Minimalism in May

Happy May everyone!

May is always a crazy hectic month in our family.

This month we have:

• 2 weddings
• 1 wedding shower
• 2 graduations
• 1 graduation party
• 2 cookouts
• Mother's Day
• Amy's friend moving back to the area
• 1 set of grandparents in town that we want to spend time with
• Our 2 year anniversary

Given the amount of things going on this month and the need for a new challenge, (yeah, I know, here I go again!), we are going to try a challenge that will hopefully save both time and money. These are two things that are tight these days.

So. Anyways. Minimalist May.

What does that mean for us?

The idea is to minimize the items we need and the number of trips to the store (and coincidentally the headaches that comes with it all!) in order to save us time and finances.

While I may be the queen of deals and coupons, what is it really worth if I am causing stress and a time crunch by running to the store once (or more!) a week because last week I thought to myself, "I can push off buying this another week!" or "Hey that's a good deal!"

...and then coincidentally going back the next week and probably spending more than just buying it in the first place or ignoring the sale ad.

Many of you are probably thinking this is a "duh" statement, but whatever, I am stubborn (its the Polish blood in me!) and have to try things out for myself.

So what will this look like?

On Sunday (the start of the new budget month, since we go by full weeks, not by 1st-30th or whatever), I will be dropping a load of cash. I say a load, but basically, it will be this month's Sam's Club trip, the trip to purchase all gifts for the events upcoming (within a predetermined budget), the only Walmart trip and the only grocery store trip.

The grocery trip thing is with exceptions though.  Because things like milk and produce won't stay good for a full month.

So here's now the exceptions will go...

If it doesn't fall under the category of basics (milk, bread, eggs, produce) and I can't get it at Aldi, it's not happening.

And we are allowed to go out to dinner once (for our anniversary!).

This is may not seem like a big deal, but it is to me!

Because I am one of those weird people that love to grocery shop.

And in turn, love to cook/bake/try new recipes as a hobby.

But again, this month is about saving time, money, and as a result, whatever sanity I have ;-)

So here we go! This is going to probably not be too fun, but worth it!

...Oh, and since according to the weather, next week it will finally be turning permanently to spring, I will be making a trip to the greenhouse to pick up our little seedlings for the garden.

I often remind Chad how "wonderful" I am for choosing a hobby, gardening, that will in the long run save us money since we are growing our own food.

He knows I am being sarcastic. I just like to annoy him.

That's another hobby I have ;-)