Getting Our Act Together (Sort Of)

We are going to try to live independently and successfully on our own.

What's that you say? We're married and living alone, so that means we're already on our own, right? Well yes. But the key word is successfully. We have been living well and doing great things, but now it's time for more independence and doing a better job with all aspects of our life together.

For instance, we have started the process of being on our own insurance together. Under new laws, we've been maintaining our insurance with our respective families. While this makes economical sense, it doesn't make us feel as independent and on our own. Plus, for the future, it will make family planning difficult and even more overwhelming if we're having to deal with an added cost of insurance to our monthly bill. We looked at our budget and decided to kick ourselves out of the medical nests of our parents. That's a pretty big step, if you ask me.

Speaking of budget, we are going to do a better job of living frugally. Lately, with the added cost of the house, decorating said house, and Phillip getting a slight boost in pay, we have been living life a little more luxuriously from time-to-time. We are going to stop that. Our expenses and income are finally becoming a little more certain, so our budget will as well. We are going to be better about eating cheaper at home (I will get more creative with ingredients we already have instead of finding these elaborate recipes that need 3 different random expensive spices and 2 different weird oils).

I want to eat healthier too. We need to take this opportunity to eat cleaner and healthier. Plus, we need to get out and walk too. The weather is getting nicer and with all of this west nile spraying, I'm sure our neighborhood is safer too. So we need to get out and eat better. This is another huge goal of mine.

Work and cleaning and laundry have also improved since we've moved - but can always be improved more. I'm getting better but the house could always be cleaner, the laundry could always be done faster, and work could always be more successful. These are constant improvements I strive for.

So what do you think? Can we do it? Can we get our act together?