical time with an onlooking audience.  On top of that, it will be an even greater challenge to fit in exercise during the holidays because we will be so busy and when I do not exercise regularly I don't do so well.  And so with all this going on what does my messed up brain do?  It goes and thinks up a crazy little challenge to add into the mix.  As if we are not going to be busy enough as it is, but I think it will be fun (in a kind of sadistic way) and I think my husband will like it because it will save us money during the holidays. 

Anyhow, you may remember me from a couple years back when I talked my family (the one I grew up in not the one I am busy raising today)  into a challenge to live without our televisions for a year.  This was my first claim to fame and my family (the one I am raising not the one I grew up in) for the most part did just that-we lived for 2011 without the use of our television.  Back then our kids were 5,3 and 1 and life was even crazier in some respects than it is today. Eliminating the television definitely made us focus on more important higher quality forms of entertainment.  And it forced me to focus on my kids more than I do when the television is on.  The television is just such a HUGE distraction and waste of time.

Today we live with some television, not a lot but some.  The year of no television was fun and a great pick me up back then and it landed us in a lot of comical situations which I blogged about it at www.notv2011.blogspot.com  Check it out and then prepare yourself for the next best thing...

Holiday Grocery Challenge 2013!  We will be living with only the groceries in my cupboards and refrigerator for as long as possible!  I am hoping to make it through the holidays at least.  And I didnt just go shopping we are due for shopping.  I dont know about you, but I myself am notorious for buying something because it "sounds good" when I am shopping and then never actually cooking it up to eat.  So when I started thinking of ways to save money, be more creative and shake things up, I kept thinking about food; how much food we have in our cupboards and how long some of it has been there (I am just going to ignore expirations dates and hope that we don't get sick) and then it hit me. I am going to use stuff up, get more creative in the kitchen and hopefully save us some money this holiday season while I am at it! 

I am keeping the rules simple.  I am not to shop for groceries for as long as possible with two exceptions and a fresh produce allowance of $5 per week.
Exceptions:
1.  Milk
2.  Bread

During the holidays, if I am assigned a dish for which I lack items I am to request a change. If none is possible, I can shop for the assigned item only.

Let's see how this little challenge works out!

Happy Holidays!

Vern Out