Yup.. I'm going to say the bad 'B' word...

Budgets!  Admit it!  We all have them!  If you don't you are either a millionaire or lying.. one of the two!

OK.. so this time of year can be stressful for some.. if not many people.  The overwhelming messages of gifts, parties, gifts, donations, gifts, stockings, Christmas outfits.. did I mention gifts?  Don't get me wrong.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year!  Our home has been filled with Christmas music since the third week in November!  Once Halloween is past us... it just FEELS like Christmas!  Celebrating the birth of our saviour.  Doing special yet simple things with our family and friends.

OK.. so I am soo excited!  We've been looking at our budget with confusion and frustration.. that is not what I am excited about... what I am excited about is the beginnings of some of  the changes that we are starting to implement.  First comes our phone package.  After looking it over I realized how much money we are just waisting.  It kinda shocked me actually!  With a bit of persistence and prodding (those phone companies aren't very anxious to share all the REAL ways to save).  Anyway.. without boring y'all with the details.. after taking off features that we weren't really using and adjusting the ones that we use very rarely.. I was able to save $25.66 EACH month off our combined services bill!  That doesn't sound like much.. .. but when you look at it this way.. it's $307.92 PER YEAR that we will be saving!  Yes!  Our satellite package is the basic of basics!  But I think they were a bit freaked out that I was taking off all these services.. they offered us 3 months FREE of movies.. so from Dec until Mar we get to snuggle down and watch some movies - FOR FREE!  That will save us renting movies (which we don't do very often either because of the cost.. and frankly you can only watch the movies at the library soo many times!).  We will be able to 'tape' them too on our PVR so we can enjoy them whenever we want.

I'm off to tackle the bank now and stupid service charges... I'll let you know how that ends up!

Anyway... Hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas Season.  Keep it in perspective.  It's about family.  The birth of Christ.  Memories - that you will have forever.  Not gifts!