Maria, Maria!

I had to tell Maria that we could no longer use her services. I only cried three times. Maria is our sweet, sweet housekeeper who came once a week for $80 a visit. She was amazing! I would come home and the house would be sparkling clean, laundry done and put away and beds freshly made. It was better than therapy. I made sure I found another family for her to go to, before we started the experiment. But man...that is going to be the biggest sacrifice.

Today was the first MOPS meeting of the year. What an amazing group of women! This is my fourth year involved in this group and they feed my soul and rejuvenate me. (This will be my only break from the two younger kids since we decided to pull them out of private preschool saving us $550 a month in tuition, $200 a semester in supply fees and $30 a week in gas driving back and forth.) After my MOPS meeting I usually went through a drive through for lunch for me and the kids. I have always been a dollar menu kind of girl so that only saved me about $7.

Dinner: Green beans and a package of Knorr stroganoff with some of the ground beef from last nights dinner. (Don't worry I took out the beef before adding the taco seasoning.) We ate al fresco and focused on talking about our day instead of the food. It was great! We even let the kids run in the sprinklers when they were done.

Walk, don't drive: 1.4 mile

a bit of history...
My husband and I have been together sixteen years (married for nine) and have done everything pretty much on our own. Right out of college we lived in a city where we earned less than what we needed to survive. So we charged the essentials like food, gas and clothes for our jobs. We were both quickly promoted and within a year bought a house. So instead of staying in the apartment and paying off our debts we bought a little house in a great neighborhood. And that has seemed to be our pattern for nine years. We have spent about 105% of what we make. Not a whole lot more, but just enough that over the years it has added up.